I wonder if by "open" he means brighter, fresher lighting? (i.e less shadowing/natural light?)
In any case, I think this is a really, really cool headshot - makes me intrigued in the actor's personality.
I think that this would be a really good part of a 1-2 punch - this could be the "darker" look and then another shot would be the brighter, airier shot.
Thanks man. That's exactly what I do. I should have mentioned that. I do several different setups during all if my sessions. I think it's extremely important to give actors range. Not just with expression, but also lighting that fits different moods.
This is a fantastic shot, Jeff. Really great mood the two of you created here. It makes me feel a little better that even somebody as skilled as you, struggles with banding/gradation on web images ;-) The grain fix is pretty awesome, though. Now, I've been staring at his eyes for far too long, trying to picture was Kitty was saying, 'cuz I've always liked her input. It's nothing I would have noticed until I stared for far to long, but I'm wondering if it's just kind of an illusion with the whites of his right eye (our left) appearing somewhat prominent on the inside, because it's a bit brighter and there's simply more of it, because it's facing right at us. I don't know if that even makes any sense or not and I don't know what you could even do about it, because the angle of his face to the camera is perfect. But anyway, I'm probably just rambling on, which I often do ;-)
- a slight upward tilt of the head ( or lowering of the light) changes the light in his eyes, maybe giving a bit more to the top of each eye socket. It might change what you were going for, however.
Usually this angle (showing a slight slice of the left ear) doesn't look best, but here the power of the eyes draws the attention there instead.
The noise added to the second shot gives a nicer feel than #1.
Facial expression is a big feature of this shot. Good choice.
Jeff,
Love the light in the image.First thing that attract my attention when I see this image again and again is the eyes of the model and they indeed speaks a lot of things.
Thanks guys. Carl, as cool as that might have looked, it would have made the image all about the light rather then the actor I do it from time to time, but I really liked spotting the bg to create some separation.
Thanks man. I love this camera! As impressive as the d800 is there's a look to these files that I prefer. Even at 22mp I think the files in a controlled setting are flawless. I don't recommend it over ISO 200 though.
Jeff, this shot is great and you have some really nice stuff on your site... you've given me some inspiration for a studio session tomorrow night.
I've got some actor friends in NYC and I'll make sure they know you're the guy for headshots.
