Actor Headshots - first time...

[natewatters]

Alright...this is my first time doing headshots...I just did these last weekend for a Local actor here in Portland. My feelings about them keep changing; one minute I'm happy with them, the next I feel they lack much creativity. I try not to be too hard on myself, though, as I see this as yet another learning experience.
These are a few of the 13 final shots that I ended up with. Of course I did the shoot free of charge and I think we're doing another shoot in a couple weeks.
For those who will ask, I'm using a Nikon D70s with a 50mm 1.8. sb-600 is off camera and through umbrella in most shots, angle depending on the location, and on camera in one or two frames as well. I used cls where the sunlight (or lack of) would allow, and ebay radio triggers if it was too bright.
We shot in an abandoned, burned down factory in Portland. We had to climb through the fence to get in. There is no roof and it was quite sunny with a lot of white/grey in the background - that combined with Gary's bleached hair contrasting with the dark shirt color made for some rough exposures.

Please add any C/C you may have. Thanks!

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5.

 

[Big Mike]

Technically, they apear to be quite good. I don't like the pose in the last one though.

Overall, I think they could be cropped closer to be true 'head shots'...these are more 'head and shoulders' shots.

 

[natewatters]

ha! yeah they are definitely more of the head/shouldershot than headshot. I get nervous about getting in too close. I don't want him to look decapitated or something. I'll try to inch closer in the next shoot.

 

[Big Mike]

There's no reason you can't do both. These shots are fine, but if you/he needed close head shots, just crop them. By the looks of them, there is probably plenty of detail and resolution to make 8x10 prints even after cropping.

 

[craig]

Great work! I like the array of emotions.

Love & Bass

 

[SpeedTrap]

One thing about actor head shots, always make sure the eyes are even (As in perfectly Level) They do look for that.

In all but one of these shots the eyes are not even and from my experence would be rejected.

There is a good reason actor head shots cost a fortune, there are alot of rules around them and not alot of room for creativity.

 

[natewatters]

That's good advice, speed, thanks. Some of the others were even worse with the eye thing and I definitely deleted them out. Posing is really hard for me...it's the thing that makes me most nervous when doing portraits.

Good thinking on the crop, Mike, I might do that, but I always think of it to be good practice if I can try to get the original to have the right crop.

Thanks, craig for the nice words. Of all the views on here, I wish more people would say something (though I guess I'm guilty of that too sometimes).

 

[Synnove]

My favorite is 2 but I don't know the rules of a headshot. I learned a lot from the posts in this thread.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.