Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
Lesson 25 from: The Business of Professional HeadshotsGary Hughes
Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
Lesson 25 from: The Business of Professional HeadshotsGary Hughes
Lesson Info
25. Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
Lessons
Class Overview
13:07 2Getting Headshot Clients
27:23 3Headshot Pricing Models for Individuals
24:47 4Headshot Pricing Models for Groups and Companies
13:05 5Payment and Delivery for Groups
20:49 6Six Styles of Business Headshots
38:31 7Headshot Lighting Gear
11:31 8Posing Basics for Headshots
08:03Basic Standing Pose for Headshots
05:10 10Basic Seated Pose for Headshots
03:22 11Head Position for Headshots
04:25 12Expression Sells the Image
06:45 13One-Light High Key Headshot with Male Model
35:42 14One-Light High Key Headshot with Female Model
09:01 15Two-Light High Key Headshot with Male Model
10:08 16Two-Light High Key Headshot with Female Model
04:58 17Two-Light Standing Pose Headshot with Male Model
19:17 18Two-Light Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
13:47 19One Light Low Key Headshot with Male Model
16:18 20Two Light Low Key Headshot with Female Model
14:55 21General Q&A
11:03 22Constant Light: Low Key Classic Headshot with Male Model
31:47 23Constant Light: Low Key Classic Headshot with Female Model
21:56 24Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Male Model
17:22 25Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
10:45 26Setting up the Background for Extraction Shoot
10:49 27Shooting for Extraction Headshot with Male Model
12:06 28Shooting for Extraction Headshot with Female Model
13:53 29Shooting Low Key Modern Headshots for Extraction
12:28 30Basic Headshot Facial Retouching Techniques
23:48 31Basic Headshot Eye Retouching Techniques
12:14 32Basic Headshot Retouching Techniques: Dodge and Burn
07:40 33Basic Headshot Retouching Q&A
11:18 34Extracting a Single Subject
20:01 35Creating a Headshot Composite
15:07 36F-Type Headshot Lighting: Equipment and Principle
10:36 37F-Type Headshot Lighting: Execution
21:29 38Shooting Headshots in Volume
18:49Lesson Info
Constant Light: Standing Pose Headshot with Female Model
Alright, so let's do one thing: I'd like to change my lens actually, because I know that I've been using this 70- and I wanna show you guys a little bit about how the lens perspective can change. There's an 85 in the bottom left right there. That's the one, perfection! Thank you Lacey. Okay. Let's talk a minute about spending a lot of money on stuff. This is a Canon 85 1.8, I think it retails around $300. I know lots of people that buy the $1800 version of this one, which is the 1.2 and it's a beautiful lens and I have nothing to say against it except that $1500 will buy me a lot of beer and so I'm going to buy this lens because I guarantee you that if I were to show you what images I shot with this and you were to take images you shot with the 85 1.2, then I guarantee you you would be like, just like we did yesterday, "guess the light source", you wouldn't be able to tell. Now somebody who's really into tech, and really maybe a Canon rep or something, and they're probably gonna hate m...
