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Shoot: Headshots in Living Room

now we're going to head into a video where you are going to get some individual headshots tell us again about if this is something that you always d'oh it's something I always try to do it if time allows always try to do individual shots it does two things one I think it's a responsible thing to do if you are uh if you are someone that truly believes that photographs are you're the documentarian of some people's lives um I would hate for the mom to later say gee I wish I had a picture of little luke I don't have a portrait of luke well we just took care of that um and so yeah if time allows that always do try to do that um and so yeah and they're already up for their already in good mood already dressed and there there anyway and you might as well just give me three more minutes here dad so I think the next segment is just it's just a really short segment of us just doing some quick head shots for everybody great yeah it's dad the first one you might usually start with I know that hist...

orically dads are the least least desire to be in said photo shoot yeah I can't remember which one I started with I think I might I think I may have started with luke because he was already seated it seems like when we started but uh well he's a funny little kids he was great one more question before we roll that video do you you know and in wedding photographer say you you have a shot list that you're trying to get do you discuss with your clients what is shot combinations they do want before you go into that chute I did I did when I first started but I found that uh I know what they want and what they need and they don't really have to tell me and that's I mean you do learn with experience that you do all the combinations uh you don't miss the grand parents you put great respect on grabbing those pictures of the grand parents and the uncle that came from you know two thousand miles away just to see his favorite niece get married you don't miss those things and so I always do sit down with the bride or the maid of honor or the matron of honor who are the best sources of information for you by the way because their heads are screwed on straight during the wedding and the bride's maybe a little bit busy uh but they don't always tell you the real dealing I always ask him is there anybody that you know of that's very very special for her that we can't miss and they'll always point those people out for you so and I met actually with these families in the home itself it's the same it's the same discussion that's the same thing mom tell me what do we want to make sure that we don't miss and just ask them up the mom was in charge of this there are always the one in charge of this there's an exception but it's not very often alright fantastic well let's roll that video everyone and get your questions ready so before we let this family break apart here let me let me get some individual shots with him I want to get some of luke by himself real quick first then grab it quick head sasa look come on down and let's put you up on that stool and you put your foot around that little foot rest there you go and let's turn my training this way just a little bit whoa yeah now the toughest part for you of all time is just sitting up couldn't straight can you do that and I just kind of lean forward over your waist a little bit just kind of lean yeah yeah yeah you did it purview not turn your head to me perfect perfect perfect get adults to understand that I can't waste going let's test that real quick done good eight and a third okay again one more test five six and a half okay in the back eight in a thirty five six times so far three quarters okay good good good so let me take one right here and we just look at this face look at this kid's face our first pop is dead on let me do one more here good good good hey just for fun just set up good and call straight again and just kind of pulled your arms yeah and now turn your head to me just a little bit this way and let the top of your head just tip over just a little to the side like that right there awesome awesome you do one more this is looking really good what grade are you in what greater unit school sixth I need to make one little fix you see how your fingers kind of under your sleeve we need to get your hand out on top that's it that's it that's better much better much better much better holy toledo this is one good looking guy we're almost done one more coming in look closer there we go great I got you perfect we got it okay mom perfect but let's just turn you that way turned more more more more more more more more more keep going keep going keep going keep going interesting thing on that photograph women for me there is a weird thing that I find myself doing all the time and I think it helps I always have the shoulders going opposite the direction of the main light and the reason for that is I want to create highlights and shadows if she's turned into the light I think it's too flat to her chest becomes a big light trap and it becomes the brightest thing in the picture so by having her shoulders away from the light and then having her face turned back to the light turn turn turn turn turn turn right there I think I get a much much nicer portrait and I think something that's much much more complimentary and maybe even more salable because after all it's business let's bring your head around yeah yeah and I'm just a little great with the top your head just barely tip right there great great great you're perfect except I want to do one thing I want this arm to come back to right there just so I can say this part your shoulder right there real subtle but it really makes a difference really nice good let's turn your head a little bit further around great in your eyes right back at me good one more great come this way just a little bit down that how that highlights perfect it really looks good I got it no way go great perfect I got it okay so m j so now we're photographed wouldn't have a seat there just get comfortable there and let's turn you that back this way a little bit I'm gonna move this light a little bit um actually you know what let's move you let me move this to a little bit I'm gonna move that stool a little bit over and a little bit forward both here we go let's try that so by making that little subtle adjustment right there all I did was repositioned him relative to this because I'm up against the cell phone I didn't want to move the furniture so it was just easier to move him a way that we see is in a very small part of that backdrop anyway so that give me a little bit