Skip to main content

Simple Headshot session

On February 22, I did a professional headshot and lifestyle session with the lovely Ginny of VDS Digital Agency.

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment

Props/Miscellaneous

  • Cannon R6
  • 24-105 mm Lens
  • Transmitter/Trigger
  • 2 Phottix Strobe
  • 2 rectangular soft box
  • Eye-light reflector
  • 2 C-stands
  • Sandbags
  • Backdrop stand
  • Savage Egg Nogg Seamless
  • Hand Painted Canvas backdrop
  • Spyder Color Checker Card
  • A-clamps

  • Stool

 

 

 

The set up

For this session, I shot two basic setups, one for a headshot and one for traditional full-body portraits.  The reason I did two set-ups was that the client needed two types of photos, corporate headshots, and a more lifestyle portrait look for new letters and articles.

For the traditional headshot lighting, I used two strobes, rectangular soft boxes, and an eye-light reflector.  The two strobes were positioned across from each other at 45-degree angles and tilted towards each other to form the edges of a triangle.  I then placed the reflector between the strobes to form the bottom of the triangle and angled it towards the subject.  My client then stood in front of the reflector in the center of the triangle.  It was a very simple setup, and the one shown below.  For the full-body shots, I used the same setup, removing the reflector and adjusting the height of the strobes.


Camera Settings

For the camera setting, I used ISO 100, with an aperture of F5 and a shutter speed of 1/250s.  My focal length varied from 25mm to 105mm, with the most common focal length being 39mm.   

 The Photos

As this was a headshot and lifestyle session, I wanted to ensure consistency across the set, which were the same across the set except for a few very specific images.  I started with adjusting the white balance and then using the Spyder Color Checker program to ensure all the colors were correct.  I did tweak the color checker’s suggestions slightly as I wanted to ensure a nice skin tone without washing my client out.  I then adjusted the exposure slightly, as well as the vibrancy and saturation.  I used a medium contrast curve throughout all the images.  I then removed any major blemishes and stray hairs.  I then ran the image through the Retouch-for-Me software doge-and-burn the program to even out skin tone and polish the image.  The images also have a medium vignette to draw the eye towards the center of the face.

The first image is the basic headshot.  It is a nice simple image that can be used for items that need a corporate photo.

This next image is more of a lifestyle image.  To get this image, I had my client lean against my studio wall and then rotated the strobe on that wall to face her.  You can see the slight downward direction of the light.  I used all the same edits from the previous images of the session.  This just appears a bit moodier as there is only one light, it is closer to her, and a is at a bit lower power setting causing the fall-off.  I did try to remove the chair molding, but the remove tool just couldn’t handle the gradient/shadows in the image.

We ended the session with some casual images, just using the seamless paper as the background. One of them was a more casual headshot, so she could have a couple of looks to use depending on the level of formality needed. I like this image because it is a nice, clean, and crisp image that is professional yet casual and works well for the industry the client works in.

Final Thoughts:

This session went well due to the preparation that went into the session ahead of time.  It may seem like a simple headshot session, but I did prep by sending a mood board with suggested poses and outfits to help create the images that would for her.  I also enjoyed the session due to its simplicity.  Finally, Ginny was a pleasure to work with. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2025 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2026

This year was a bit interesting especially since during the day, I’m a government employee, which resulted in a lot of stress and a 42-day furlough.  I didn’t attend as many cosplay events with the D.C Cosplay group, now Costume and Camera, as I normally would have, due to schedule conflicts.  However, I traveled up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two photo events, one of which I was a featured photographer.  I attended two conventions, one of which didn’t turn out as expected and the other just confirmed my decision to take a break from it.  Though happily I did a lot of studio work this year, which I enjoyed.  But on the other hand, I lost my dear “studio supervisor”, my dog Teddy.  He liked to great clients and then “supervise” while lying/sleeping in his bed. I also started to work on the business side of my photography work, by investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) site to manage bookings, schedules, and payments. No more trying to juggle...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cyber Blue

On October 11 th , I worked with Dayvon on a cyber concept shoot. This shoot was designed around a pair of contact lens with a circuit board pattern. This inspired me to think about things like “Blade Runner”, “Tron” and cyber punk in general.    For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights 2 Phottix strobes 2 Phottix Rectangular Softboxes with a grid 2 C-stands Blue gels Silver garage insulation Backdrop stand Black backdrop Connectable foam workout mats For this shoot I started out using four lights. The first two were small speed lights with blue gels attached placed on the floor aimed at the backdrop.  The backdrop was silver garage insulation, which looks like silver bubble wrap. The backdrop reflected the blue light forward providing a bit of rim light.  My main two lights were the strobes is rectangular soft boxes with grids attached. For this shoot I kept the lighting very low key, styled along that of a photo of Ryan Gosling i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Return to the National Portrait Gallery

On February 28th, I attended the  Costume & Camera  (previously DC Cosplay Photoshoots) event at the National Portrait Gallery in DC.  I have a love/hate relationship with shooting at the National Portrait Gallery; it is a beautiful location due to its architecture, especially on the third floor, and I’m thankful that you are allowed to do portrait photography there as long as you don’t use flash.  What I get frustrated with is the varying colors of light throughout the building and the need to use natural or continuous light.  (I’m a flash girly.)  For this event, I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Neewer 12-inch LED light Assistant Camera Settings: This shoot was inside the Portrait Gallery, which has a no flash policy, thus I was using a mix of natural and continuous lighting, which affects settings. My ISO ranged from 100 ISO to 3200 ISO with the most common ISO being ISO 1000.  My aperture stayed between F4 and F5, with the most c...
Post a Comment
Read more