Headshot

greenspun.com : LUSENET : People Photography : One Thread

A headshot I did this weekend.



-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), October 06, 2000

Answers

Well, the place I normally post images doesn't allow sharing anymore, so I put it on PhotoNet. How do I get the url for just the pic?

In the meantime, you can see it at:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=88484

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), October 06, 2000.


good god-a-mighty, what eyes!

seriously, john, that's a very well done shot. i noticed it's on xp2. that has become my favorite b&w emulsion. even my local pdq outfit can do a great job with the film.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), October 06, 2000.


I was just about to post (and somebody beat me to it)..

It's the eyes. They do it for me.

Brian

-- Brian Reeves (brianr@alpha1.net), October 06, 2000.


The eyes are captivating, and overall I like the photo.

There are some things which I think reduce its effectiveness as a fashion/commercial headshot, though (if this were a casual shot of a friend, I wouldn't bring this stuff up, but since you've often talked about your goals in fashion, I think it's relevant).

The strong, specular reflections in the top of her hair don't fit this style--save the hairlight for senior portraits or maybe glamour (if you use it at all).

The cropping doesn't work for me, either. I don't see how slightly cropping the top and one side of her hair benefits the overall composition; it doesn't focus my attention on another part of the image.

The glossy lips don't work with this expression. I like her lips, and I like the soft smile, but the specular reflections make it harder to distinguish between her lips and her teeth.

The hair styling is also a bit off. It's not neat and well-controlled enough to have a slick, polished look (that would match the rest of the image).

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), October 06, 2000.


Actually, I agree with all of those points. I cropped it partly to fix a problem with her hair and partly because the top she was wearing was a bit distracting; the hairlight is too bright because someone walked off with the boom from the studio I was using and I had to use a snooted spot instead of my strip box; and the makeup artist/hairstylist that I was using is better with color than with b/w (and I already toned down the highlights on her lips!). I also applied too much levels adjustment to this one, which is why the right side of her face is too flat.

This one (that I also did this weekend) is better all the way around - except for the tilt.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=88665&size=lg

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), October 06, 2000.



Au contraire- the first one- with its "flaws" is the keeper- this one's a realtor ad.... by the way, which one does she like?

-- Chris Yeager (cyeager@ix.netcom.com), October 06, 2000.

Linking to just the image on from the photo.net user gallery

There maybe a shorter way, but this is how I do it:

  • Post the photo
  • Click around so it displays the photo in the size that you want
  • Click 'View', then 'Source' to display the html for the page
  • Look for something like this - li>
  • Copy that, and paste it when you post to this page, you have to change the address to - img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display.tcl? photo_id=85462&size=lg" because you're not on photo.net anymore, so the address is not local
  • Post using the modified address as usual


  • -- Andy McLeod (andrewmcleod@usa.net), October 09, 2000.

Dont read that one. Read this one.
Linking to just the image on from the photo.net user gallery

There maybe a shorter way, but this is how I do it:

  • Post the photo on photo.net
  • Click around so it displays the photo in the size that you want
  • Click 'View', then 'Source' to display the html for the page
  • Look for something like this - img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display.tcl? photo_id=85462&size=lg" it is the local address for the picture on photo.net
  • Copy that, and paste it when you post to this page. However, you have to change the address to - img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display.tcl? photo_id=85462&size=lg" because you're not on photo.net anymore, so the address is no longer local
  • Post using the modified address as usual

Remember, HTML takes practice, and usually more than one try.

-- Andy McLeod (andrewmcleod@usa.net), October 09, 2000.

Closing the bold. See what I mean?

-- Andy McLeod (andrewmcleod@usa.net), October 09, 2000.

I don't see the close of bold.



-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), October 09, 2000.



Very nice portrait of a very pretty young woman. The characteristics that pop out at me besides her beauty are the brilliant contrast and the excellent composition/cropping. One thing I've learned from this forum (including from Mike Dixon) is that space above a person's head is not always that important and in fact you can cut pretty deeply into the top and actually add to the strength of the composition. This is nice work.

By the way. I've learned another thing. It is almost impossible to show how to post images to greenspun.com (not photo.net) forums in a clear, concise, meaningful, and reliable way because in ones examples it's difficult to include the left (less than) and right (greater than) angle-brackets unless you include escape characters which makes it a pain. The best way, of course, is to examine the "source" of another's post that includes an image. But I don't mind visiting the gallery area of photo.net as you have included here.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), October 09, 2000.


Shawn hasn't changed the password, I see, so I fixed the image URL in the original post. Hope John doesn't mind...



-- Allan Engelhardt (allane@cybaea.com), November 01, 2000.

Allan, thank you very much, not only for fixing the original URL, but for brining this thread to the top of the recent answers list. It reminded me to view this stunning portrait again, and in looking I have been reminded again why I love photography so much! Excellent work, John.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), November 01, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