Corporate Style Headshots

My brother-in-law is the General Manager of a Chevy dealership. He asked me to take headshots of all of his employees so he can add them as well as some bios to his website. I usually shoot children so this was big change of pace for me. I enjoyed it though. I've never done anything like this before, but I'm pretty happy with what I got.

Setup:

1 PCB Einstein with Gridded Strip Box @ 320 WS from above
1 PCB Einstein with Gridded Strip Box @ 80 WS from below
1 PCB Einstein with 45 Degree Reflector @ 40 WS from high/right/behind

These were shot against a White Botero Collapsible Background. The camera was set to f/16 @ ISO 200 which was enough to remove all ambient light.

Below are some examples. Let me know what you think.

http://markelbersonphotography.zenfo...99660524-4.jpg

http://markelbersonphotography.zenfo...03237090-4.jpg

http://markelbersonphotography.zenfo...70937277-4.jpg

All I see is, "Content Protected by Owner."

As I was reading your post on your set-up, I was becoming more intriqued to see the images ...then I scrolled down to see "Content Protected by Owner" on all the shots. :(

I like them...there's a nice, subtle background gradient from top to bottom, a contrasting gradient on the lock icon, and the text is clear and easy to read. I confess, I am a bit puzzled as to why you needed to post three copies of the same image, though...

:p

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Originally Posted by Sean Setters

All I see is, "Content Protected by Owner."

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Sorry! Was the font nice at least :-)

Any luck now?

Great work Mark, the middle one looks a little more exposed than the rest?? The bottom shot everything seems dialed in perfectly, very natural, pleasing shot.

One of the problems with the Botero backgrounds is evident in these shots--wrinkles. Whenever I use a Botero background these days, I do my best to either a) avoid hitting it with light or b) hit it with so much light that the wrinkles aren't visible. The biggest problem is that what you really need (increased distance from the subject to the background) isn't possible with such a small collapsible background.

As far as the wrinkles are concerned, they're really only a distraction on the first image. However, the subject has an odd glow on his back that is more visible than on the others. Did you decrease the brightness of the background in post, using a soft brush to get in close to the subject without going too far and affect the rim light?

I'm in agreement that shot #2 looks overexposed on the skin, but shot #3 is (in my opinion) is just about perfect.

Sean and Steve pretty well nailed the nits. The 3rd shot is the winner.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sean Setters

One of the problems with the Botero backgrounds is evident in these shots--wrinkles. Whenever I use a Botero background these days, I do my best to either a) avoid hitting it with light or b) hit it with so much light that the wrinkles aren't visible. The biggest problem is that what you really need (increased distance from the subject to the background) isn't possible with such a small collapsible background.

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Any experience with a higher quality collapsible? I would imagine that the Lastolite ones fair better. I wanted a gray background so I had to let a little bit of light fall on it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sean Setters

...the subject has an odd glow on his back that is more visible than on the others. Did you decrease the brightness of the background in post, using a soft brush to get in close to the subject without going too far and affect the rim light?

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Nope, only basic tweaks in LR3. These guys were hard to keep on their mark and even a few inches either one way or the other had a pretty noticeable effect on how each light fell on them (especially the rim).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sean Setters

...but shot #3 is (in my opinion) is just about perfect.

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This was my favorite too.

Thanks for the input all!

I have two of the Botero collapsible backgrounds; I have no experience with other ones. However, I did recently purchase a 12' Lumopro Crossbar from Mpex. I've been really happy with it. So far I've been using it to shade my subjects from the sun by clamping a king sized bedsheet to it. However, it would work very well being used as its intended purpose--supporting some type of rolled background material. As I already had some good stands, the crossbar has already proved a worth-while and inexpensive investment.