michaelmowery

<p>I did not touch on posing as Tim did a good job on that already. Just don't turn them too far to one side because they have to then turn there face back at the camera and that can cause the neck to look like a wet towel being twisted. More retouching! Once the twisting starts you know when to stop or bring them back toward you a bit. I do at a few different angles a choose what looks best. You can't always eliminate the twists but you can minimize it.</p>

<p>By the way when you light a white background don't go more than 1 stop over your main light on your subject. You should ideally check your RGB readings in photoshop and keep them around 245 to 250 so you are not clipping your white. You always want to preserve some detail. By controlling this you also prevent the background light from lighting up the back of your subject. Also this prevents reflected light bouncing off your subjects cloths going back into the white background and creating a tint.</p> <p>There is too much advice going around telling people to over expose by 2 stops or more to get pure white. For my shots on my website read about 1/2 stop or 3/4 stop over my main. Now of course you can not use bone white you must use super white paper. In those instances where your paper color is a shade or so darker than pure white then and only then do you push your exposure further to compensate but it is best to use the right color to begin with.</p>

<p>I took another look at your shot and I do see some backlighting going on camera right from your background light. It is a little hot on the neck but not bad on the side of the face. It may have worked for this shot but you need to have more control over your lighting. You may want to turn that light away from your subject more or flag it off. Kicker light is what we call it and I like them when used properly but it is not always appropriate and it is one more thing to watch out for and it can slow down your pace when shooting volume. Kicker lights also do not always look good on women. Again light coming from angles create texture and not everyones skin is smooth and perfect. We as photographers like character faces with dramatic lighting but generally the client wants to look like a magazine cover. lol.</p>

<p>Christal, I thought you did a pretty good job there. Good looking husband. I would add that you need a tad bit more illumination on the face and add a white 3x4 reflector placed about stomach level to bounce some light back up into the face and fill the shadows a bit more. I was surprised to see two catch lights as you told me you were only using one octabox over the lens. In any case if you are using the two place them both at equal distance from subject and place one on each side of the camera as close to you as possible to create a wall of light. A larger light source will soften the light and make normal people look better. It would be better to position them over the lens in front of you in a butterfly lighting position as it will also appear as one catch light.</p> <p>Its funny as we all start off in photography lighting we all want to do all the lighting patterns on the face starting with Mr. Rembrandt. This is a beautiful lighting pattern and not so easily to attain correctly. I certainly would not advise this pattern for volume shooting of head shots. Today's contemporary look in corporate head shots has departed from the classic old school lighting with shadows and for good reason. Most photographers go crazy with the shadows thus the client is unhappy. I personally have evolved to more beauty lighting that is practically shadowless or very very minimal. I have not had one complaint and I personally love the look and I love how my retouching time has been cut down since there is minimal texture on the face. But my passion is creating drama and shadows and that is the conflict. In the end who ever is writing your check you do what they want. You can always offer a choice in lighting patterns which is great because most people don't really know what they want until they see it. But for this job you can not go wrong with butterfly lighting and it is quick as you can pose your subject on both sides and never have to fuss with the lighting. The faster you can move the people thru the happier the client will be.</p>

You don't need to send a video. We all know what an automatic stand is. You are obviously in some sort of sales. This is not a post another photographer would present. I think you should make your point if u have one and stop trying to push this lame stand.

<p>Gimmick stand. I would never buy one. You save less than 2 seconds in closing it as you don't have to bend over and turn a knob. </p>

<p>Thanks Jeff</p>

<p>From what I understand and have experienced Portrait pro is a facial reconstruction software and only works on a single head shot. As many head shots of people I have done I have never felt the need to reconstruct someones bone structure or reconfigure them to look like someone else or whatever. One person did request some surgery though. LOL Does that even work with group shots? </p>

<p>Christal, If you are confidant enough to take the job you should be confidant enough to accept payment that they have offered. It is a payed learning experience. This in no way diminishes your passion for this organization. </p>

<p>Mark she said she was shooting it for free. You said it was a big job and I agreed.<br /> Jeff she did not post that this was a save the world charity kind of thing where she wanted to give her heart felt time. I am all for that as well. She asked what one would charge but was reluctant to charge for reasons that she described and went on to say she would rather make contacts for future personal gain in her business. Not exactly what you are implying in your last post.</p>

<p>In any case Mark is right it is a very big job to shoot for free. Just because it is non profit is no reason to offer free services. You can give them a discount but at least charge something. </p>

<p>I also charge up to $1,200 for one headshot and I don't feel I have to spend more than 5 minutes with them because of the $. They are paying for the know how not the time.</p>

<p>10 minutes is a long time for someone to sit getting a headshot. 4 Minutes is more than enough for the most awkward person most people can be shot in 2 minutes. Full body shots or environmental shots can take longer of course but basic head shots there is not much positioning to do other than turn this way or tilt your head. 10 minutes is over kill in my opinion.</p>

