Table Of Content

Head jeff smith s ’ and guide to Shoulders portrait photography Amherst Media ® PUBLISHEROFPHOTOGRAPHYBOOKS Copyright©2009byJeffSmith. Allrightsreserved. Publishedby: AmherstMedia,Inc. P.O.Box586 Buffalo,N.Y.14226 Fax:716-874-4508 www.AmherstMedia.com Publisher:CraigAlesse SeniorEditor/ProductionManager:MichellePerkins AssistantEditor:BarbaraA.Lynch-Johnt EditorialAssistancefrom:JohnS.Loder,CareyA.Maines,C.A.Schweizer ISBN-13:978-1-58428-256-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008942241 PrintedinKorea. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,stored,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopied,recordedorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenconsentfromthepublisher. NoticeofDisclaimer:Theinformationcontainedinthisbookisbasedontheauthor’sexperienceandopinions.Theauthor andpublisherwillnotbeheldliablefortheuseormisuseoftheinformationinthisbook. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3. Clothing Selection ........................24 Why Head and Shoulders Portraits Sell ..........6 ClothingGuidelines ..........................24 LongSleeves .............................24 1. Creating Portraits by Design ................7 BlackandWhiteClothing ...................24 It’sAboutThem,NotYou ......................7 MeetingYourClients’NeedsandDesires ...........8 BusinessandCommunication ...................12 CreatingWhattheClientDesires ................12 MeetingClientDesiresMeansMakingMoney ......13 2. Tools of the Trade ........................14 ThinkCreatively.............................15 CameraSelection ............................16 CameraSettings .............................16 JPEGFileFormatintheStudio ...............16 CustomWhiteBalance ...................16 ConsistentExposures ....................17 OccasionsforShootingRAWFiles ............18 LensSelection ..............................18 CameraSupport .............................19 SubjectSeating..............................21 AFan ...................................21 Backgrounds ...............................22 WorkwithanAssistant ........................22 BeautyProducts .............................23 FoodandBeverages ..........................23 MoretoCome... ...........................23 CommonProblems ..........................26 UsingCompleteSets .........................33 PoorFit .................................27 MovingAhead ..............................36 WrongUndergarments .....................27 UnkemptClothing ........................27 5. Lighting ................................37 Jewelry ...................................27 LightingSkillsEvolve .........................37 ANoteonEquipment ........................37 4. Background Selection .....................28 LightingDescriptions .........................37 TwoSchoolsofThought ......................28 AuxiliaryLights .............................38 CoordinatingwiththeImageDesign .............29 Low-KeySetups ..........................38 Contrast ................................29 BackgroundLight .......................38 Color...................................31 HairLight .............................39 LinesandTexture .........................32 AdditionalAccentHairLights ..............40 ReflectorUndertheSubject ...............40 High-KeySetups ..........................40 BackgroundLight .......................40 FillLight ..................................41 MainLight .................................42 DistancetotheSubject .....................42 HeightandAngle .........................42 AnIndividualizedApproach .................43 SizeoftheLight ..........................44 LightModifiers ...........................44 FeatheringtheLight .......................44 TestYourLightingTools ......................44 ConsiderUniqueSources ......................47 Parabolics ...............................47 Spotlights ...............................49 LightingforClose-Ups .......................51 ButterflyLighting .........................51 RingLighting ............................55 You’reSellingMemories ......................55 6. Posing..................................57 TheHeadandFace ..........................57 TheFaceTurnedTowardtheMainLight .......57 LowertheChin,LosetheCatchlights ..........58 ThePositionoftheEyes ....................58 TheTiltoftheHead .......................60 TheTraditionalRules ....................62 TheRealRule ..........................62 LongHair .............................64 FortheGuys ...........................65 4JEFFSMITH’SGUIDETOHEADANDSHOULDERSPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY TheNeck ...............................65 TheShouldersandArms ......................66 TheShoulders ............................66 TheArms ...............................67 TheHands .................................70 TheExpression .............................72 Mirroring ...............................73 ThePerfectSmile .........................74 CorrectivePosing ............................78 Don’tRelyonDigitalFixes ..................78 