e for this, please still sponsor me, okay? But for me, for the work I do, where most of the images end up 400 pixels, what the heck am I gonna need that extra for? You understand what I mean? Intended medium. And so most of my work is for the web, so when I wanna use and 85, I'm gonna use this one. If you're shooting a lot of advertising illustration or really high fashion and glamour for magazines go ahead and buy the more expensive lens, that's fine. But I'm totally happy with this and I've had this thing for six or seven years and it's absolutely the coolest, sharpest, best lens. Only this is, it's plastic and so, you know, it probably couldn't take much of a hit. So let's show you the difference in perspective between a 70-200 and an 85 and show you how you can change how an image feels that way. Okay come a little closer for me. Good. Okay we're gonna lower the light. How's your day going? Good. Good? Are you excited about having all these awesome new pictures? Did you tell your mom about me? Are you excited? Not yet. (laughs) - It'll come, eventually. Cool. Alright, so let's just do a quick test here. So I'm gonna be, let's do this at about 135. And I think, I'm just gonna double check on that light. Oh yeah, this is awesome. Alright, there we go. And this is at F4 I'm gonna shoot the exact same settings. Let's go, one. Cool? And then I'm gonna dangerously move my stuff. You got that? It's not a guitar pick at a rock concert, you can't keep it. I need that. Alright, cool. So I'm gonna keep everything pretty much the same. Somebody in the internet audience just freaked out because I changed the lens without turning the camera off. Sorry, didn't mean to give you a heart attack. But I'm not allowed to turn the camera off. So to get that same crop, you have to get in a lot closer which means you're gonna change the perspective of the image it's gonna warp a little bit. Here we go, boom. That should be pretty much the same. One more, trying to get the exact same look in the crop. So if we could pull up 7437, and that would be super awesome. And I really like getting in there with those lenses 7437 and 7435 would be really cool. Is that what's up there right now? Okay. So when I shoot with the 85, I like to really push in and when I shoot with this, I'm typically doing it on purpose to get that look. So I'll be a lot, lot closer. What I want you to do is we're gonna turn this way a little bit. Okay? Turn your head this way, tilt just a touch, bring that chin down. Awesome. There we go, focus. Boom, good. And two. I want you to relax that jaw just a little bit. Let a little air pass between your lips. Look down at the reflector, ready? And then I'll tell you when to look up. Okay? Now. Yeah, that's it! Perfect. So you can gonna see a huge shift in perspective with that last one. Because what changes your depth of field and your perspective, one of the main factors is gonna be distance to the subject. And with that 70-200, you have two different modes. 1.2 meters or 2.5 meters, so you have to be 1.2 meters minimum away from the subject in order for the camera to be able to focus on that subject. With this, you saw how close I got. So let's pull up, there, exactly. 7440, and if you could put that on the screen with 7435, that would be really cool. Those numbers are working better for us today. Alright, killer. Right next to each other. Alright, you see that big - let me move this out of the way. Big shift in perspective? And even at an 85 which is considered a portrait length lens, when you get in close you start to see the features. But what's really cool is, anybody notice what stands out the most? The eyes. The eyes are bigger and more present. Which is a really cool effect to try and get. I love shooting in nice and tight with that 85. This isn't gonna be something that you're gonna end up using for extraction, because I usually get in real close and cut off the top of the head. But when you want a really stunning portrait that really is gonna focus on those eyes it's really cool to get in there with the 85 and work around a little bit. Awesome, so let's take a couple more like this and then we can get ready to go to our first break. Alright, cool. Let me get in nice and close. There we go. Alright, cool. Alright, I want you to tilt this way a little bit, bring that chin down, nose this way just a touch. There we go, alright, show me a little sweetness there, a little, there we go, perfect. Lift your chin just a touch, get that light up in there. Beautiful, two. Relax the jaw a little bit. I want you to look down at the reflector. And when you look up I want you to take a slow breath in through the mouth at the same time. Ready? Now. There we go, bam. I love that look. Cool! Very cool. Alright well let's see if we have any questions in the studio, now would be a great time. Let's go ahead in the front row. On this last shot, when you were doing high key, you were not feathering. Is there a reason why you were doing it... Well, no because I am feathering but in a different way. Feathering essentially just means to turn the light off-center. And I am a little bit, I have this bounce down so that... I want them to be at the far edge of the light. So basically, in order to be direct light, her face would have to be kind of, here at this angle. So, I have it feathered down so that the light will bounce off the reflector and up in to 'em. And so you can actually change the quality of light just by giving them a little distance backwards and then you can feather it a little more this way. Plus, I haven't been messing with this a lot because I'm really afraid it's gonna fall over if I do. What would you find that last shot at most useful? This last shot? Yeah. Um, I think it would just depend on the intent. That's an expression that I really like, I work also with a lot of actors and models different professionals of all kinds. If you were shooting for somebody maybe that was a designer or a fashion consultant or you doing something, you know, it really is gonna depend on the person, the intent, their position, what they do for a living is what look you want to go for. So it's a little more fashion, it's a little more intense, and I definitely wouldn't do that for a real estate agent. If that makes sense. Alright, one more question. This is from the chat rooms. You touched on this briefly, but can you say again what is the lowest ISO that you would use with constant lighting or is it dependent upon the lumens output of your bulbs? That's a lot of science. (laughing) With these it all depends on how you want it to look, what aperture you choose. When I shoot with the constant lights, I'm typically, I'm gonna shoot between F and at the outside probably F8. Alright? So that's basically two stops which means every stop is double or half the light, so F4 to F5.6 is twice as much light which means you have to cut your ISO in half or double it. So, the least I shoot with is typically about and the most I end up shooting with is about 1,200. Somewhere in there, depending on what aperture I choose to use, but I choose how I shoot based on the aperture and shutter speed and the ISO controls the exposure. 