Retouching - You get what you pay for

I wanted to do a quick post to try to help everyone out there make a more informed decision as far as who they hire for their photo needs. There are a lot of options in the marketplace and everyone has their selling points and their strong suit.

One thing that photographers have more or less been forced to learn over the past decade is how to digitally retouch their images. In the past these edits were done in the dark room, either by a photographer, or by a person they trusted at their photo lab. However, as you all know, in the 21st century things are a bit different.

When you are booking a photographer and they are going to be retouching the photos you are purchasing, it is always a good idea to look at their work and see the quality of work they do. It might even be wise to ask for an example of a before/after image so that you can really see just what they are capable of doing.

I was recently on a headshot photographer's website and I found this image:


Right off the bat I felt like there was something fishy with the image. The right side of his face has a jagged line and looked lumpy to the naked eye. My first thought was that it might just have been because they image was too large and the web person shrank it to fit on the site. So I clicked on the image and opened it in a new window. I was floored by what I saw.



The person doing the retouching simply blurred the entire face, and erased the blur filter over the eyes and mouth!!!!



You can see around the eye, the eyebrow was completely blurry, and on the image before that you can't even tell where the nose ends and the cheek begins!!
Here is the image so you can see for yourself just how terrible this looks: click here

This is not "retouching".

And frankly I would be embarrassed to give this final image to any of my clients.

Take a look at an image I did a few weeks ago. The first image is "before" and the second is "after" retouching.



You can see a difference between the images, just in the color balance and the overall look.
But where you really see the time I spent on the image is when you look closer. (the pixelazation is a result of saving the images as gif files for the purpose of animation)




So you can see I didn't just throw a big blur over the entire image, I took about 2 hours and dealt with every wrinkle and blemish on an individual level. The goal isn't to make a person look like they are an alien, with no wrinkles and completely smooth skin all over their face. The goal is to minimize wrinkles and blemishes. Obviously a person doesn't live to be 40, 50, or 60 without having a single wrinkle on their face. That would look absurd.

I hope this helps anyone out there who is looking at photographers. The final product you get is no longer just dependent on a photographer's skill with a camera.

Head shots

I thought I would post something else on head shots today.
I did some quick ones a few weeks ago and was running them through my workflow and thought it would be a great time to show off what my good friend Mike and I had made.

We both wanted a new background for our head shots, and instead of going out and spending a lot of money for a "professionally made" one, we decided to make one ourselves. Well, two actually.

We started out by picking colors and materials, etc. Most of that was done at Home Depot in the paint section. We used 3 or 4 paint colors, some of which were pulled out of the "oops" bin (the bin where paint mixing didn't get to the color the customer wanted, and is now useless to HD, and put on sale at a low price).

We bought a big painters canvas, although now that we are done with the project we both feel that the material is too heavy for most practical use unless you have background stands. We normally like to tape the background to the wall so that we don't have to travel with stands tho, and the canvas is just too heavy to be able to do that.



Finally, Michaels or Hobby Lobby or wherever you go for craft supplies will have a coral sponge or two that you can use for some cool patterns.
I'd have to go into the "how-to" bits later, as this isn't really a tutorial post, and I don't have time right now to do a step-by-step blog. But these images kinda give you an idea how the process went:




The light is a bit splotchy, sorry. we were under some trees in the driveway.

Anyway, I write all of that, so that you can see these:



These were my first head shots with the new background. I must say it looks pretty good! The brown is very complimentary of just about any skin tone.

So that is what I wanted to share. We are planning to do another backdrop but with a bed sheet since it will be lighter. Not sure the color scheme yet, but I'll probably post it once its done. (next couple of months probably).

Thanks for reading!

Head-shot How-to's

I thought I would do another little instructional series. This time on how to do a good head shot.

The basic ingredients for a head shot are obviously pretty simple:
1. A head (preferably attached to a body)
2. A camera with a long-ish lens
3. Lights/reflectors (optional)
4. A suitable background
5. Appropriate clothing
6. Image editing software (optional)

Putting them together just right can be the difference between an OK head shot and a great one.


1. A head
This is probably the second most important part of head shot photography. Although heads are fairly common, it is slightly less common to find a head that wants (or likes) having its picture taken. Most often this head will be in the form of a person needing a photograph, however it is not uncommon to go out and find consenting people who will agree to a head shot even if they don't particularly need one.

