In my quest for discovering what makes a headshot look like a headshot and not an ordinary portrait, I’ve come to the conclusion that shooting horizontal helps… If you shoot a face really tight and vertical it tends to look like a portrait,but if you shoot the same face, lit the same way, horizontal, I think it tends to come off more as a headshot. I mean lets face it (pun…) a picture of a face looks like a face, and it’s tough tell sometimes what the photo was taken for. You would think that headshots were portraits, but you and I know that they have a certain look and I want to know how to create that look. I do realize that not every photographer’s headshot has this classical headshot look, but enough do that I recognize that there is such a look, and hopefully you do to. I’m going to continue to work on the subject and I’ll let you know what else I learn.

This one looks more like a headshot to me… They’re both nice pictures, but the horizontal reads a little more “commercial”.

Don’t you agree?

One thing that many headshot photographers often do, that I can’t bring myself to emulate, is lighting from below. To me, the main light should come from above camera axis. Maybe I’m being old fashion, but I have to draw the line somewhere… :+)

So here are two different treatments of the same shot. The first image is pretty much a raw exposure, with the exception of a little exposure adjustment, which I did to makeup for slight oversight on my part. Actually, I’ve been getting a little sloppy with my exposures. When I’m shooting “raw”, I know that all you have to be is close, and because of that, I’ve been a little slack on making sure that the exposures are correct. I blame this on the fact that I’m trying to pay more attention to the people and less to the camera, but when you’ve been in business as long as I have, you should be able to do both… I’m just getting sloppy.

Raw file with only a little exposure adjustment

File after the application of "the headshot" look - Notice how much "cleaner" and "high-key" the photo looks.

The second image is the same picture with a few Camera-Raw tweaks. The major tweaks are:

I increased the brightness a little and to compensate for that, I needed to drop the exposure a little. The brightness control seems to expand the exposure on the right-hand side of the histogram more that on the left side. What that does is raise the mid-tones toward the highlight side. That seems to help with the high / bright skin tones that modeling agencies like some much.

Besides the brightness control, I find that the “clarity” control really helps to clear up the complexion of the models. Models can’t have zits, ya know… :+) So when the “clarity” is lessened and the brightness is increased, the resulting photo is more model-like. At lease that’s what I’ve come up with so far. But I’m not done experimenting. Stay tuned…

BTW – I also increased the “vibrancy” control too. I don’t know if this really contributes to the “headshot look”, but I liked it in this photo. Actually, I’ve seen some nice model or actor headshots that are either B&W or de-saturated quite a bit.

Here are the two control pannels and the differences in the settings

I’ve been toying around lately with the idea of doing headshots for the local modeling agencies. It’s sort of a diversion from my normal work, but I find it enjoyable and I think it will improve my skills with other types of people photography. Most people think of me as primarily a food photographer, and that’s fine with me, but I occasionally like to shoot other things. There’s a modeling agency downstairs from me in the building here, and it just seems like a logical extension to shoot more models.

Like I said, I’m new at shooting headshots and I have a long learning curve in front of me, so I’ll try to share what I’m learning with anyone our there that might be interested in the subject too. I know I have a small following of people that rely on me for info about shooting food, and I by no means will abandon that, but I will on occasion, go off on other photographic tangents similar to my HDR travels.

So Here’s what I’ve come up with so far with regards to shooting model and actor headshots… The modeling agencies like really flat lighting. I’ve always prided myself in my ability to add a lot of dimension to my photography via lighting, but when shooting models for headshots, the flatter, the better. Sure, the modeling agencies will accept really great shots it there is contrasty lighting, but if given a choice between flat lighting and what I consider “nice” lighting, they’ll go with the flat lighting almost every time.

Another thing that used to baffle me about all the headshots I’ve seen on the modeling agency’s web pages’, is the way the faces of the models and actors are not only flatly lit, but kind of “blown out” too. I’ve always wondered just how the photographers would light that way, and I figured that I could learn if I pursued this line of shooting. Well, after a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that the “blown-out effect is mostly done in “post”. I’m not quite sure about that, but if it isn’t, I’ve come up with a way to give me that “look” in post, and I can’t seem to get it any other way. But I’m still working on that.

Another thing I’ve learned is that shooting “down” on a model has many advantages… By shooting down on a model, you totally eliminate double chins and the body is more likely to go out of focus, thus directing more attention toward the eyes of the model. The eyes are the most important thing in almost all people photography and it’s really important in model photography too.

Minimum focus really works well to, if the goal is to direct the attention of the viewer. Shooting wide open can be tricky when the model is flopping all around, attempting to give you all kinds of different poses, but the results are worth missing a few exposures here and there.

So here are a few of my early attempts. What do you think?

I don’t want to over-do it, but this shooting down thing, really has it’s advantages…

It’s hard to take bad shots of beautiful models…

I’ve been testing outside too, but the time of year is approaching when this won;t be an option.

Okay.. I had to do a little HDR to one of these images… :+)

BTW – all the models shown here work with The Talent Group