My First Headshots

These are headshots I did of our 4H drama group (and one parent). The indoor studio concept is still pretty new to me so please tell me which ones worked and how I could have done better. Also, are they supposed to be B&W? The first two kids (#1-5) are legally blind.

#1

Not sure if I am overly fussed on the poses or colours in these! Sorry!

They seem a bit on the blue side, could stand some white balance adjustment. In the second one, is he supposed to look like he's rolling a joint? The girl looks like she's punching herself in the last shot of her. Also I think the light on the left could either be a bit more behind them, or diffused a bit.
I like the poses in #1 & #6
The boy in the chef's hat reminds me of the kid from Mr. Belvedere.

Ok, I am not looking at these on the best color monitor so I will reserve that aspect for later. You did a decent job for the most part, but lets take each one and see how we can improve them.

1. Not bad, but two things need to change, first the boys fist is pressed into his chin too hard. When you pose hands near the face you want to try and minimize both the surface area and the pressure placed upon the face. So the subject should try and just barely touch the chin to the hand, so that the face does not alter it's shape. Also that pressure causes the knuckles to go very white compared to the face. The boys eyes are off center and show a little to much white they need to be centered.
2. Nice smile in this one, you should not have the hands in it unless you were trying to convey something that we are missing.
3. The planes of her face are not lit correctly it seems that the color is off too. Her body is square to the camera, that is rarely a nice pose to work with. As stated above the hands detract from the image.
4. I think you know that the expression in number 4 is a no-go. Also try not to show the back of the hand in relation to the face it competes for the viewers attention and is too bright in contrast.
5. This is an improvement in expression but the crop is way too tight and too off center and see #4 re: the hand.
6. Much better pose great expression the shot works, but is up with the color from frame to frame. My guess is that your CB or exposure is way off.
7. Is OK better color, decent expression and pose. Her hair light is a little too hot and should be aimed higher towards the top of the head. Also her arm is a little distracting too.
8. Color not right, expression way to big and your camera level is too low. For her your camera should be about 10-12 inches over her eye level.

The eye make-up on 7&8 need correcting also the eyeliner is too thick and not straight.

I hope this helps,

Les Baldwin

Having no experience in formal (as in, backdrop, lighting enhanced, etc.) portraiture, nor the application of makeup, I may not be fully qualified to comment, but I'll try based on what I see.

On 1 and 2 especially, there is a blue/purplish tinge that shows up the most in the shadows on his neck. Actually, I think that there is the bluish tone in all, up to number 7, the photoshopped one. The pose in 5 seems a bit forced to me (?) - just my initial impression.

Number 6, I think is great! It just might need a bit of adjustment to the colors.
Number 2, I like the smile, I just think that for a posed portrait like this (versus something more snapshot-ish or unplanned) , the hands shouldn't have so much prominence in the foreground, or maybe a bit lower from the face then where they are.

Well, I hope you didn't mind me saying any of this, they're just my quick takes on the shots. I do quite like some of them, I think they just need a bit of playing with and/or pose readjustment. Keep going!,

R.ticle One

try to play with white ballance. Look to photos, they must look like reality, also histogram is your friend. Composition and ideas are fine for me.

KasiaFan wrote in post #2219896
They seem a bit on the blue side, could stand some white balance adjustment.

I set the white balance to incadecent because of my studio lights, but I used a fill flash. I also adjusted the histograms because they were all too far to the right. Would this combination cause a blue tint?

In the second one, is he supposed to look like he's rolling a joint?

Actually he is doing a Gollum impression (his specialty) from LOTR and is holding "the one ring."

Thank you KasiaFan, LBaldwin, R.ticle One, and sissi for all your input. Not sure why my white balance is off. I'll definitely work on my poses, especially the white-knuckle effect.

sounds like you have mixed lighting which is always going to cause a problem. It might be worth you getting a filter to change the flash's light closer to tungsten. Called CTO (Colour Temperature Orange) the filter changes daylight (or flash) to the orange cast you get in incandescent lights. OR you could add CTB (blue) to the studio lights to match your flash.