POST YOUR HEADSHOTS!

Chris. Very nice shot.

Is it a good practice to have part of the person's head cut off in the photo? I was always under the impression that you wanted the entire head in the frame...

A lot of people cut the top of the head off. Once you have the hairline in the frame, there is not much relevant information above that. Check out Pete Hurley's work for example.

sipowicz wrote in post #17437569
A lot of people cut the top of the head off. Once you have the hairline in the frame, there is not much relevant information above that. Check out Pete Hurley's work for example.

So how would you deal with someone who's bald (like me)?

It depends on your style, the purpose of the portrait and if it's intentional or not

Sometimes there are rules, sometimes the rules can be broken.

For me, I like having part of the head cut off, it's my style and I think it brings focus more to the person's face. I make sure people know it's cropped and not a mistake that their head is cropped off. Feel free to look at my flickr images. All of the portraits are cropped that way.

jmarsz wrote in post #17437571
So how would you deal with someone who's bald (like me)?

Like this

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/mUKo​nb

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/mypz​jG

Peter Hurley is a good photographer, but he is by no means the ultimate authority on portraiture nor the archetype everyone should imitate.

His subjects (actors) benefit from his approach, but not everyone will or will want to.

Eric above nailed it right on the head.

Another image from Josh's session yesterday. Natty light 85L @1.8

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qiM7​kK

Alveric wrote in post #17437725
Peter Hurley is a good photographer, but he is by no means the ultimate authority on portraiture nor the archetype everyone should imitate. His subjects (actors) benefit from his approach, but not everyone will or will want to.

You are absolutely right. His work is not fine art photography and he would be the first person to say that. We are still in the headshot thread though. As a commercial headshot photographer, he seems to be one of the industry leaders at the moment. He stuck with his style and now it's widely accepted.

Thank you, Nick...still learning the ins and outs of studio light!

Alveric wrote in post #17437725
Peter Hurley is a good photographer, but he is by no means the ultimate authority on portraiture nor the archetype everyone should imitate.

His subjects (actors) benefit from his approach, but not everyone will or will want to.

Eric above nailed it right on the head.

I've learned a lot from Hurley's videos about posing and facial positions than anything else. He's got some killer tips on elongating the face and thereby avoiding any post work that endeavours to thin facial features.

sipowicz wrote in post #17437986
You are absolutely right. His work is not fine art photography and he would be the first person to say that. We are still in the headshot thread though. As a commercial headshot photographer, he seems to be one of the industry leaders at the moment. He stuck with his style and now it's widely accepted.

There's always the choice to be unique or be like everyone else.

All I'm saying is use caution in the photographic approach, as every subject is different both in terms of their facial structure and what they want their photos to look.

Take for example Mr Hurley's 'all about the jaw' approach, which I've seen over-hypedly recommended here lately: a useful approach if you shoot with shallow DOF, but if you don't take the time to consider a subject's facial shape and structure first it can wreak havoc on a headshot: a person with a strong or prominent jaw would look like a ram bow ship with such technique.

Regarding Hurley's "forehead forward" suggestion, here is a comparison. The first is based on the Hurley suggestion of bringing the forehead forward, and the second her without it. These were taken back-to-back. Taste is subjective, but I think the first is more flattering. (Ignore the weird cropping. I just took a screenshot of them together.)