1,600 would be my top end. Actually. Great. And I know you mentioned it, but again, on these shots what is the white balance, the temperature that you're using? It's about 5,200 Kelvin. And you set that as your custom? I do a custom white balance using a gray card. And then if I were at my studio editing, I already have a preset to manage that color. But I also really like when I'm shooting, I like to show the client the back of the camera. Especially since sometimes I got such a short amount of time, when I get my first good shot, I bring them over. I say, okay this is what we're getting. Let's take a look at this and let's see where we want to go from here. I make them collaborate with me in order to make the session go more smoothly. And I want that image to be as close to a great color balance in the back of the camera when I shoot it. Almost specifically for that purpose. Because I know that they're gonna see it. And so with certain cameras the screens might be a little cooler or a little warmer, so I will actually shoot so it looks good in the back of the camera a lot of the times if I'm gonna show an image to that client. That's great. Great Answers, great questions, great demos thank you so much. You're welcome. So Gary, before we go, I wanted remind people where they can connect with you. And I think you have a little special offer which some folks have been asking about. Yesterday I mentioned that for people that come into our studio, anytime they leave we give them a thank you card. And it's a tri-fold and it says thank you on one, and it's got three 20 percent off things that they can give to friends. And it's also got links to where they can go to give us reviews on our Google pages, social media, all that stuff. And we also offer a client an additional, high resolution, re-touched image if they leave us a review. And we've been able to cultivate really good online presence because of that.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Melville McLean
Gary Hughes is possibly the best teacher I have seen here and that is a very high compliment. His business analysis is simple and to the point. His set ups and techniques are simple and straight forward, no easy task in itself. His interactions with his models/clients are finely developed and reduced into the fewest but most important key exchanges. He teaches by example how to interact and direct. If you are a high volume photography with brief time per sitter, you might especially appreciate his tips. It is extraordinarily difficult to keep a tight, well structured class going live for so long at a time. His intelligence, wit and personality are all in his favor but it is the content itself that is most impressive. I am not a portrait photographer but I have 30 years of commercial studio experience. He knows what is most important, leaves out the rest and has organized the material in anticipation of most difficulties that arise so that it rests in a seamless, smooth, coherent learning experience. All of his practical advice is excellent. Just understand that his work is about doing a relatively large number of shots in the most efficient way rather than a lot of time spent on a few clients for a completely different format [presentation like very large prints. In fact he is especially pragmatic. He emphasizes that you do not have to own the most expensive equipment but you absolutely do have to know how to use the equipment that you already have. And I am telling you this as someone he makes fun of in his course with fancy cameras and Profoto lighting gear. He is an advocate of all thought out approaches as well as relying on skills and knowledge. You will understand how and why to make all of his key, conventional light and posing set ups. He makes everything sound simple and doable -- and with his help -- it is. What you have to appreciate is that it is up to each individual to acquire the specialized skills to make our work compelling enough to be competitive. The unspoken truth that we all face is that talent plays a key role as well and that it takes time to become every accomplished. But I have also seen concentration, commitment and hard work result in developing innate talents that blossom in very successful careers. Mr Hughes reduces every step into the clearest, most essential components. He is self effacing both as a photographer and post process retoucher but he is very good indeed and does not waste time overdoing images that cannot benefit from a larger format presentation. Everything is appropriate and practical. He has already removed everything that does not matter for his purposes for us that would only interfere with the concise, clarity of his presentation.
Roan
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to watch this course. It has not only provided valuable lighting set-ups, but also great basics for posing.!. The Photoshop extraction technique Gary demonstrated was icing on the cake. Gary did a great job teaching and I greatly admired the technique in which he taught. Thanks for a great class!
aodeal
This was an excellent class! The class covered so much information and great tips and ideas. Gary is funny and has an easy going approach, which makes the class that much more enjoyable. As a struggling pet photographer, I have been trying to find something to supplement my business with that does not involve children/babies, or shooting weddings again and headshots seemed to be a great option. After watching this class, I feel confident building up a headshot component to my business. Definitely recommend this class!
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