Headshot Feedback

[DillonGArtzer]

Im an up-and-comer with a ton of actor friends. They all love my photos and a few have asked me to shoot this headshots. being an actor myself i think i get what a headshot should encompass. Some honest feedback would be really lovely. I'll even take: "Hated it!" just let me know why as I'm always looking to improve my work.

Thanks y'all!

-Dillon

[DillonGArtzer]

Camera info:

Canon60D
Canon 50mm f/1.4
ISO - 100
1/132
f/ 1.4

[Divebum]

Hi Dillon.
Well i cant say that i hate your shot, even if i did i would not say something like that.
In this case i would take the shot with a greater distance to the background, to make it more blurred. This will give more attention to the person.

Kenneth

[GuitarGeek153]

Hey Dillon!

One of the first things I noticed is the whiteness of the teeth and undershirt. They are just too white. I don't know if it just the way the light was hitting the subject or the post-processing increased highlights, but it really detracts from the subjects face.

Also, in terms of composition, I think the wall the subject is sitting against is rather distracting! Perhaps angle your camera so it is closer to one side of the wall, and create a shallower depth of field to really focus the audience on the subjects face.

Just some of my thoughts! Hope they help

~ Adam

[graciousness]

Hello Dillan!

Not a bad photo, however, this could improve heaps by a few simple basic techniques.

- f/1.4 is too low. Lens is not at its sharpest at the lowest f/stop. Using a couple or three notches above the f/stop would have made this photo sharper;

- Focus is soft around eye area. In portraiture, you want to ensure that the eyes are well sharp and focussed;

- The black and white conversion is a bit gray. You want to see blacks and whites when doing such conversions;

- Exposure seems to be ok from what I can remember (hard to critique when you can't see the photo at the same time when posting; it would help if the photo was not attached but rather embeded in the post);

- He is sitting too close to the background. Would have been better if there was more separation with subject and background. As it is, him leaning over it has caused that shadow which doesn't help the image. That background is also not the best. Almost looks like he's sitting against a garage door.

- Composition-wise, I think I'd prefer to see him cropped tighter to make it a real headshot. As it is, his arm to the left is cut off from the frame and you've lost the balance on the image. Great natural smile, though, which is fantastic. But then the arms on the legs with his pose gives an indication of a little discomfort. I'd crop this tighter and concentrate on the framing around the face.

Anyhoo, that's all I can manage to comment on at this time. Would be nice to see another version with tighter crop and more contrast...

Cheers,

Grace

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Divebum

Well i cant say that i hate your shot, even if i did i would not say something like that.

I would tell you if I hated it, especially since you gave me permission. But, alas, I don't hate it!

Originally Posted by GuitarGeek153

One of the first things I noticed is the whiteness of the teeth and undershirt. They are just too white.

Also, in terms of composition, I think the wall the subject is sitting against is rather distracting!
~ Adam

Agree with Adam about the whiles but disagree with him about the background. Somehow it works for me though I'd have thought I normally would agree with Adam. Hmmm. Maybe because it's b&w and I often expect lots of patterns and differing contrast in b&ws.

Originally Posted by graciousness

- f/1.4 is too low. Lens is not at its sharpest at the lowest f/stop. Using a couple or three notches above the f/stop would have made this photo sharper;

- Focus is soft around eye area. In portraiture, you want to ensure that the eyes are well sharp and focussed;

- The black and white conversion is a bit gray. You want to see blacks and whites when doing such conversions;

- Composition-wise, I think I'd prefer to see him cropped tighter to make it a real headshot. As it is, his arm to the left is cut off from the frame and you've lost the balance on the image. Great natural smile, though, which is fantastic. But then the arms on the legs with his pose gives an indication of a little discomfort. I'd crop this tighter and concentrate on the framing around the face.

Grace

Grace makes some good points here and the only one I disagree with is that your use of 1.4 is bad. Yeah, your lens is probably not at it's sharpest when shot wide open like this, but had you nailed the focus on his eyes (whereas I think it's on his mouth here) it would have been fine. I think it's more a focus issue than a f/stop or DoF issue.

I also agree that something about the composition feels off. I don't necessarily agree it should be more headshoty, but there is something awkward about the way you chopped his arms in this shot.

I'm happy you didn't put his face dead center as most do. So kudos there.
Good job getting a nice natural expression from him (tougher than you'd think at times)
And good choice of making this b&w though I agree with Grace that the contrast should be boosted. If you have LightRoom try boosting the Clarity slider first.. otherwise play with your b&w setting a bit to get more true black and more true white.

Keep it up!

OH and welcome to DPS. Not everyone here is as incredibly handsome and smart as me , but everyone will generally try to be helpful, you'll enjoy it here.

[graciousness]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

I also agree that something about the composition feels off. I don't necessarily agree it should be more headshoty, but there is something awkward about the way you chopped his arms in this shot.

I agree with you, it doesn't have to be necessarily headshot. I meant to refer to the existing image, though, as is, to improve on it. I think it's the pose that is off, add to that there's a lot of background to the right side of the image. Subject just looks uncomfortable and I think he is leaning back a little which makes his head seem 'smaller' or something.

Good point about the aperture of f/1.4 - I do forget to mention how tricky it is to focus with such small DOF! That's a more important point than always trying to aim for the lens' sharpest point.

Welcome back, by the way! You've been missed!

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by graciousness

I agree with you, it doesn't have to be necessarily headshot. I meant to refer to the existing image, though, as is, to improve on it. I think it's the pose that is off, add to that there's a lot of background to the right side of the image. Subject just looks uncomfortable and I think he is leaning back a little which makes his head seem 'smaller' or something.

Good point about the aperture of f/1.4 - I do forget to mention how tricky it is to focus with such small DOF! That's a more important point than always trying to aim for the lens' sharpest point.

Welcome back, by the way! You've been missed!

Thanks Grace, can't say I missed being on here seeing as I was in Barcelona eating like a god!
Yeah, in the end there's something off about the composition (to us)..and you're probably right that some type of re-crop would probably help.