Taking Headshots for any Theatre Profile
My daughter recently asked me to consider headshot photos of her so she could get a lead role with the local theatre company. Needless to say I obliged, and after making certain my camera battery was fully charged using https://www.amazon.com/olympus-E-M1-charger/dp/B01J4X8866, I set about starting a makeshift studio from the garage. This was the straightforward part. I needed the doorway closed, so I is at total power over the lighting.
Secondly, I put in place my backdrop, my lighting, and a stool for her to sit down on. Photographing people is just not my interest or forte, but of course I needed to help you my daughter. So, with my camera put in place a decent distance away on its tripod, zoom lens through to increase depth of field, we set about taking some pictures. I expected it to take maybe an hour. An hour. If only. Every shot I took wasn’t adequate. Neither people were happy, there was some I liked, but she didn’t, some she liked however i didn’t, we couldn’t have it right or an agreement between us. That’s the difficulty with two fussy people. I attempted changing the lighting, changing the angle I found myself shooting from, nothing really made her image stick out. So over to the net I go, as well as to get advice from a friend that does this to get a living. The main one simple suggestion she made, made all the difference… How I had my daughter set up was her sitting on a stool, sitting upright.
My friend told me that instantly, we would be fighting a losing battle. How right she was! The suggestion she made was so simple, I can’t believe I didn’t look at it myself. Her suggestion was this… Instead of sitting her upright inside a stool, trying to force an uncomfortable and unnatural position and pose, stand behind the stool and simply lean dexnpky67 it. The last image might be a headshot, so that we won’t be seeing any section of her body, or perhaps the angle it can be at. But just what a difference it made. Immediately, she felt more at ease. Immediately, she felt more natural, and also the next series of shots arrived a reward.
So yes, the shoot must have taken way under one hour, rather than four it did take. After we agreed around the shot, I cropped it a bit, did some post processing and that we shot off and away to the local Walgreens to have it printed out (she had left everything til the very last minute, so Walgreens was our only option at this stage). It must be on 8 x 10 which is fine, but when the standard is to simply staple the photo to her resume, it appears a little poor. But that’s the way that they need it. Anyway, she was happy, I was relieved and she went along to her audition the following day. Few days later she was recalled for a further audition. The subsequent week she was offered the lead. It absolutely was all worth the cost. Thanks to my trusty camera, a certain amount of expert help, plus a fully charged battery courtesy of a BLN-1 Charger, everything ended up being fine.