Business portrait

I'm reasonably happy with this as my first real attempt at this type of shot. I was hoping for more of a catchlight in the eyes. You can see the umbrella reflection but its not that bright. Perhaps I should have closed it down more and upped the power.

What else should I have looked for? Any and all advice greatfully accepted.

Was this just a one umbrella light setup?

I wouldn't worry too much about the catchlight but if you really want one you could photoshop one in (use google for how to).
Personally, I would crop closer and do these in black and white if that is an option....it hides some flaws and eliminates clashes in colour.
Example:

Try dropping the saturation a bit on the background. Or maybe brightness. To my eye it detracts from the warm skin tones.

The tighter crop is good. If they let you, I would lighten the lines on his face. The one between his eyes and under his left eye especially. and also clean up around his neck. Don't remove them just lighten. Like the pose for a corporate shot. Turning down the saturation on the background is also a good idea. Overall nice job for your first attempt.

WoodDA wrote in post #15966130
The tighter crop is good. If they let you, I would lighten the lines on his face. The one between his eyes and under his left eye especially. and also clean up around his neck. Don't remove them just lighten.

I agree with the tighter crop, too.
Was that his best expression? I don't think I'd be inclined to give him any of my investment money? ; D

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I only have Lightroom, no photoshop unfortunately.

I had a go at changing the colour of the background but the hair line was just a balls up. The background are the curtains in his house, I don't have any backdrops to cart around except for a king size black doona cover. I also tried to desaturated the red but it mucked with his skin tone, again the hairline was an issue and it just looked crap.

His expression, one of his better ones actually. The cover doesn't show the man, really nice honest bloke.

Full day of kids activities ahead so I'll have another crack tonight and repost.

Thanks again.

Ktan, sorry, missed answering you. This is three speedlights. Two in umbrellas, left and right. One above his head as low as it would go but still a bit bright as it's caused a shadow down his front. Maybe I need to move it forward so the shadow doesn't go right down his front.

OK, finished going through the rest of the shots and these are the ones I'll give him by the end of the week. Just in case you guys have some ripper tips for me.

1

Any thoughts anyone?

I'm going to have another crack at number 4 to see if I can lighten the background a bit more. Having a lot of problems reducing the red background without it impacting on his skin.

I think #3 is the best as there is no distracting background. I wouldn't use the pose in #4 at all.

I think the setup, pose, & expression in #6 is best; however I'd tone down the backlight on his hair and shoot it with him wearing a coat. For this guy I think looking directly at camera is best with no turn of the head.

#1 seems to fit the "business" style the most. IMHO. But the eyes are slightly OOF ?

I agree with Amamba that #1 seems to be more fitting as a business portrait.
Since you have image editing allowed, I thought I'd play around with it in Photoshop, but not sure what can be accomplished with Lightroom since I don't have it.

Thanks all, appreciate the comments.
I like what you done there Bob, thanks for posting it. I'm going to go back and have another go at the processing.

I took these at his eye level, whether he was sitting or standing, is this a reasonable rule to follow?

He wanted a few different shots, and these are the better shots from the many that we took for each scenario. Most likely going to give him these shots after I've had another crack at the pp. He's very happy with them as they are, so I may give him copies that are PP'd a little differently as well(or would there be reasons for not doing that)?

First time doing this so reviewing back I've learned a few things to put in the STRB (stuff to remember book).
Focus.
Make a flag for the hair light so it doesn't light the background.
Try a get more separation between subject and background(if possible)
Get a decent backdrop.
Focus.
Don't shoot so wide open.
Wardrobe changes.
Did I mention focus.

Did I mention how ace the 622 triggers are for changing everything via the camera? Awesome!