1. Some funky catch lights going on. I personally find it rather distracting.
2. My favorite. Nice lighting. Partially open mouth is not my favorite pose.
3. Would like to see the lighting a little more to the side, but still nice. My favorite.
4. I think your light was a little too low.
All of them... my personal opinion, I know it doesn't bother everyone, but I really dislike when people chop the tops of the heads off. With that said, nice DOF and over all really nice pictures.
So you definitely have some Peter Hurley influences here. Some observations:
1. Pretty subject. Maybe a tad too much head chopped off. Not a big fan of these particular catchlights; I think I understand your light placement logic (top light, plus two to fill from underneath), but this particular triangle of catchlights is to me a bit distracting.
2. A bit too "in your face'. I think the body is too closed off for the angle of the head; almost a feminine pose.
3. I like this one a lot.
4. Contrary to a previous comment, I think your light is actually too high. The catchlight is almost absent at the top of the eyes, and the fill isn't doing enough. Maybe just a bit underexposed.
Steve Wylie wrote:
So you definitely have some Peter Hurley influences here. Some observations:
1. Pretty subject. Maybe a tad too much head chopped off. Not a big fan of these particular catchlights; I think I understand your light placement logic (top light, plus two to fill from underneath), but this particular triangle of catchlights is to me a bit distracting.
2. A bit too "in your face'. I think the body is too closed off for the angle of the head; almost a feminine pose.
3. I like this one a lot.
4. Contrary to a previous comment, I think your light is actually too high. The catchlight is almost absent at the top of the eyes, and the fill isn't doing enough. Maybe just a bit underexposed....Show more →
Appreciate the feedback, first photo is something I really like from a style standpoint. It's something i picked up watching Peter Hurley vidoes. The clients really like them and if they're happy Im thrilled.
Good notes on the 2 . 4 as well, I will take that into consideration when I use the beauty dish again.
I really like # 1 and 3, but I agree that cutting the tops of heads off makes them less good. I've been scanning old family photographs and it is surprising how many tall people in them have the tops of their heads cut off. The old cameras had terrible viewfinders, so I understand why it happened. Modern SLR/DSLR's have much better viewfinders an this should not happen.
You're definitely channeling Hurley. I happened to take his in-studio Headshot Intensive workshop last year. It was a blast, but 12 hours a day with Peter can be exhausting - he's funny, opinionated and hyper-critical. I would recommend the class to anyone.
If he were here, he's probably say something like, "Meh...no expression. Girl #2 looks like she would rather be anywhere else on earth. Girl #1, get that chin out. Fix that hair. Catchlights are fine - I don't care about catch lights. I like the eyebrow action on flannel guy #2. Not bad." .
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