Lessons

Lesson Info

Shoot: Round Face

So we're gonna go through all these things and I'm gonna show you bad and good. Gonna go through it. Great, alright. So, in this case, if you'll notice, the quality of my light. soft light versus hard light doesn't really matter. That's not a consideration, so that's fine. Let me get it super-centered. And can you give me the reflector? By the way, everybody who's here today, we put out a call and said we're photographing the everyday person showing how to flatter them. They self-designated what features they thought that they fit into. I'm not making judgements on them. And several people, it was funny, I went out to meet them. And I had seen the photos before, but I like go out to meet them, and I'm like, now which one are you? (audience chuckles) 'Cause that's my point. It's like a lot of people, you know, it's a little more concerned about. And then when I look, I'm like okay, I see what you're talking about. But when you're meeting someone in person, you don't perceive these thing...

s. So I'm just gonna say, like you don't have a particularly round face, however, rounder, like I have more of an oval. I get it, there's different face shapes. Okay, so... Let's go to lighting. Can you bring it up a little bit higher? Alright. Lighting like this. Flat onto camera. Can you lower it, just a little bit, John? Okay, what's nice about this lighting for most people, is it's really glow-y. Like it's really glow-y and it's very ethereal and it fills in all the shadows. But for her, it's going to definitely make her face look roundest. 'Kay, great. Make sure the tether works okay. Alright, because there's nothing to define under the chin. So you just kind of have a rounder shape there. So one of the things I can do, we are going to drop that reflector. Alright, great. Thank you. And it's going to help a little bit. But also one of the things that would make less round would be if I see a little bit of cheek bone. Right, and it'll just elongate the face a tiny bit. So can we raise it up, just a teeny bit? Like four, five inches. Maybe a, let's do like, no, I like four. Yeah, perfect, right there. Okay. (audience chuckles) I don't know, whatever. In my defense, when the light's closer, the distance changes, it's more exaggerated. If you move something back four inches then it's a big deal. Okay, anyway. Okay, perfect. So, in this example. 'Kay. When we raise the light up a little bit and we have a little bit more to her cheekbones and to her jawline, okay. But, so far, that has just been our lighting. What else can we do? Can I have you turn... Well first of all, what side of the face? Right? 'Cause which way I want to have her turn. Do a side of the face you know you prefer. Guess what side. (audience laughs) Right, for most people, but for her, I definitely would have said that, the reason is she parted her hair on that side of the face. Like that's one of the, you know... And then, she just looks a little happy and that's cool. Okay, so that's perfect. Can you pull your hair off your shoulders, just a little bit for this one? Great. And then lean back, just a little bit. Alright, so this is a mix of good and bad. So when I turn her face to the side, a bit, it narrows it a little bit. But also, the reason I had her sit back or sit up, is 'cause as she pulls her chin in a little bit it just rounds out the jaw. Not that it gives her a double chin or anything, it's just rounding the jaw. And I want it to be a little more angular. So now, will you stick your chin out, real hard. Perfect. A little bit less. There you go, right there, perfect. And chin back towards me a tiny bit. Great, and chin down just a little. Perfect. 'Kay. Okay, so it starts to firm out under there. A critique that I would give, you know how I had the reflector there, and it filled everything in? I would like to have a lighter photo for her. I don't want it to be so dark. So the fact that I've turned her back to the side now, I could add that fill back in if I don't want it to be so dark. You know what I mean? You don't have to do all of these things. So can I have just a little bit fill, and kinda low, yeah. A little bit lower, perfect. Okay, and chin back to me just a little. Great. 'Kay. Alright. And, it's nicer for me. So notice this is the progression. Also, I wouldn't have done this if she had a double chin that I had asked her to stick her chin out and it was still there. Like I probably wouldn't have filled it in so much. Or I would keep it really, really subtle. Okay, now that, I'm happy with. Looks good. I use the beauty dish, here, for us to move around. Because it's easier. So this big soft box back here, or this big umbrella. But this would also look very nice and flattering, I would say, with, a three foot octabox. 'Cause it would be a little bit softer and it would be a little bit more glowing. Now, as I said, I've photographed subjects with very, very round heads, very round faces. She's not that, but let's say I want to go even further. Like I really need to narrow the face even more. So another thing I would do, can you pull your hair in the front, just a little bit? Okay, great, perfect. And do you mind, if I... Sure, that's fine. 'Kay, there's like a little, floofies. (chuckles) Okay. Alright, so. Thanks, John. You want this? Yes, please, just a little. Alright, great. And look your eyes at me, chin back just a little. Good. So notice, when I pull the hair in front, not a ton, just a little, it narrows the face just a little bit. So let me flip back and forth between these. Right, narrows her face. And I could go a tiny bit more, but I don't want to bring too much attention, I'm talkin' like, a little bit more. Good, one more. Good, and stick your chin out just a little bit more. Chin down just a little bit, good. 