Housemate head shots... (CC Appreciated!)

Austin Greene · Jan 31, 2014

I was horribly embarrassed when I showed up to an impulse shoot today and realized I had grabbed the wrong bag of gear. Long story short, I had to reschedule the shoot (luckily it was TPF and she was totally ok with it), and I felt like I should just put the camera down.

Got home, and my wonderful housemates could tell I was bummed. I had, after all, spent all day carrying all my gear around campus in anticipation of my evening shoot. Cheering me up, both volunteered for me to practice a couple head shots. Portraiture is truly a challenge for me, capturing someone's personality always seems like such a mammoth task.

So here we go! I'm curious what you all think. Two very different lighting setups, two very different head shots, two very different personalities. All taken in our 10x10x8 living room. I started using two flashes (one to blow the backgrounds), but opted instead for the subtle grey backdrop and a single-flash setup.

1. Karli

Karli by TogaLive, on Flickr

Butterfly flash, with a fill reflector held by model at the waist. Wanted her to come across as her quirky self, hence not cloning out the crazy hairs, or her strands of tinsel she keeps in her hair.

2. Colin

Colin by TogaLive, on Flickr

Flash high camera left. Reflector camera right, wanted him to come across as your average sophisticated classics major.

Your CC is much appreciated

oldhippy · Jan 31, 2014

Look like two good hearted friends you have there. And yes I get that from they're pictures. Later. Ed

bingbang · Jan 31, 2014

Indeed, capturing personalities is a very challenging tasks, probably the most difficult in portraiture, at least for some kind of portraits. Very classical pictures, nothing special to mention on my side. Probably mot the most exciting, bit well lit as far as I can see (a little bit flat on the first one, but I am not on a good computer screen, that can be the reason).

rexbobcat · Jan 31, 2014

From your description and from the image, the lighting in number one seems more like clamshell lighting than butterfly lighting. Without the reflector, it would take on the more dramatic aspect of butterfly lighting though. Good exposure, and the look really conveys a lot of personality.

In the second, I would maybe consider using two flashes unless you're against a black background, in which case you could use a one light chiaroscuro setup to add some mystery to it. But with one light against the grey, it just doesn't have the punch in my opinion. I think he needs a hair light or something image right.

Derrel · Jan 31, 2014

Would like to see both of them done with duck lips....you know, to get a better idea of what they really look like! Have not seen too many people under age 25 who do hot have a delibnerately self-affected type of expression in a photo of themselves...am losing touch with reality here...send money...

Cheer up

Austin Greene · Feb 1, 2014

oldhippy said:
Look like two good hearted friends you have there. And yes I get that from they're pictures. Later. Ed

Thanks for the kind words and CC!

bingbang said:
Indeed, capturing personalities is a very challenging tasks, probably the most difficult in portraiture, at least for some kind of portraits. Very classical pictures, nothing special to mention on my side. Probably mot the most exciting, bit well lit as far as I can see (a little bit flat on the first one, but I am not on a good computer screen, that can be the reason).

Thank you for the great CC! Looking at it, the first is a tad more flat than I think I intended it to be.

rexbobcat said:
From your description and from the image, the lighting in number one seems more like clamshell lighting than butterfly lighting. Without the reflector, it would take on the more dramatic aspect of butterfly lighting though. Good exposure, and the look really conveys a lot of personality.

In the second, I would maybe consider using two flashes unless you're against a black background, in which case you could use a one light chiaroscuro setup to add some mystery to it. But with one light against the grey, it just doesn't have the punch in my opinion. I think he needs a hair light or something image right.

You're absolutely right, much more clamshell than butterfly. On the second, I likely should have used a second flash. In our small living room, however, I was running into issues of not being able to get the model far enough from the wall to be able to blow it out without the flash spilling onto them. Definitely something to keep in mind though!

Derrel said:
Would like to see both of them done with duck lips....you know, to get a better idea of what they really look like! Have not seen too many people under age 25 who do hot have a delibnerately self-affected type of expression in a photo of themselves...am losing touch with reality here...send money...

Cheer up

If only I had money!

ShootRaw · Feb 1, 2014

There is some funny color pixilation running through the girls hair in the first shot..

scarlettjimmiez · Feb 2, 2014

The guy looks like Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter! ^^

Austin Greene · Feb 2, 2014

Pixxbee said:
Both are great. Only thing I see is the lighting in the first shot looks a little bit clammy but easily fixed with ps. With that being said I like the second a lot and think you did a great job on both. Nice work!

Thank you!