ExplainingProblemswithTact ...............80 CommonProblemsandSolutions .............81 DoubleChin ...........................81 WideorNarrowFaces ....................82 Ears ..................................82 Noses ................................83 Eyes .................................83 Don’tTrytoPleaseEveryone .................111 Eyeglasses .............................83 TakeControlofYourBusiness .................112 Baldness ..............................85 LargerBodySize ........................85 9. Postproduction .........................114 PosingStyles ...............................86 DelegatePostproduction .....................114 BusinessorYearbookPoses ..................86 StandardizeYourProcedures ..................116 RestingPoses ............................87 OurApproachtoEnhancement ................116 GlamorousPoses ..........................89 TheSkin ...............................116 ShowMoreoftheBackground..................92 TheEyes ...............................117 Variations ..................................93 Shadowing .............................117 BeObservant ...............................97 AndThat’sIt! ...........................117 OurApproachtoCorrection ..................117 7. Working on Location ......................98 LookforSimpleFixes .....................117 CoordinatingtheClothingandtheLocation .......98 ForHeavySubjects .......................117 IncludingtheBackground ....................100 Liquify ..............................117 Lighting ..................................102 Stretching ............................117 SkiptheOn-CameraFlash ..................102 Vignetting ..............................118 StudioFlash ............................103 ClientsPayforOtherCorrections ............120 Reflectors ..............................104 PreventCopying ...........................120 LookattheSubject’sEyes ..................106 AddYourLogo ..........................120 InShort... ..............................106 AddTexturetothePrints ..................121 StopSellingSinglePortraits .................122 8. Customer Service .......................107 DonkeysandLapdogs .......................107 In Closing ................................123 EstablishaMutuallyBeneficialRelationship .......109 DefineYourMarket .........................110 Index ....................................124 TABLEOFCONTENTS5 Introduction Why Head and Shoulders Portraits Sell T hisisthetenthbookIhavewritten,andIthinkitisoneofthemostim- portantforthemajorityofphotographers.Almost70percentofthesales inmystudio(andthisisthecasewithmanyothersphotographersIhavetalked to)aregeneratedfromheadandshouldersportraits.Yet,whilethisonetypeof portrait often makes up the bulk of the income for a studio, many photogra- phers look at head and shoulders portraits as the portraits that “have to be done”forthemothers,grandmothers,yearbooks,andbusinesscards—thepor- The most requested traitstheyhavetogetoutofthewaysotheycangettothemoreexcitingfull- portraits are the lengthposes. In the senior-portrait market, the full-length pose is often looked at as the close-up shots, not the waytosetyourselfapartfromthecontractedstudiothattypicallydoesn’toffer full-length poses. this type of image. Yet, while we offer everything to every client, the most requested portraits are the close-up shots that we will be discussing shortly, not thefull-lengthposes.Andastheaveragesizeofourclientsseemstokeepget- tinglarger,Ican’timaginethisisatrendthatisgoingtochange.Atightclose- upofthefacecanbealoteasierontheegothanafull-lengthimage. Keepinmind,Ilookataheadandshouldersimageasanimagewithalarger facialsizethatiscroppedsomewhereabovethewaistline(atleastinmostcases). Youwillfindthat,indealingwithyourclients,thefacialsizeismuchmoreim- portant in most images than exactly where the portrait is cropped. As you’ll see, I often pose a subject for a full or three-quarter length pose that can also becomposedasabeautifulclose-up.Looserframingforayearbookorbusiness portrait(slightlyabovethewaist)alsogivesmecroppingoptionsthatframing atthetopoftheshouldersdoesnot. Intheupcomingchapters,wearegoingtolookateachaspectofdesigning a head and shoulders portrait that not only looks beautiful but pleases your clients.Thatisthekeytosuccessinphotography—whateverkindofportraityou specializeincreating. 6JEFFSMITH’SGUIDETOHEADANDSHOULDERSPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY 1. Creating Portraits by Design It’s About Them, Not You To design an effective, salable portrait you must understand many factors and make many decisions. The first and most important consideration is one that manyyoungphotographerscompletelyoverlook—andit’swhysomanyofthem nevermakeittobeanoldphotographerlikeme.Themostimportantconsid- Success in portrait photography is about erationindesigningaportraitisthepersonyouaredesigningtheportraitfor. deliveringwhatyourclientswant. If you don’t understand precisely what their expectations of the portrait are, you’llneverbeabletomeetthoseexpectations. Judging by the e-mails I receive, this approach—my philosophy of putting business decisions (like pleasing the client) above the personal artistic choices thatImightotherwisemake—causesconcernamongsomeyoungerphotogra- phersandphotographyteachers.Manyoftheseyoungerphotographersremind meofwhenmyhigh-school-agesoncommentedthathewasgoingtoownhis ownbusinessbecausehedidn’twantabosstellinghimwhattodoallthetime. Iexplainedtohimthat,tobeasuccessfulbusinesspersonandownacompany, you don’t just have one person telling you what to do, you have every person walking through your door telling you what to do. If you are going to keep your business running, you had better listen and make it your highest priority togiveeachclientwhattheytrulywant. It’snotaboutus,it’saboutthem.Ifyouhaveahardtimewiththatconcept, Icanguaranteethatyouwillfinditnearlyimpossibletobesuccessfulinthispro- fession.TheideasIpresentherearetakenfromasuccessfulworkingstudiothat hasbeeninbusinessforovertwenty-threeyears.Thatsaid,allanyphotographer (myselfincluded)reallyknowsiswhatisworkingforhisorherclientsinthearea theyworkin.SoIencourageyoutotesttheseideas;usetheideasthatworkand throwoutthosethatdon’t. Meeting Your Clients’ Needs and Desires What does the client expect and why is he or she having the portrait done? When someone hires you to take a portrait there is a need, and that need has createdadesire.Withoutaneedandadesire,apersonwillnotcallyourstudio. Once they do call, if you cannot meet that need and fulfill the client’s desires, you will not be a successful professional photographer. While some photogra- phers take the time to talk with a client and understand what they desire and what need the portrait will be fulfilling, many simply meet the client in the What has actually camera room and go through that photographer’s favorite ten poses. If that doesn’t make the client happy, it must mean that they were a difficult client! happened is a failure of Whathasactuallyhappened,however,isafailureofcommunicationthatleaves neither party happy;the clientdoesn’tlike their images andthe photographer communication that doesn’tliketheirsalesfigures. leaves neither party Let’slookintothedayofaphotographerwhodoesn’tconcernhimselfwith theneedsanddesiresofhisclients.Thedoorsofthestudioopenandthefirst happy. sessionisanattractivewomaninherthirties.Shesayssheisthereforaheadshot andhasavarietyofclothingforthephotographertolookat.Hefiguresthata womanthisagewhocomesinforaheadshotwithavarietyofblazers,proba- bly needs a business portrait. The client doesn’t seem thrilled with the shoot, butthephotographerassumessheisjustareservedperson.Thirtyminuteslater heisdoneandthewomanisonherwaytotheviewingroom. 8JEFFSMITH’SGUIDETOHEADANDSHOULDERSPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY Thenextsessionisusheredintothecameraroom.She’sastunningtwenty- If you want to please your clients—and makealivinginthisbusines—youhaveto two-year-old girl. She tells the photographer that she wants a photo from the startwiththeendinmind. waist up and she also has a variety of clothing. The photographer notices that mostofheroutfitsconsistoflowcuttopsandshortskirts.Notingthatsheisa shapelywoman,heassumesthatsheisdoingphotographsforaloveinterestand selectstheclothingaccordingly.Sincesheisjust“socute”(andsomuchofher was showing), he decides to take some extra photos for his sample books. He runsoverthesession’sscheduledtimebutfeelsitwasworthit,becausenowhe canputnewsamplesinhisbooksandmaybeanewsampleonthewall. The third woman is a little unhappy because she is starting her session 35 minutes late. She’s a refined-looking woman in her fifties. She looks very suc- cessfulandthe only thingshe says is thatshe wants nothingthatshows below thewaistandnothingtooclose-uptoshowherwrinkles.Thiswomanalsohas clothing,butitisallverytrendyforawomanherageandquitecasual.Thisone hasthephotographerreallyconfused,buthethinksthathewillgothroughhis mostpopularposesandshewilllikesomething. Ineachofthesescenarios,thephotographermadelogicalassumptionsgiven thelimitedinformationhehadtodrawon.Unfortunately,theclientinsession CREATINGPORTRAITSBYDESIGN9 LEFTANDFACINGPAGE—Inthisseriesofim- ages, we filled the need and the desire of each of our fictional clients in the above scenarios(althoughthisyoungladyisofa differentagethanthoseintheexamples). WhatClient1got. WhatClient1wanted. WhatClient2got. WhatClient2wanted. numberoneactuallywantedanalluringportraitforherhusband(thatwasher The photographer need) and was slightly embarrassed about telling the male photographer her ideas.Sinceshewearssuitseachdayinherbusiness,shethoughtherhusband didn’t meet her desire, wouldfinditsexyifsheactedasthoughshewasremovingtheblazertoshow herbareshoulders(thatwasherdesire).Sheisn’tasthinassheusedtobeand so no sale resulted felt that showing as little of her as possible would be the most flattering. The from session one. photographerdidn’tmeetherdesire,sonosaleresultedfromsessionone. In session two, the young lady had just received her real-estate license and wantedaportraitforherbusinesscards.Shehadnoprofessionalclothing,soshe 10JEFFSMITH’SGUIDETOHEADANDSHOULDERSPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY