Rules of Headshots that Rule

My son's headshots are perfect.  No matter the light, pose, his mood or what he had for lunch.  He is two.  It's all downhill from here.

Lighting

• Use narrow light open loop pattern
• Most people (all?) benefit from soft light - use sources of large visible size, e.g. diffusion panel.  Softbox offers a good control over light spill.  Shoot-through umbrella is highly portable and is fast to setup.

Posing

• Square shoulders are a no-no.
• Be aware of feminine and masculine neck bent.  Then make a conscious decision on which to use.
• No white above or below iris.
• In a two-thirds side view only one ear should be visible.

Some Sources

The Zeltsman Approach to Traditional Classic Portraiture

Jessica Pettyjohn's Headshots101

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Diffusion Panels

They are awesome!  They rule the kingdom of DIY Light Modifiers through their old servant Bang for the Buck.  Which still goes strong in my domain.

They can soften the sun or bare flash.  They can be used as a reflection panel for something like this or just put on the ground for this nice cookie-cutter solution (fast forward to about 50% for behind the scene details).  It works so well, after trying one I built another.  Both are a little more than 4'x7' and are made of 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe and rip-stop nylon.  Here is the necessary attribution to Dean Collins' tinker tubes with some BTS videos of this great guy.  Building process is well documented.
Look at this one flash head-shot - compare results of use of a 43" diffusion umbrella to that of a 4'x7' diffusion panel.  The light diffused by a large panel is soft and enveloping.
The (only) bad news is that a more powerful light source (or sources!) are desired.  Need to check my Amazon rewards balance!
What works:

• Large (4'x7') diffusion panel made from PVC pipes and rip-stop nylon offers good quality (both diffused and reflected) light for about $25 in materials.  It is still relatively portable - can be packed in seconds into a 4'x8" cylinder.
• Ball bungee cords work great to keep the disassembled frame pieces together.  They can also be used to attach one such frame to another.

What does not work:

• I am starting to run into limitations of 2x SB-600 flashes.  For a high key setup I need at least 3, better 4.   But this has (almost) nothing to do with the subject.

Burning Man 2010

Jump right to the photos: Tentura Camp, Reverbia Camp, Center Camp, Playa & Esplanade.

It all started with a loss.  20 min before the departure, while messing with my lesser body (Rebel XT) I dropped it on the floor lens down.  As a result the Sigma 30mm lens could no longer focus on objects closer than about 100 feet.  Bummer!  And this was no more than 3 feet over a cork floor!  This is my first equipment loss due to breakage. So I had to substitute Sigma for Canon 28-105.  The good news is I am not tempted to replace the XT lens as I have only one left!
I also brought D90 with Tokina 11-16 2.8 and Nikon 85mm 1.8 as well as flashes (2x SB600), stands, umbrellas and a tripod.  Both bodies were treated to a gaffer tape wrap to provide at least some protection against dust.  Boy, was it needed!
What worked:

• Gaffer taping the camera body.  
• I wore Lowepro off trail beltpack to protect camera - love their slip-lock system.  I used D90 only in the clear weather, Rebel XT at all other times. 
• Again confirmed that CLS with off-camera flash (two of them actually) offers a great fill in the sun.  Harsh unmodified light from flashes combined with harsh sun at the subject's back opens up shadows and is barely noticeable. And with sun in the back there is no squinting.
• My flash rig!  It was a hit!  Pictures to come.
• I am a big fan of wide angle glass.  Tokina worked wonderfully.  Love its constant aperture when zooming.  Most pictures taken at zoom extremes - either 11 or 16 - more of 16.
• Sensor and lens cleaning with Rocket blaster followed by wet sensor cleaning with swabs with Eclipse. XT sensor and lens are now cleaner than before the trip.  D90 did not even need wet cleaning!
• Use a small hand-held flash light as auto-focus assist light on steroids.
• Shemagh rules the desert!  I wore it damp around my neck for cooling in the clear weather.  In a dust storm it offers the best protection.  I can now put it on with my eyes closed.
• Mountain View Surplus as a source of gear - from goggles to MOLLE vests.  I look forward to PALS-based customizable photo vest.

What did not work:

• A friend who tried to protect his 50D with rainsleeve had it torn in one day.
• Twist on/off on mini maglite (I use it as a auto-focus assist light) proved to be hard to execute with one hand and is unreliable.

Burning Man 2010 - Here I Come!

