DIY 'corporate headshot'. Feedback or edits welcome.

galwayguy85

Hi Guys.

I'm living in Germany these times and looking for work (not necessarily in photography). Here it's expected that one has a 'headshot' photo included on the front of the CV.

My girlfriend and I took some shots today at home and edited them in Photoshop. Below is the JPEG version hosted on Flickr of the shot I'm happiest with. I have a Canon EOS 600D with a 50mm f1.8 lens. I also have a Metz Flashgun. I would reckon that I know a fair bit about how a DSLR works though my flashgun knowledge is pretty scatty to be honest. At the time of this particular shot, the flashgun was pointed towards the ceiling.




Here are the main edits down in PS CC 2015. Some subtle adjustments in RAW, duplication of layer, remove blemishes, add vignette, duplicate again and apply inverted high-pass filter to smoothen the skin. A mask was used to fine-tune the high pass filter on skin.



I would be glad if anyone could suggest how I might improve the shot overall.

I am also attaching the original camera RAW file if anyone wants to have a go in PS themselves and post it back.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yypsma050yampy/IMG_7903.CR2?dl=0

Thanks for any help given!

P.S This is not an image of anybody other than myself.

CabanSail

A quick edit of the RAW.

I see that you shot the image in Aperture Priority at f1.8. This has resulted in a very shallow depth of field. It seems that the point of focus was the tip of your nose and so your eyes are slightly out of focus, the right eye more than the left.

It would probably have been better to shut the lens down a bit to f4 or f5.6 for a standard portrait.

flyingsnail

I will have a go at doing an edit later tonight.
One thing that did strike me is the focus, in a portrait you should try and have they eyes sharp, to me it looks like the point of focus is on the tip of the nose rather than the eyes, when shooting at F1.8 the is a fast falloff between what is and is not in focus. Here the nose seems sharp but the eyes are soft.

galwayguy85

Thanks CabanSail.

I noticed that i was using a very low f-number after the fact. It's just a bad habit of mine in terms of getting as much bohek as possible from my 50mm lens shots. We tried later in the afternoon using f5.0 for some shots but in terms of overall pose etc I was happiest with the one above.

Thanks all the same for the edited shot you posted back. I'm very pleased with it and like how smooth the skin is.


@Flyingsail, I will keep your tips in mind about where best to put the focus points.

flyingsnail

my effort,
frequency separation on the skin and some brightness + contrast in the eyes

galwayguy85

Thanks for that. Also very professional looking. The eyes def have a stronger presence in this edit.

pwllor

Hi there,
here is my attempt :-)

Let me know if you need hi-res.

Ben D Bus

A couple of minutes in Lightroom (and 30 seconds in Photoshop Elements to tidy a few loose hairs - I hate the Lightroom healing brush!)

tbh, I'd reshoot with a greater depth of field. As already said, the focus is on the tip of your nose and your eyes are a little out of focus. For a headshot everything should be in focus (it's a headshot not a portrait - different thing altogether). The blurry edge on your shoulders is distracting. And maybe turn one shoulder towards the camera rather then have them slope from left to right.

I'd argue skin smoothing is not required (and looks crap unless expertly done) - just remove blemishes and reduce contrast a little on the skin. I also tweaked the yellow and red sliders to even out the skin tones and remove any blotchiness. Again it's a headshot, not a portrait. And you're not a girl A few lines on your face shows you have life experience. This might be useful on your CV! Of course this is purely IMHO.



Probably not relevant in this case but I believe a standard headshot size is 8x10

galwayguy85

Wow, Ben D Bus, that's pretty good I must say. The skin tones and neutral background look much better than my own attempts to improve an otherwise dull and flat RAW image. Thanks for all those tips too. I may yet reshoot it, but for the while I'm happy.

Thanks too for everybody else's feedback.

Myksyk

For headshot or studio shots generally f/8 is a pretty standard place to start. Bokeh is not relevant when using a back drop, although for some portraits you may use a shallow depth of field for a particular effect (not typically this type of shot tho). Some form of 'clam' lighting is usually an easy and effective set up for headshots - soft-boxed light directly in front and above client with a reflector under the chin area - very complimentary lighting for most set ups.

galwayguy85

Thanks also for that feedback. Just read it this minute. I take the point about how bokeh server little purpose in these situations. It's really a hangover from taking photos of others in usually less formal situations... stick the camera into aperture priority mode and twist the dial all the way to the left!

In the meantime, I've tweaked slightly the shot 'Ben D Bus' sent back and added an office background to help make it stand out more on the page. I figured I might look a bit 'disembodied' against a grey/white printed paper background otherwise. Tried to substitute in other backgrounds but it looked like i had a bit of a 'halo' around myself.. Perhaps down to bad technique.


Here's what the first page of the *updated with photo* CV looks like, should anyone be interested...

Myksyk

I'd hire you!

(But not as a photographer ... Your focusing on the writing on the right is shocking!) ; )

galwayguy85

Would you not? Dearie me.

Here is another (outside) shot I also took on the day. Just the JPEG. No edits expected here from the boards crew, though still glad of helpful feedback . Forgot to move out of f1.8. The eyes (but not the shoulders etc) are in starp focus and I took Bendy D Bus's tip about how to iron out blotches in the skin using hue/saturation sliders. I also applied some high pass filtering to smoothen out the skin.

My gut feeling is that interiors shots still look more professional for the purpose of CVs, LinkedIn etc?

galwayguy85

Had some fun with the 'outdoors' headshot. With the extreme blemish removal and artificial skin it was ripe for a bit of parody in Photoshop.