Band headshot

[Kyle]

I photographed a Metal band for their facebook page.

Here is one of the members, the rest are on my flickr.
Do you think it looks professional? If not what else can I do to make it better?



exif:

F-stop: 1.8
Focal length: 50mm (prime)
shutter: 1/125
ISO: 800

Setup:

Black curtain for background.
Continuous light with red color filter camera left, white light camera right.
No on camera flash was fired.

Post Production:

curtain was masked out and darkened with curves
red levels bumped up a bit with curves
blemish removal
cropped to center
slight contrast with curves

[windrider86]

Do you have a specific question?

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Do you have a specific question?

Sorry I forgot about that part. I edited it.

[Kyle]

I would sure love some feedback on this... anyone?

[kristenh]

well, i'm just a child psychologist who owns a camera, so i have no idea what would be professional, but to me the dramatic lighting is a bit too dramatic. his left (our right) face is so bright as to lose some detail and the dark side of his face is oddly pink. you may want to try finding a way to not have the harsh shadow on the right (his left) side of his neck. and people use lighting across the back to separate his dark hair from a dark background- right now it blends right in. it's also a bit mug-shotty; can he pose differently or maybe hold his instrument to add a little interest?

[Kyle]

Alright thanks for the answer. I think I could try a bright flash behind him for some rim lighting. Also I'll try some green or blue light instead of red. I really do like the dramatic effect and have seem some big name bands with more 'dramatic' even than that.

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Alright thanks for the answer. I think I could try a bright flash behind him for some rim lighting. Also I'll try some green or blue light instead of red. I really do like the dramatic effect and have seem some big name bands with more 'dramatic' even than that.

Kyle, it can easily be that i am unaware of the trends and styles. in fact, i'm quite sure i'm unaware of the trends and styles. this is likely the first band shot i've ever seen. so take my thoughts with that in mind.

[BigFuzzy]

Hey Kyle..

First, it's not as relevant to ask whether it looks 'pro' or not as we all have different definitions of what's pro. Heck, some people call themselves pros and take horrible images. It's better to ask what we think we could do to improve it to make the the best possible.

Also,
As for what I'd do...
Technically:
The main thing that jumped out of me is the "floating" head issue. I'd really like to see the subject more separated from the background. So, instead of using both lights exactly to the side of the subject, use one more as a rim/back like which would help separate him from the background.

All of the headshots I saw feel a bit flat to me, so I'd work on boosting the contrast either with softer light (you probably need better lights than simple lamps) or fix it a bit in post-processing (PP). I think proper use/knowledge of flash would help this image and your group shots a lot as the lighting just feels a bit flat and you really need some fill-flash in your group shots as you've lost a lot of detail in the faces due to lack of light.

In general, the headshots all feel a bit..blah to me. Hard to say what, but they're just there, i don't feel much from them. It's probably because of the flat lighting, but I simply don't feel much from them. Maybe it's the dead center standard posing/compositions.. maybe it's the lack of expressions (I imagine they were trying to look tough).. just don't know, but they just don't hit me on any level.

Look up strobist.com because these sorts of shoots could really benefit from a bit of strobism!
Good luck!

[NicoleScraps]

If I may add my 2 cents here. I do not have as much of a problem with your lighting as I do with the pose. It just does not scream rock star/heavy metal dude to me. Was this intentional? Just straight looking at the camera and nothing more? Because I feel like with a little experimentation, you could still have a "headshot" persay, but with more of the feeling of heavy metal.
Like maybe have him doing something like the rock-on hand gesture with a smiley tongue out looking face. Or turn him slightly, arms crossed, head back looking down his nose at the camera, with a slight snarl on his face.
Do you see where I am going with this?
Hope that helps.

[graciousness]

I used to work in the music industry, but I think my experience is irrelevant to this.

I'm a newbie, by the way, so apologies if I can't offer technical advice. In this aspect, your knowledge is better than me. Hehe.

However, I am a viewer of your photograph and if you hadn't told me he's in a metal band and this is for a PR shot (albeit facebook), I would not have known at all anything about him or what the purpose of this photo is for. Now this is where the problem lies.

If you look at him, he's just a guy posing for a photo wearing casual clothes. You could have pulled him out of the street and taken his photo in a studio from what we can see or speculate. The problem is the photo almost looks like a "corporate" or employee shot, just taken with black background. It's not whether this photo looks professional or not, it just doesn't speak who or what he is.

Obviously, it's important to convey who and what he does in the photo, otherwise, you wouldn't have mentioned the scenario as to why this photo was taken.

Take the band out of the studio. Don't do the "look at my camera and I'll take the picture" portrait shots. It just doesn't appeal to their audience at all and won't do anything for their image as a band. Take their photo in action, or when they are all together and engaged with each other, take them when they are playing their instruments or on stage. If you really want their image to pop and draw the audience in, take their photo on stage while playing. This is the best and most effective images for any band, I think. It speaks in volumes. It shows them in action. This is when they show most who they are.

If the stage shot is not possible, well, take urban street shots of them. They will still be in action and gives them better backdrop for their photos.

Think poster and album shots when you take photos. This may give you better ideas and inspiration for them. Think about this - are these the photos that you would want to see on their posters or album?

Good luck! I hope I've helped somewhat......