more direction light on his face so that was the only reason for doing all that you look pretty good setup good intel for me and just kind of lean right over your belt right toward me a little bit more and ten down a little bit and bring your head to me just slightly right there let's just try one right there and see what it looks like let me just get that set right there we go now remove this way half step and turn your head this way just a little in fact bring your feet around that way just a little too that's it right there great there you go good help one more of those you would go great oh that looks terrific I'm becoming a little bit closer I wanna back up and zoom in and that's a technique that I do often when I want to use less of my background area I can back up and then zoom in and it brings my perspective my lens perspective more narrow so it gives me a little bit more of an option on the background so there we go good and a little bit tighter right there good you'll notice to my camera's tipped very slightly I'm creating a little bit of a diagonal with the tip of the camera as opposed to having him been too too far so I can do it so like that right there he's straight up and down but I can get a little bit more of a dynamic angle of his face by just barely tipping my camera like that and you'll never know I did it but there's a difference if you don't notice if you come in and look at the the angle of his face I just barely tipped my camera to give a little bit more life to the picture so to speak so works out pretty good you know one of the one of the interesting things about that camera till there at the end eyes something I have to make very very clear I it's something I've been doing for years I found that certainly working on a tripod with a bald head I can very I can keep my hand on the knob in aiken barely subtly and very slightly tip my camera to direct a little more of a dynamic symmetry if you were a little bit more diagnose here in there I got myself in real trouble with it several years ago as photograph of miss hawaii and I had this thing tipped over and I had this great angle on her and what I didn't catch was that she had on these really long dangly earrings which we're no longer hanging vertically they were now hanging out the side so you can do that as long as there is nothing that has to stay vertical I blew this big time so it was hard to fix it so just be aware you can get yourself in trouble any questions about this before we move on to the next segment this is kind of a short piece but I just want to see if there's anything about this that we should discuss just a quick question I know we talked yesterday about what to wear on a chute you talked about wearing a white shirt user as a reflector and things like that do you plan before you go on location what you're going to be wearing for myself yes I don't really think too much about myself I know that one of my mentors when I first started he always said that b be a little bit leery of if you're photographing infants or small small children be careful about wearing too much white because they quite bright lights and you know machinery and some guys stand there and white to being doctors and it scares kids so don't wear white if your photograph in little ones because they they somehow their little brain says wait a minute I'm about to get a shot in my behind here so it's just a small thing I don't even know if it's true but it is something that at the time I heard it made sense to me so I stopped doing it so I never wear white but I do want my systems to wear white because sometimes I need a little kick a light that can bounce off their back so on the topic of clothing tony a lot of folks were asking about with this family are you color coordinating sort of your backdrops to what they're wearing but more so are you giving people suggestions are you having a conversation with a family around what they should be wearing yeah I think if you're going to do this work professionally I think you need to produce a clothing guide uh some suggested totality is that work together there are so many places online that you confined that'll give you these guides but I think it's very very important tohave a clothing consultation with your client I spoke with my girlfriend last night who said yesterday she was telling about this last shoot she had in the day yesterday and she said this woman and I sat down we went through this clothing consultation and she wore exactly what I told her not to wear and it's gonna happen they do it from time to time and it's not you needs have to go so well and you have to do the best you can and they will wear patterns and stripes and polka dots all in the same scene and you just want to scream but they're the client and your job is to try to make him look the best can you can't stop and say folks you look terrible earth ko change you can't do that so uh if they're come into you into your home studio tell people to bring three or four outfits you may not need him at all but you want to look those complementary colors and see how they work together with the background options that you have so have them bring in some options but but a discussion with him upfront is really critical for for much of the work that you will be doing so yeah question yeah we were noticing as we were watching the video and hear that family particularly had some really nice furniture there couch was really nice a couple of their items is there when you walk into a home is their reasons why or why not you would oppose them like the way that you were doing in there with the chair in the background instead of using the existing furniture kind of with your thought process on that in this case it was shot on the background on purpose if I walked in their home with the option and I could make the decision I probably would have said oh no we're going to shoot right in this living room and not even take a background out of the car so it does it does depend on are you being invited in to do a family portrait environmental portrait in their home or are you doing a studio portrait in your home studio so the decision is I don't know it depends on the client and what the job is and what is the intended use for the picture it could be that this is going on a church directory or it could be who knows what it's going to be used for er it could be that they're calling for a neutral background as opposed to maybe they don't like their living room and they're getting ready to move and so it wouldn't matter too much five years from now that they were done in that living room so there's something to be be aware of the thoughtful of you