'Kay. Good. Alright, so this was just a tiny bit more, with the hair over, just a teeny bit. But I like that. Okay, so we are going to keep going to these extremes. So one of the other things I said you could do is you could change your camera angle. By the way, I didn't use a really wide-angle lens to show you bloating out the face. For this instance, I'm just doing head shots. But it would be like, if I used a wider lens and I was like here. We're not going to do that, but... Let's take a look at changing my camera angle just a bit. So, all of that the same for me. And I'm just going to get up a little higher. Good. Perfect, okay. I have a little bit more fill on this one I think. Alright, so on this one, it just makes your eyes look a little bit bigger. Alright, so last thing. We are going to make it really extreme. Can you give me short light? Okay, so short light is when we pull the light all the way to a back angle. Like I said, I would do this maybe with a three-foot octa. Great, and I'm going to make sure... Beauty dish is pointed at this side of the face. Perfect. And for her, this is not... It depends on the purpose of the photo. I'm probably not going for a dramatic shot, but the example I thought of is I photographed a person who was an actor, with a bald head, but a round head. And he wanted a dramatic portrait shot. So I've got nothing I could do with the hair. Like that's not, I can't cut like that. So, I'm going to pull your hair, can you pull your hair back for me again? So let's just pretend, that's not a thing we have. This is going to be, you're going to go, oh this is too dark for her. But let's imagine a guy with a rounder head. Okay, guy with a rounder face. Well not imagine, you know, okay. (laughs) Perfect. And look your eyes off this way. Right there, good! And chin down just a little. Okay, chin up a half inch. Yeah, good. (laughs) You're like, oh that's it? Alright, so. If you notice... See how much narrower the face looks? If you're looking at that, and you're like I love it as is, that's great. But maybe the photo, you just didn't want it quite as dramatic. John, will you come around, and just fill in the shadows. And we're going to do a couple pictures. Can you do one far away? Actually, do one super far away. Yeah, just 'cause I'll do it without. So, keep your eyes right there, perfect. Alright, and then come in, John, like a bunch. Okay, there. And now super in. 'Kay, good. Great. So the reason I wanted to show you this is you can see, no fill. Makes it dramatic. If he brings it in a little bit closer, and so it's just not pure black, like it fills in the shadows a little bit. Or, you can come in real close and there's still that narrowing on the face but the shadows aren't as dark. And very last one. Can you put your hair back in front again? And then do fill one more time for me. Yep, great. Let's see. And now, can you look right at me, and stick your chin out just a little more. Chin up a little, okay, good. 'Kay. And look your eyes, one more, there, sorry. And jump back just a little. Okay. So every person is going to be different. Can't tell you which one is right or wrong for her. But I just want to show you, two things. Let's do, this one. So in the first shot, her head is a lot rounder. The face is a lot rounder, it's a little bit more narrowed in that one. Or when we have... Like this. So in this shot, we turned her head to the side, and used the hair to narrow the face. With the head turned, it makes it look narrower. The hair makes it narrower. And here, it's because of the light and the head turn. And then you figure out, do you want a white background? Do you want a softer light? Do you want more fill, do you want less fill? Those are the things you're going through. So, questions for you guys, those are... That's kind of like my general check list. And this would be someone who has a fuller figure face. Maybe fuller cheeks, or a round head. Anything in that category. Yeah. I do have some from online. And so, just to clarify, this is from Scott Lewis. Who said, what exactly are you looking for, when you're asking her to raise or lower her chin? Are you looking at the shadow that's being created in the light? Sure, okay so I'm looking at two things. One, if she raises or lowers her chin, it changes where the face looks more circular or more angular. Like there's a certain point, where if she raises it up, it puts it back to circle. And then pulls it down, and it narrows it out. So it's actually just kinda changing that shape. The other thing is if, I have her raise it up to high, I'll see underneath the chin, which if that's lit, it makes it look rounder. Can you imagine, because you're actually seeing this. So it will look round. So I'm trying to see this angle. 'Cause the angle makes it look less round. I think that made sense. 'Kay. And maybe one more. This is Lindsey, how about black V-flats as negative fill to avoid a flat face. Sure, so let's say, that in your styling, you love that really, really beautiful flat-light look. You turn the subject to the side a little bit, but man, you'd like to see some more cheekbones. Like the cheekbones, you think, would really help you out. Or maybe you've got that flat light, but you'd like to see a little bit more beneath the jawline. One thing you could do, is if you want under the jawline with flat-light, you put this underneath. Also useful if somebody is wearing a lot of white clothing, or you're in a big white room. Because what happens is the light bounces everywhere and it fills back in. And that takes us more in that front shot, where maybe you didn't want the fill. So it actually will cut the light. It's called negative fill, it eats the light up. Or, it you use flat light, thank you. I'll do a lot with window light where they're straight-on to it. And I'll turn them to the side a little bit, so I've got a little bit of shadow. But let's say you're using you're flat light and you want more shadow here, and light's bouncing. You use your black V-flats. So you can use it from here, and here, on either side. So I've got a bunch of shots that I've done that are more flat lit, because I like it, but I want to see their cheek and their jaw. So you use this. And this is nice. It's one of the few things that's cheap in photography.