Headshot portrait photography.
Headshot style of portrait photography is very popular, mainly, among clients from the corporate and business spheres. It provides the best visual feedback for people who are looking to create a solid presence within their business environment. Although it may look like a normal portrait, there are few aspects which really helps identify headshot portraits as a separate branch of conventional portrait photography.
- Dress code – usually a more official and business-like outfit will be required on set unless is a headshot photography session of actors.
- Emphasis on the face – While portrait photography can be captured in different lengths and variations – headshot photography, strictly, emphasises on the strongest features of person’s face, with intend of displaying great personality and character.
- Background – because of its strict commercial/corporate implications, headshot photography session tend to include simple, very often, grey background. In some instances, a photographer depends on his experience and creative vision can offer a different solution, in term of colour.
Client requesting corporate headshot portraits.
Is this time of the year when people start feeling festive and more relaxed, allowing themselves little treats. This was the case with my latest client, who got in touch to book a corporate headshot session in a studio – capturing his professional profile.
The first thing my customer saw when visited my website, was the Creative portrait photography I do, then he asked me if I can capture more business-like orientated portraits; something that will represent and give a visual appearance to who hi is – in his corporate space. Of course with all my skill sets, on the field of portrait photography, this wasn’t an issue for me; little did he know about the stunning headshots he was going to get from my photo session.
The very next thing I did, after he emailed me and we agreed on a fee, was to contact and book the photography studio. Recently I have become a member of The Camera Club, which is open only for members, providing me with access to very affordable photographic studio space – unbeaten by price in London.
The photography studio session.
Once in the studio, where I met my client for the first time, I realize what a great personality he has, from my experience I already knew that there is nothing easier than to capture great portraits of a person with a great personality; as seen on the images below (click on the images for larger view).
The main reason for colourizing my white backdrop blue was to connect better with the corporate identity of my client. By setting a strobe with a blue gel on, behind the model, I managed to turn my white paper background into saturated “corporate blue” (here it goes I came up with a new shade of blue). I also mounted another strobe light with a blue gel, which I used as a rim light helping fro smoother colour transition between the model and the background. Rim lights also help add volume to the otherwise two-dimensional product – such is the photography.
One of the challenges in this photoshoot was the fact my client was wearing glasses. Glasses tend to reflect the strobe light and the modifiers, giving some unwanted results.
As an experienced professional photographer, I knew the best way of troubleshooting such a problem. The way I approached this situation was:
- Feathering the light
- Increasing the angle of my strobe lights.
Feathering and increasing the angle of my light didn’t help me get rid of the reflections in the glasses only but also helped distribute, evenly, the light across the surface of his face.
I found many headshot photographers tend to use too harsh lighting, by doing this they literally blow the highlights on the face of their models – resulting in uneven facial colour tones.
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