<p>There is a big confusion with pages and sides. When you say 80 pages do you mean 80 pages with 160 sides or do you mean 80 sides which is 40 pages? see what I mean. Generally when people say page they mean one designed side and that is how the album companies bill. The basic rule of number of picture is 2X per side or 4x per 2 page spread. I like to do full page pictures and a few panoramic spreads so I add 1.7 per page to allow for this type of layout. In the end it is what ever you want to do so there is no right or wrong. If I use a program like Fundy Albums I could easily do 5 or more images per page as it creates multi picture collages. So the real question is do you charge by the picture or do you charge by the page.</p>

<p><Of course, I see that you're in NYC, and I imagine everything costs much more there than in the Midwest.><br> Which is my point. You really can't ask for pricing on a forum where everyone is located all over the world. You need to find out in your own geographical location. If you are happy only charging $20 per person then do so. Yes experience also is factored in pricing.</p>

<p>FTP is first choice otherwise have your photographers copy everything onto a USB Drive and mail it to you. Obviously make sure they make a backup until you receive there files.</p>

<p>There usually is a sliding scale for head shots. 75 people a $100 per person is fair. You can offer up to 50% discount for a non profit organization.</p>

<p>ok so if they want a white background then you do not need to gel it. You may not even need to light it if you keep the background just behind your subject. Blue is very nice but again a dark blue which translates to dark gray which is why i said dark gray if very flexible. To keep it simple do not gel which ever background you decide on just move it at different distances while you test shoot to see how light or dark you can make the background just with the fall off of your main light. From there if you are not satisfied slowly add flash onto the background again testing at different power settings to see how light or dark you want to go.</p>

<p>There are only like 3 or 4 dark grays the other 10 are all light grays. I would get one of the dark grays like charcoal from Savage Universal company. You can use black if you like but the dark gray will be more flexible. I don't understand why white is required for your job if you are going to gel it to a color? We talked about butterfly lighting with your octabank over the lens. This is not the best when you are trying to gel a background especially white. Your main light will contaminate the background and prevent your gelled color from being effective. You would have to have at least 10 to 15 feet behind the subject to set up the background to prevent your main light from lighting the background. You will also want your main light as close to the subject to allow a fast light falloff from the subject to background.<br> You should use your strip lights to light the background not your speed light. You can gel those as well. Your 45 degree position onto the background is correct for that lighting as you will get more even light. Aim your octabox at a 45 degree angle down onto the subjects face and use a fill card or reflector to bounce the light back up into the face. Just don't place the octabank right ontop of your subject keep it back enough until you see the catch light in the top of the eyes. You don't want to create too much texture on the face.</p>

<p>White is not easy to gel and I don't recommend gelling white background as it will mostly look pastel and not have any rich deep color. The easiest background color to gel is Gray. Depending on the color of gel will determine how much power you will need and a speed light is not the best tool in this case. Take your einstien and try lighting the background with more power. </p>

Nice set up you will get great shots. I shoot a lot that way but I also have a white or silver reflector below the lens for fill and shadow control.

<p>2 d I agree 100% with all that you said but I think by what i have read that Joseph is not at that level to charge such a rate having no experience in this field. He just stumbled onto this inquiry. He also indicated a very low rate that others were charging. People who pay $4,000 are going to hire a pro well experienced. This is not to say Joseph can't get that rate but I have my doubts based on what I have read.</p>

<p>Say you Don't do weddings period. Even if you do get a non traditional wedding chances are it will be an evening event. I would just advertise you are a portrait photographer and have reasonable rates for engagements. Many photographers include the engagement with the signed wedding contract so what exactly are you offering that a bride would pay you for engagement then hire another photographer to shoot there wedding?</p>

<p>When you say big octabox do you mean 5ft? If so you better have a high ceiling. The boom arm being in your picture I was referring to was a hair light mainly. </p> <p>You can get a 3ft octabox over the lens with the boom arm but that is about it. I assume you want the boom arm for butterfly lighting. Unless you are doing group shots or full length shots you really don't need the boom arm on camera left or right because the stand won't show anyways.</p> <p>The boom arm helps with very low angle shots like children so you can lower the light below the minimum stand height. Clam shell lighting is also done with boom arms.</p> <p>The Mathews is the standard in the movie business. Stands for life.</p>

<p>Yes impact is BH brand. I use the Mathews baby rollers and I also have the Avenger A-5033 both stands are used in my living room and are not bulky at all. You will soon realize that the mini boom has it's limitations in reach and you will be extending it almost to the max (which is why you need counter weight) You will soon see that the stand will be in some shots and you will find yourself moving or shall i say dragging the stand again and again to get it out of the shot. That is when you will realize you should have invested in the roller stand. Keep the $35 stand you will defiantly use it for other purposes, it does what its suppose to.<br> I don't know what you meant by Profoto is just as good quality as they do not make stands only lighting and light modifiers.</p>