Headshots Lighting Modifiers?

I currently have two speed lights and two shoot-thru umbrellas. I want to do some headshots for my company for practice and not sure what I should get instead of the umbrellas. I don't like the amount of spill from those things, but not confident I have a handle on which speed light softboxes or other modifiers are decent quality. Any thoughts?

What about upgrading from speed lights to studio lights? What is the most practical way to get in that game? I was thinking of the Einsteins, but I don't have the budget for them yet. Are there more affordable options that would do until I can get the setup I want? What are people's opinions of the PCB line of gear? I don't really know where to start in regard to studio flash, or even deciding if I need them. I more than happy with my speed light output for what I do right now, but I feel limited by the available modifiers. I really want to use softboxes. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

You can do head shots with exactly what you have. The trick is to have a large enough room so you don't have to worry about the spill reflecting. If you have a large conference room, and can get your subject in the center at the long end (away from the back wall about 5 feet) you will do fine. Getting Studio lights is overkill, and you have a learning curve for them as well.

If spill is still an issue and you haven't bought an westcott apollo softbox 28" or it's knock off yet, you need to - or get a brolly,

http://www.amazon.com …softbox+for+spe​edlight+28

http://www.amazon.com …aphy-Studio/dp/B002GDLH1K

there are several good ones that have been posted on this forum before. Either of those will work exactly like your current umbrella setup but control the spill better.

Thanks ksbal. That is quite useful info. Appreciate the encouragement and advice.

You can do headshots with speedlites as they dont require a lot of power. Spill can be an issue with shoot through umbrellas but still manageable. If spill is an issue look for an umbrella softbox like the softlighter or one of the knockoffs. The EZ box 24 inch softboxes, or their clones are okay but get one with the two layers of diffusion, that will work for headshots too. This shot was made with 3 speedlites, one in a shoot through key on the left, small softbox near the camera for fill and one on the drop.

Thanks. I think I am going to investigate a few more affordable modifiers for my speed lights, and then hopefully use any funds I obtain through using what I have to increase my lighting equipment supply. I really want studio strobes eventually, but would love for my current gear to pay for those upgrades. Thanks again for the inspiration.

Might recommend the westcott orb, a triple speedlite light stand mount and an inexpensive wireless trigger. Just 2 lights inside the orb and you'll have ample light.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15884104

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How did you not get glare on the glasses? Or did you remove them in post?

Speedlites are fine for headshots. Only problem is if you wanna shoot at a high aperture, you'll need to really crank up the power of your speedlites (resulting in longer recycle times), or boost your ISO (resulting in noise).

grfft3r wrote in post #15884717
How did you not get glare on the glasses? Or did you remove them in post?

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=E7KAGLOi6tk

watch that.. might help

grfft3r wrote in post #15884717
How did you not get glare on the glasses? Or did you remove them in post?

No reflections were harmed in post I kept the key light on the left far enough to the side that I didnt get reflections from it, and the fill light just high enough that the flash didnt reflect back at the lens. Since light and therefore reflections bounce at the opposite angle they hit a reflective surface (think of a pool ball hitting the rail) all you have to do is move the light up or down so that the reflections go below the lens axis. Because his lenses were slightly curved you can see minor reflections on the edges of the lenses, its almost impossible not to get a tiny bit of reflections on that type of lens, but they aren't bothersome.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15884104

OFF TOPIC WARNING:

Just for my own knowledge, what could someone charge for a headshot of this quality and type? I think this looks great and is a whole heck of a lot better than what I see a lot of business around here using in their marketing/PR materials.

I am interested in pursuing simple business headshot gigs but not really sure what my area will support in terms of cost. I would think that a typical headshot shoot for one person would be less than one hour, and in most cases the subject on set for less than a few minutes if they are busy.

If a person could really good at getting in, setting up, shooting, breaking down, post, and delivery, it would seem you could charge a reasonable amount and still make decent money. At least enough to expand one's photographic gear collection.

Thoughts on the matter? I am sure I am way off base, let me know how and where. Thanks!

bmaxphoto wrote in post #15887014
OFF TOPIC WARNING:

Just for my own knowledge, what could someone charge for a headshot of this quality and type? I think this looks great and is a whole heck of a lot better than what I see a lot of business around here using in their marketing/PR materials.

I am interested in pursuing simple business headshot gigs but not really sure what my area will support in terms of cost. I would think that a typical headshot shoot for one person would be less than one hour, and in most cases the subject on set for less than a few minutes if they are busy.

If a person could really good at getting in, setting up, shooting, breaking down, post, and delivery, it would seem you could charge a reasonable amount and still make decent money. At least enough to expand one's photographic gear collection.

Thoughts on the matter? I am sure I am way off base, let me know how and where. Thanks!

I dont know what you can charge because that tends to be market specific. The price here in Springfield IL is different than you could manage in a larger city. I can tell you I had about 2 hours involved in the whole event. I went to his house (golf buddy) carried the gear in, setup the gray paper drop, setup the lights in his living room and did maybe 30 shots. More time is involved in the setup and tear down than any other part of the deal. I think if you were to market headshots like this I would suggest a couple of things. 1) flat rate pricing for individuals. Name a price for the package for instance $100 gets you digital image with unlimited usage rights. 2) Market yourself as a custom service, we come to you at your place and we take the hassle out of it Most people dont want to be hassled with details and if you put a price on it where they can instantly consider the value versus the investment you can do well.

Sometimes I use my speedlites to shoot Pageant Head Shots when I'm out of town, so I'll just bring my speedlites and several modifiers.....
It's all about the light modifier, not necessarily the light source itself. On both of the images below, I used 3 speedlites.....

•Speedlite placed in a 48" Octa overhead about 4' in front of model as main light with a 36"-42" silver reflector underneath
•Speedlite bouncing into a 36" umbrella with black backing overhead about 4' behind model as a hair light
•Speedlite with a Gary Fong dong thingie about a foot or two behind the model and about a foot or two in front of the background to produce a soft like circle on the background. I may have even had a fourth speedlite with another Gary Fong dong thingie on the green background in order to produce two spot light patterns.....

gonzogolf wrote in post #15886292
No reflections were harmed in post I kept the key light on the left far enough to the side that I didnt get reflections from it, and the fill light just high enough that the flash didnt reflect back at the lens. Since light and therefore reflections bounce at the opposite angle they hit a reflective surface (think of a pool ball hitting the rail) all you have to do is move the light up or down so that the reflections go below the lens axis. Because his lenses were slightly curved you can see minor reflections on the edges of the lenses, its almost impossible not to get a tiny bit of reflections on that type of lens, but they aren't bothersome.

Sacadelic wrote in post #15884953
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=E7KAGLOi6tk

watch that.. might help

Thank you for your helpful responses.

Wow... Gonzo and Loft, Awesome samples!! Thanks for all the setup details.