One of the first things you will want to do, should you be photographing someone who needs a head shot, is to find out how they will use the photo. Pretty basic. You don't want to photograph a gentleman in his workout clothes if he needs the photograph for an annual report. This doesn't really require much more explanation.

2. A camera with a long-ish lens
The camera/lens is the most important part of head shot photography. Although, arguably only slightly more important than the head itself. Without a camera there is no photograph!

Why a "long-ish" lens? This is because of the pleasing effect of a telephoto (or long) lens commonly known as "compression". Typically we think of compression in terms of backgrounds and the effect it has on them. However, if your subject should have a rather large nose, the compression of the long lens will help make it not as noticeable. Unfortunately this doesn't work for ears.

Whenever you watch a football game (or most other commonly televised sporting events) you will notice how when a player is on the screen, he/she is sharp and clearly focused while the people in the stands behind them are turned into a big blur of color. (See image for example) This blur is a direct result of a long lens and the compression it creates. This is especially useful in photography as you want the subject of your head shot to stand out and be the center of focus. You don't want the viewer to be looking at the background.

Another reason for a long-ish lens is that wide-angle lenses tend to make your subjects look un-realistic. Typically with wide-angle lenses, anything not directly in the center of the lens will be skewed or stretched a bit. If you ask photographers that do a lot of head shots what their favorite lens is, two lenses will pop up very frequently among the answers. They are the 85mm prime lens, and the 70-200mm zoom lens.
The 85mm offers razor sharp images because it is a prime lens (primes tend to be more sharp because they don't have as many elements as a zoom lens). It is, however, possible to convert any prime lens into a zoom lens. To do this, simply use the two appendages below your waist to move you closer or farther from the subject.

The 70-200mm lens is a great portrait lens because it allows the flexibility to zoom in very close to the person, while remaining a safe distance away in case they didn't take a shower that day. The 200mm end of that lens offers amazing compression which makes for very flattering portraits and head shots, but with the twist of the wrist, a wider shot can be composed for variety.
There are many other lenses that offer a farther focal length than 200mm, such as the 300mm or even the 400mm lenses. However, the drawbacks to using these are 1) super-telephoto lenses can cost upwards of $5,000. 2) The lenses are VERY heavy and cumbersome to use, allowing limited mobility. 3) In order to frame the subject properly, the photographer would have to be so far away that communication would be limited to smoke signals, walkie-talkies, and signal flags.


3. Lights/reflectors (optional)
Having lights and/or a reflector will help you to have more versatility. For example, a reflector is commonly used to reflect light into a darker part of the face. However, it can also be used to keep light off of the face altogether. Having lights means you don't have to battle the harsh sun light. Simply find a spot of shade, or use the reflector to block the sun, and you can provide your own light, however you want it to look - hard/soft, strong/weak, colored/neutral, left/right, from above/below, etc.

Typically, head shots are lit with soft light, either from a light source with an umbrella or softbox, or with light reflected from a large (white) surface. However, if the face is right or the client requests it, hard light can be used to make a much more dramatic portrait.
If the subject is a female, or if the subject's hair blends with the background, a hair light is typically used. The hair light will create a nice highlight on the subjects hair, which is flattering and also serves to keep the person's head from blending in to the background. (As illustrated by the painting/portrait to the left)

60 Second Head Shot

I was shooting downtown today when my client asked if I could do a quick head shot of her.
Naturally, I agreed.

My favorite place to do head shots is outdoors in the shade. My favorite backdrop is trees, bushes, or anything nature looking. The green just really complements people's skin. The shade allows me to use my own light, which gives me much more control over how the subject is lit.

The building I was shooting in has a nice park next door and my first thought was to get her over to the park. But once I stepped out on the porch I realized I didn't have to take her more than 5 feet from her front door.

I quickly set up a light stand, used an SB-28 speedlight, and a shoot through umbrella.
I posed her with her back to the park and fired 2 quick light tests.
Fired of 10 more frames once the light was right, and we were done.
From the time the first light test was shot to the time the last frame was shot was exactly 59 seconds!
What took the longest was setting up the light stand and flash, and I decided to change lenses after seeing what it looked like. (I started with a 5omm F/1.4, but opted to go with my 70-200mm F/2.8 instead.

And here is the result of my one minute of shooting: