Here at The Storytellers we don’t do “head-shots”. We don’t even use the term with clients; it’s always Executive Portraits. These sessions are custom tuned to the look they want combined with our advice gleaned from over 25 years of studio photography experience.
A vital part of each session is the clothing consultation. We advise that more clothing coverage is better than less. The more skin you show the more it takes attention away from the face. That’s why we recommend long sleeves and at most “V” necks. If we’re doing any standing poses we suggest pants or a dress at knee length. Then we move on to clothing colors and picking a background that will compliment those colors. When done right we have color harmony…
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| f11.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO, 200; Lens @ 120mm |
When we told this gal about our backgrounds and mentioned our Tuscan, hand painted, muslin, in brown tones with hints of blue highlights, she put together an outfit that was in perfect color harmony and looked great on her!
Here’s the studio lighting set-up….
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| Studio Set-up |
This is my basic 3-Light set-up.
- Main Light: Photoflex, 7 foot, OctoDome
- Hair Light: Larson, 9x24”, strip-light
- Background Light: one Norman head with grid
- Reflector: Soft white, 42”, Photoflex
Then we changed the background….
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| f11.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 200; Lens @ 150mm |
We always do a series of seated poses with this level of framing—head and shoulders or a little wider—to give the client lots of choices This was her favorite image from the series.
This particular pose is one of our “Power Poses”. In this pose we have the client lean forward slightly with an elbow on a knee. This put her face forward of her tummy; when the face is closer to the camera than the tummy the size of the tummy is reduced. It’s a standard pose for men to slim them, but obviously works well with a woman that is comfortable with it!
’Til next week…..
Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman
Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com
Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com
