Shoot: Glamour Headshot 3
Lou Freeman
Lessons
Lesson Info
Shoot: Glamour Headshot 3
All right, are we good to go right? Put this one on two and point the light straight at the background in lower on tio about your waist level so to get light to show up in the background if you want it too if you want to see the brick the exposure would be the same if you wanted to turn wide it needs to be about a stopover if you want this light to start coming around and maybe showing up on the cheeks you need about a stop in half over john the background to stops over you're gonna have rapper in line so normally I would put two phone cor v's black side toward me too completely make sure that light only touches that wall you can kind of tip a man just a little bit and then I'm going to shoot her here. So she's, what ten feet from the wall? Maybe hopefully my goal is that you won't see the texture in the wall because that's just gonna blast it out that they're so for fashion you can give an infinity stage field if there's a psych wall by rolling a little piece of mylar on the floor tha...
t white will reflect here and you have the same list background to where the model is standing say it again on a seamless piece of paper on a psych wall a wall that would curve out white if you have this lighting setup and the subject we're standing here and you're going to shoot a fooling if you put a shot shiny surface down the floor either mile are plexiglass or something like that the light will reflect into the floor and you will have a seamless white background that will disappear which is awesome she needs something to sit on and said why all right put your head so if you bought let's say you but they like it and have to strobes could you still do this with two shrubs yes you would probably want to use a boom arm and put the one light directly with the reflector point in its background and all the power probably that that one has the two lights here we should really be sufficient and all I did was pull all of the scrim off the front so if you go home and try to set this up it's just a raw strobe facing the wall and bouncing back there so when I'm shooting I usually have I'm sitting like right here at her just this comfortably in front of the light and you know I'm obviously going to knock off some of the effects of the light if you want more you can put your scream jim there and just put a stroke back there your one stop scram that we're using earlier um camera we all sing top on and we're gonna need some uh we're going to need a little fan action and what I'd like to do before we finish is put the grid on the beauty dish and trade this light out for an option you can lean on you can't hurt it just laying out toward me like that I'm glad I turned this way because you've kind of seen me and how I'm directing her on defining the jawline is key at any age range so by pushing out on down she could smile laughing is a reaction smiling you khun held steady but laughing is so if you could get someone stretched out towards you and have them laugh they'll never have lost a definition here so all right let's try one little test shot here and see what we get beautiful I don't think we have any flash it did beautiful are we flashing all around okay beautiful someone more last one way go it's really pretty I think we need teo can we turn the stool around so you can get closer to the mirror? Can somebody help her please can you stay here with me? I want her to sit so she's dropped down about a half a foot thank you sweetie can you guys go ahead and get this grid put on the beauty dish because you'll switch it up and we'll just change this beautiful get right on top of this thing she started thank you so you're going to want, you know, the girls they usually have the pageant, he usually dresses picked out for themselves, and you don't want to ask me if you see a dress beforehand, you want to get an idea of what cotton colors the dress is, you can shoot fun with color on these pageant things, but you need to see how far the limits will be when you look at the brochures there going to be published in and you want to look with the winter did and what all the other contestants they're doing, if the in thing is a white background and you want to be doing something like that if it's color on color, if she's going to be on deja invasion pays and you want to do that, if she comes in and her address is purple, you might want to use a lavender background or pain and then the make up get shifted in that direction. I would never do just that crazy color first and let her go with that, I would shift a couple options around or know that you can at least change it. If you take the makeup too far in that coloration range and that's a wish I'd change the background, then you're still screwed, so you got to think about what you're asking for it, give them something safe, then do something fun um and then rolled with it from their turn that off for me? Let's clean. You right out over toward us again. Beautiful, beautiful, very much fan. There it goes. Okay. Believe your shoulders. Broad. Chin down. Good. Turn your head a little bit this way. Could you switch hands on the ring and then put your left hand just laid over like this? I have done some cool things with the mirror where I lay her all the way down in the mirror. Why don't we do some of that? So that the reflection you can lay your hands in there and just gonna get right on top of the mirror. Great. Pull both of them up. Beautiful. Let's. Go that way. Way! Beautiful. That's nice with the fan. Your hold on. Beautiful it's still dark, beautiful hold up. Beautiful one moment way once again way turn the power up here. Yeah, please, beautiful way. We're getting somewhere beautiful head this way a little bit off my pinky, your head all the way in there a little bit beautiful and then tip over this way. So the cool thing about this is I am I'm in front of it. It doesn't matter how far over I have her go, I could just follow her beautiful put your hand around behind your hair a little bit more beautiful awesome what did you play all the way down like that it's pretty chin down and just barely touched your fingertips together like that great it's lovely could put your chin on top of your neck like that beautiful it's beautiful might be the best one we've found twinkle your eyes a little bit formal good awesome isn't a pretty brings light right into her eyes let's try with this too and then the last but not least I'd like to show you the beauty dish with the grid and I want to talk about the position of it with the silhouette of background like that so you can see are they wonder one now are we to here into there so light right now is the same all the way across both both powers is just close enough to it that you can actually see a little bit of it reflecting in her hair I think that's probably my favorite one of the hole silhouette thing let's just quickly change out the light behind me the modifier put the beauty dish on it with the grid and we're gonna want to have that right above my head's so I try to make a small setting work for may keep it intimate keep it close to the girl when I'm working of love it if I can have the makeup are standing right beside me makes all the difference in the world have asked her actually come out on the last set we're going to do together because I'm going to have her hair kind of moving around and I want her to make sure that it stays big otherwise guess who has to do that? Me you have to learn how to do some of this yourself and not let it go wrong. I've seen awkward situations with photographers kind of not having great uh conversation with the makeup people on set they bring stress to the sat I tried my level best to just make it awesome and pull them up to the level I want everything to be otherwise you're constantly struggling with who's the boss so most of the talking to the subject goes on between me and the subject if I need something done else has to make a party would you mind coming and helping me a little bit? I'd love to see her hair a little bit bigger if you if you say can you make her hair bigger she's going to get upset with you, but if you say I'd like to, I really love this, but I'd love to have the hair a little bigger and what do you think about this? Those air empowering questions for somebody to help you um and if they feel like they're involved when it will love it but I had a conversation yesterday and earlier this week with I have lots of friends that have involved with the opening of makeup colleges all over the united states we're gonna want to put that right above my head kind of, and they have told me that younger makeup artist go to make up and go sit in the other room and pick up the phone and start texting guess what pretty doesn't happen on the set while that's happening, I want if they want to be paid to be there, I'm not paying them to text and sit on the sofa and not look at what's happening here she has paid us to work for her, I want them sitting right here in the telephone somewhere else, and I asked them once and I go pointed that and I'm like, if they don't respond in the way that I want, then I usually get up walk away from the set and I stay just long enough that they're like, well, what's the matter I'm like with the phone it's about her it's, not about your phone, you could do that when you get relieved, you know you're gonna be here from two to five or whatever you have to be control of your set otherwise everybody's off doing whatever they want paying attention, you know, it's just the world we live in, but make sure that they know before the shoot starts that you take mind if you check your messages but would you really not bring that out and sit beside me are over there working? I want her hair great you know, they don't think we're fixing photoshopped they don't care, you know, unless you tell them if you tell him you want greatness they're going to bring it so yeah, I'm having can we turn this one light office that on all possible so I could show where this grid actually is is that possible? Okay, the way I wanted to just really could talk to you about this the first time I put a grid on a line um for the breathing dish on the grid, the best thing you could do is a photographer that's perfect is sit in the chair because when you sit in the chair he want to see the shadow can you split mr them just a minute just turn spin it so they can see it. You want to see that shadow and have the light even around it and then, you know it's pretty much a bright on your face, so I've got it I'm gonna position it back now above my head in a kind of paramount position and this is a twenty seven degree grid and what that does is it takes that light but in their redirected, softer light and kind of just funnels it right down to her. And if you look at this earlier, she was in this broad light that was just going kind of falling everywhere. This's going to bring it maurin to spotlight here they'll be darkness falling on the edges. It's really amazing. If you want more shadow, then this the choice would be to tape off and make yourself a square or use a smaller reflector with, like a twenty degree grid twenty degree grid could get you tobar here with the spotlight. So on men, sexy shots on guys to use a grid on the face and you have all that hard shadow think about her brits think about that edge of the black and white now that's where you can go with that. So what I want to do now is, can you take this little thing down that was in your hair and just kind of put your hair down there is? I'm going to show you something that I actually having my slide show for tomorrow about putting the light and unexpected place somebody was asking me about unexpected shadows and unexpected places, one of the coolest shoots I've ever done, I put all of my lights on the ground. And had them pointing up toward the subject and instead of it being scary light I posed all the models in these very scary poses and keep their faces into the light every shoot you do like the face first then the rest of the shot if you have your concept down you should be able teo win nicely so there's a a little uh thing you bring that little thing the sock is the professional tony just hang onto it for mom because we're gonna shoot to wait. All right? I may have to back up and if everything gets really stressed out everyone smile he does people get stressed you get nervous, you know, it's just getting there whatever just stop shooting you do what we just did talk so past it start laughing make funny jokes so that's how you how you win with that? All right, beautiful awesome let's take a peek at that so nothing has changed in the power of the light we've just redirected the light takes it a second undistorted. So what you're seeing now I see the shine on her hair all right? So I'm going to play with it it's just a little bit let's slide this light to about here so it's like on a forty five degree angle and let's turn your body to the side now put your hands in your lap great and then really stretch around lift your shoulders back chest up for head toward me like that beautiful great beautiful turn your head toward me just a little bit more awesome beautiful so we're going to take a peek at that and then I want to take the sock and put it right over the grid we're gonna lose the stop by that so we want to account for that immediately you know what I would love to do is to get this um tipped down straight down just turned the angle this lighting source to has the most awesome stand on it where it's connected you can actually turn the light and flip it all the way around the other way and it has a way you could turn the stand sideways and you can actually have the light on a stand shooting straight down which is unusual for lighting all right, beautiful try one more little combination here like that guy's beautiful beautiful your hair is so beautiful also got a back up just a tiny bit beautiful was that's gonna make a total change I think let's have a stop on the power let's go up first stop job was like we're also trained to look straight at the computer anyway all right turn this way beautiful now I kind of do like this with your life can you just push your hair back off your eye for me just a little bit beautiful hold it focused right on that catch your eyes close your mouth for me good is there an apple box? Sandy so I'm happy so now I found an interesting light so I'm gonna lower myself down to shoot up at her which is lower than I suggested to you all day so once you get into art you can see where I'm at urchin level there let's try this a little bit further aren't really kind of exaggerate beautiful awesome, beautiful awesome that should be really terrific and if we were using to fan of course we'd wheel it around this way turn your head back around this way I don't think that reflectors doing a whole lot beautiful and let's try it without the grid one last thing I have to beauty dishes and two sets of grids and sometimes I'll do a clamshell with grids and in my videos for a modern light I show you how to do that even with the road modifiers little tiny sources like that and I want to do is pair of the grid grid on grid and you're looking at a source this big but it's justin I enough to bring the face to life so if you're doing like a dramatic head shot out in like an alleyway or something for somebody who's in theater or something like that thank you um you can also work in that saying uh sort of feel with your speed lights all right, let's put the box back on that what you said kind of like this really tall he's gonna key up to the light beautiful you have a meter handy I think you should do a test should be right there are record so another thing that I have over here that I want to show you guys before we break is I keep a loop like this around my neck when I'm shooting commercially because I cannot sometimes see that every little detail and there's no fooling with this it looks at all the light that's available around you and you could really see what the image looks like I don't know if you guys have worked with one of these around your neck but it's addictive and one of my favorite things teo definitely do it when I'm shooting outside. All right, write the test for you okay be always turned the eye of the power back down to one so when I'm shooting with the grid and if you decide to take a meter reading because there's a graduation in the light from that grid if you use it on the face if you take the meter reading over here, the reading is going to be totally different than the reading right here, so just slow down and think about what you're doing before you actually shoot with that ready put it up higher, chan for me. Great, beautiful. Okay, that sounds great. Anything we could do that has dropped down the s soto about one hundred, but let's, just go with that and see what we get. Okay, just a couple more. Beautiful, beautiful that looks lovely, it's, a little straighter on a little lower. So just like you, I tweak the light until I find the pretty spot to being a great really lean out toward us. A little bit beautiful. So I think I saw a light go out in the back room, beautiful, and I'll turn you on the angle here, beautiful, lean over a little more so that here is something great. Bring her head back around here. Great. I'm directing her with my lands. I don't know if you got somebody doing that, but sometimes I do that. My voice is very soft and if there's a lot of noise around me, people can't hear it, so I will turn with the camera this way if I can't get to my tour with my hand to show the direction.
Class Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Dianne N
Awesome class! Well worth the cost for advice and expertise from such an amazing photographer. Lou Freeman is an excellent teacher. She explains and describes in detail how she is photographing, why she is doing it that way, the equipment she is using and how to interact with your subject. I can use these headshot strategies in every aspect of my photography. Thank you Lou!
Kent Youngblood
Really enjoyed the class and thought Lou did a great job explaining her process with headshots. I've used her headshot approach with natural light on numerous occasions and came up with stunning shots.
a Creativelive Student
I love Lou’s teaching style and genuine desire to share her deep knowledge and experience. Absolutely my favorite instructor on Creative Live.