First headshot

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

Nice shot. I would work on positioning the lights (or use an external flash bounced) to get rid of the shadows under the hair (right side) and under his neck

Pretty nice picture....although it has a little green tint especially his neck and cheeks.

Normally, a headshot includes the entire head. If you were taking a close up of the face, it wouldn't matter, but just that little bit of the top of his head cut off somehow bugs me . . .

A reflector down low would clean up some of those shadows nicely (referencing sandy's post above), although you may like to adjust so there is a greater difference between your key and fill lights - this can give more natural looking shadows without needing the reflector.

dodgyexposure wrote in post #17446855
Normally, a headshot includes the entire head. If you were taking a close up of the face, it wouldn't matter, but just that little bit of the top of his head cut off somehow bugs me . . .[..]

Not necessarily; ever seen Peter Hurley's headshots? He loves cropping off the top of his subjects' heads. A matter of style.

If you are cropping the head, then crop it rather than just snipping it.

Hurley crops the head, so that the eyes are on the top third line, and this allows you to see more of the body as well, which helps prevent a head shot from looking decapitated.

A portrait orientation might be something to consider.

If you are going for even lighting, which is what this looks like it is supposed to be, then don't forget fill lighting for the shadows under his chin. A cheap reflector works just as well as another light, or if you are really pushed a piece of white paper would also of worked.

Keep experimenting and finding out what you like... and what you don't!

Thanks everyone for the valuable feedback. Hopefully my son will be patient with me and let me shoot him again. Definitely need to work on lighting and I'll experiment with the crop too.

Looks like rather than having a main and a fill, you have two lights that are basically the same power. Combined with the positioning this causes "cross shadows" that are not natural looking.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17447188
Looks like rather than having a main and a fill, you have two lights that are basically the same power. Combined with the positioning this causes "cross shadows" that are not natural looking.

You're correct. Easy fix too. Thank you so much for the help!!

You're welcome.

The first thing you might try is to keep one light directly behind the camera and the other as your main light close to the subject. Even if they are set to the same power, since the light behind you is farther away (at least it should be) it's apparent brightness will be much less than the one next to the subject.