Portrait: Eric Cuellar, Musician

As I noted in my previous thread, I am working with A Touch of Soul featuring Shalonda, an R&B/Smooth Jazz/Funk band out of Santa Barbara, California. As part of the website I am building for them I am doing biography pages and want a good portrait of each member. I had two of the guys up to my studio last night. I shot 40-60 frames of each and then they chose what they liked.

Eric, leader, drums & vocals, was tough and knew it. His glasses were a nightmare and if you look you can see we have them tilted. We moved him and the lights around numerous ways but one light or the other always got him.

Image is "out of camera" except for resize/sharpen. As noted for Eli, the image is probably final but I would still like feedback.

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Hey Dwight...maybe a little flat on the lighting? I think the pose is good and you got a great smile out of him. just maybe a little more drama with the light.

Looks like you have a great big softbox on him...how about swing it around to the side a bit and put it just off camera. I bet a single light would be good with this...probably take care of the glare in his glasses and the hotspot on his cheek.

It is a 2' x 3' softbox and is about two feet from him. The other side is a beauty dish. I didn't want to go with one light since I wasn't really looking for anything dramatic ... kinda want the "flat" look for these bio images, but I certainly understand what you are saying and he'll be back and I'll try your adjustments.

yup seeing the softbox in his glasses takes away from his eyes. hes also squinting a good deal ( is that natural for him ) .. both combined make it hard to know him from his eyes out.

That glare in his glasses is too distracting. Either take the lenses out for the shoot and/or move the light a bit more. Also it looks a little like a double chin starting...try shooting from a little higher to flatten out his neck some.

You need to loose the glass or change the angles...

I imagine shooting people with glasses is a tremendous challenge. A nice portrait nevertheless.

Hey Dwight - I know this thread is a little old now, but would love to know what you did with this shoot - did you stay with this image or did you reshoot? I know your studio is size constrained so getting more distance for the lighting is a problem for ya... so just wondering how you worked around this. Cheers.

Hi, Mark! I used this image on their website, http://A-Touch-of-Soul.com in his biography. Unfortunately I got a call yesterday that two of the band members are withdrawing although fortunately it is not because of disagreements but rather because of day job commitments. The personnel on the website will change soon. Eric's brother will come on board and then I don't know how it will unfold after that.

Nice shot of Eli..... that one worked well. What's the deal with the lower case everything. My problem is I think much faster then I can type. But he is a teacher. Anyway, I do like the way that shot turned out. Cheers. Site looks nice too.... I assume you put it together too? You need a few more live shots though.... but really nice done site.

I didn't ask him. But it doesn't matter, he has pulled out, sigh.

Yes, I need a lot of shots, but since they are a hobby band it is like pulling teeth to coordinate anything. I have been here before and expect that it will not get better with time.