The Performer's Headshot
Amber is a stand-up comedian and needed a new headshot for her resume.
The headshot is a slightly different animal than standard portraiture. You want the photo to be clean and crisp. You want all the attention on the subject and their expression and keep all photo tricks in your pocket because they might distract from the purpose.
The best bet is a solid white background with full coverage lighting on the face. Meaning minimal shadows, bright exposure, and brilliant eyes.
There are a few different ways to achieve this look, but I will show you how I did it.
I ended up using four lights: 2 studio strobes and 2 Speedlites.
The studio strobes had strip softboxes on them. They were pointed in at an angle on each side of the subject. The strip boxes are great because they have even coverage for the entire length of the face. That means no shadows and it fills in the eyes to get that brilliance and sparkle.
Behind the subject are two Speedlights shining on a white background. They are positioned at 45 degree angles at the same height, and equal distance away from the subject. Basically you want to mirror them. This will cause their beams to cross in the middle and give you a very even, flat light across the background.
The trick to a perfect white background is to slowly increase the power of the lights until they just barely clip in your histogram. You do not want to overdo it, because they might end up flaring your lens. So once you reach 100% white, be sure to stop juicing up the power.
The lighting is only one part of a good headshot. The next trick is to get expressions from your subject. The whole reason we did this on a white background with non-dramatic lighting is to show off the subject's personality without distraction.
The expression is the thing.
This can be easy or it can be difficult. I don't have any tried and true tips for this. Just some things that have worked for me.
First, never tell them to smile. That almost never works. Instead use words with more specificity. Smirk. Or smile with one side of your mouth. Show me content. Joyous. Happy. Run through all the emotions you wish to convey. Try to make your subject laugh genuinely. And once they start laughing, rapid fire the shutter to try and get that expression.
Take about 30-50 pictures at a time. Go over them with your subject. Find the ones that you both mutually like and mark them. Discuss whether you think you got the expressions they need to get jobs. If they are an actor, they may need a couple of variations. Serious, happy, sultry, etc. Make a checklist and try to make sure you nail those expressions. If you do not, do another 30-50 pictures and review them again.
Once you hit those expressions on your checklist... call it a wrap and get to editing.
For headshots, only do minimal editing. Fix exposure and contrast, maybe brighten the eyes a TAD, whiten a smile, and remove blemishes. Do not approach this as a beauty shot. The headshot needs to be an accurate representation for them to get jobs.
And... that's all I got. Bad ending, I know, but I ran out of stuff to say.
Boom.
Not boom.
The end?
Too boring?
BOOM THE END MOFO.
Photos by Froggie
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