Work on Tentura camp and vehicle is almost complete! Installation of the support wheels proved to be a tricky craft mastered only in painful iterations.  Now we need to disassemble the mutant vehicle and to transport the ATV, platform and the dome to Black Rock City.  Will I be really able to sleep next to a working generator and amps/speakers blasting the music all night?  Really?  Hopefully my pack list is complete.
I looked into a prior art of Burning Man photography and  was amazed how restrictive the choice of subjects is - camp environment is very cluttered and therefore there are very few photos taken there.  I hope that a canopy with walls will offer a workaround for me.  Lauren Randolph is the most exciting photog I ran into while researching the subject of Burning Man photography.  I am fascinated with her discipline of using an extremely restricted pallet of tools to such an awesome effect.
After debating with myself for ages what equipment to take I arrived at this plan:  I am taking an aging Rebel XT body with a Sigma 30mm 1.4.  I will totally cover it with gaffer tape in hope to protect it from elements.  In the past efforts like these were not particularly successful.  On the downside this plan limits me to a single normal lens and a body with a poor low light auto-focus performance - rather none at all.  On the upside, I will be using a custom-built wearable rig for remotely triggered SB-24 flashes!  I do intend to take my main camera with a full set of lenses but most likely will limit its use to few hours when the air is clean - late nights from what I hear.

Shoot with Gavin

The shoot was somewhat hectic. But, hey, professionalism is all about consistency of the results! So this was an awesome opportunity to drive this message!
What worked:

• Use of even a bare flash against bright sun.
• Use powder on model to mask sweat.
• Try yet another pose and/or location, even when it looks like all the possibilities are exhausted.
• Camera in manual mode with flash in TTL. This forces me to make explicit choices of aperture and exposure. I then monitor the results using histogram.

What did not work:

• clothes with bold horizontal stripes - surprise!
• bare flash in other circumstances - way too harsh even for a male model.
  

If anything, the shoot emphasized importance of having a makeup artist on set and model's ability to pose.

Bay Area Strobist Group Meetup

Yesterday I had an awesome time at the Bay Area Strobist group meetup.  Dave, the organizer, was energetic, full ideas and knowledge.  I hooked up with interesting people and hope to stay in touch with them.  Here is a picture of me in a cross light.  While processing it, Dave used gradient filter to darken the ground which caught too much of the light - neat trick!

Scott Kelby’s 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk

Today I led a 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk in Campbell.  I had a great time and met wonderful people!  Here are the pictures taken during the photowalk in Campbell and world-wide.
I certainly felt outside my comfort zone when forced to shoot in the middle of the park surrounded by weekenders and people with cameras.  I am pretty happy with the result on the left.  Deborah also taught me of the importance of narrative for the photos.

Real Estate Photography

A friend is selling her house!  I studied the subject and decided to play with 3 flashes I have.  My goal was to balance interior and outside light.  Overall I think it worked - no issues with CLS triggered from a distance of about 30 feet.  Flickr Real Estate group feedback was very much to the point.

Lighting for a Standard Portrait

Here is my preparatory session for a standard headshot.

What worked well:

• Shot-through umbrella as a key light.
• Camera in full manual. Start with ambient only underexposed by 2 stops. Add one light at a time.
• Amazing retouching capabilities in Lightroom.
• When used with umbrellas,  speedlight should be zoomed manually to 24mm.  11mm diffuser is even better but results in light loss.

What did not work:

• Mixing light from a reflective silver umbrella and the one from satin shoot-through one.  Need to get another shoot through umbrella.

Flash in the Sun

David Hobby's post was an inspiration for my next shoot.  Sun was used as a rim light, D90 built-in flash (fill) driving hand-held bare SB600 (key) through Nikon CLS.
What worked well:

• Camera in full manual with preset ISO, aperture and exposure with 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens (continuous 3D focus tracking) gave sharp images.
• Fill flash blended well with sun with no color temperature issues.
• I underexposed background by too much (more than one stop) but somewhat recovered it in  Lightroom - cudos to RAW.

What did not work:

• Bare flash gives harsh shadows - duh
• Chasing Daniel is fruitless.  Too many images had wrong light as a result.  I should wait for him to come to me.
• As stated above - I am slow to change camera/flash settings which in this case resulted in underexposure.  I should pay more attention to histogram.
• Fill (on camera flash) was of the same intensity as  key (hand-held SB600 to camera left).  Should have either turned it off completely or set to something really small.  I do not like two small specs reflected in the eyes.

Physteh Reunion Shoot

It was great to reconnect with fellow alumnus of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology or Physteh as they call it.  This was my first event shoot done with a hand-held SB-600 flash optically slaved into the D90 camera.

What worked well:

• Good vibe, communication
• Fill flash worked great, even though is was used bare.  It livens the eyes and opens up shadows.
• 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor lens
• Tried and true Lowepro Off Trail bag allowed for intermittent shooting and schmoozing

What did not work

• My choice of ISO below 200.  As a result few photos were blurry because of a short exposure.
• Not aggressive enough use of exposure compensation, possibly flash compensation to account for a strong sun.
• Need a contact card