POST YOUR HEADSHOTS!

totally agree with hurley's tip. that first shot stands out. pretty much any advice he shares is great as he has quite the mastery of headshot photography

Yes...she felt weird doing it, but I assured her it would come out looking more natural than it felt.

I find her forehead too big in the first shot, and she doesn't have a large forehead. I'd not use this technique with someone like Barbara DeRossi.

Hmmm...good eye....I find it too high in the second one.

What you did is actually quite neat. It's a very illustrative comparison that you can use even with your clients.

One of the things that is asked in the consutation is, 'is there anything you feel uncomfortable with, in terms of your features?' Better worded of course, but if asked people will tell you that they're concerned about a double chin, or certain wrinkles, &c. Armed with this you put together your shooting approach, i.e. the techniques you will use with that particular subject.

Going back to your comparison, you can see the following:

#1:

• The forehead looks larger –because it's closer to the lens. Careful here, if you're using wide angle lenses or normal ones.
  
• The nose looks longer, but the nostrils look small.
  
• The neck looks shorter.
  
• The jaw looks smaller –ergo, not the pose to use with subjects with weaker jaws.
  

• The forehead looks smaller –it's farther away from the lens.
  
• The jaw looks more prominent –predictable, as it's closer to the lens.
  
• The nose looks shorter, and the nostrils look larger.
  
• The neck looks longer –good for subjects with shorter necks, or if you just wanna make the neck look more fetching.
  
• The subject looks a wee bit more aloof –aloofness is directly proportional to lowering the camera position.
  

I like this analysis and see what you're saying. No single rule will apply to all situations and facial features. Point well taken, thanks!

Hurley does mention that he stopped asking clients to move their jaw forward for the exact reason you mentioned above. He now asks to have them move their foreheads toward the camera, which creates a more subtle effect.

ChrisNL wrote in post #17438475
I like this analysis and see what you're saying. No single rule will apply to all situations and facial features. Point well taken, thanks!

Hurley does mention that he stopped asking clients to move their jaw forward for the exact reason you mentioned above. He now asks to have them move their foreheads toward the camera, which creates a more subtle effect.

Now, this is mere speculation on my part, but I wonder if the frontal tilt is one of the reasons why Mr Hurley crops the top of their heads from the frame. I've no vict... er, model with whom to experiment regarding this point, but maybe you can ( ): my take is that leaning into the camera would enlarge your crown real state, especially if you're shooting from a high angle –this would be an issue with Asian people, due to the natural shape of their skulls. In such conditions, cropping the top would ameliorate this problem.

Again, I'm just picturing things in my head: I've no evidence nor experience to back this theory.

Some Employee of the month shots i took for my job. pretty basic stuff, but i think they look good for their purpose

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/odYJ​r9

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/pRVy​DJ

Alveric wrote in post #17438646
Now, this is mere speculation on my part, but I wonder if the frontal tilt is one of the reasons why Mr Hurley crops the top of their heads from the frame. I've no vict... er, model with whom to experiment regarding this point, but maybe you can ( ): my take is that leaning into the camera would enlarge your crown real state, especially if you're shooting from a high angle –this would be an issue with Asian people, due to the natural shape of their skulls. In such conditions, cropping the top would ameliorate this problem.

Again, I'm just picturing things in my head: I've no evidence nor experience to back this theory.

I love Peter Hurley's style, his lighting, and the way he can direct whom ever he is photographing. I have watched the YouTube video many times. What I've taken away from it is his composition (putting people close to the facing edge) and his crop (which I was doing before).

I have tried the head tilt, the jaw thing and 'the squinch.' I'm happy it works for him and he gets great images from it but the images I get are of people laughing hysterically... which actually relaxes them for the rest of the images. I encourage everyone to look at other's techniques and see what works for them. It's more satisfying developing your own style for your own purposes rather than getting frustrated by imitating someone else.

There's nothing like having your own style and being happy with it, regardless of what other's think.

here is a photo of Lilly, with a 5d 70-200mm

Eric Redard wrote in post #17439581
I love Peter Hurley's style, his lighting, and the way he can direct whom ever he is photographing. I have watched the YouTube video many times. What I've taken away from it is his composition (putting people close to the facing edge) and his crop (which I was doing before).

I have tried the head tilt, the jaw thing and 'the squinch.' I'm happy it works for him and he gets great images from it but the images I get are of people laughing hysterically... which actually relaxes them for the rest of the images. I encourage everyone to look at other's techniques and see what works for them. It's more satisfying developing your own style for your own purposes rather than getting frustrated by imitating someone else.

There's nothing like having your own style and being happy with it, regardless of what other's think.

Completely agree, everyone has to find what works for them; everyone is different and things that work for one person won't work for others.

And also, we all bring different things out of people with our different personalities, and we all need to learn how to fix whatever we bring out that's not desirable.

eg, I'm a big fan of Peters work, but the squinching thing has never worked for me, mostly because people just don't seem to stare at me wide-eyed when I take their photos.

I dunno why people do with peter and don't with me.. maybe cause I don't have 100watts of kinos in their face, or maybe cause I'm much more chilled than him, or maybe just because having me take their photo is not quite such an 'event' . Whatever it is, it's just not something I've had to ask people to do and when I have just to try it out it just looks silly and over the top.

Peter even says in one of his DVDs that he can only show you what works for him, and it's not going to work that way for everyone.

Having said that, it's a good technique to know and if someday someone does give me the dear in the headlights look, i'll be thinking "ah-ha, squinching time".

one from today

CC welcome. First attempt of a headshot with my son. I got a basic Cowboy studio umbrella set for Christmas along with a collapsible backdrop.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qZJe​nF