Two Headshots

[caleb]

Grandpaw, makeup can be worn on stage so it's not the same thing in my opinion. That said, I will be changing the color cast and lightening up the shadows slightly.

[draymorton]

]Nice work, Dray. Subtle but very effective edits that really help the final image.
Caleb, I do agree with you in the idea that a headshot, at least a professional or formal headshot meant for showing a true representation of the subject as opposed to glamour type of thing is best left straight forward without too much of the photographers interpretation involved. However, some photoshopping such as what Dray has applied to your 1st image is quite appropriate in cleaning up and correcting for any mistakes or unwanted appearances whetherr due to the fault of the photog or just the difficulty of the given shooting situation.
In my view, post processing is just as much a part of the photographic process as is composing a scene in the viewfinder and snapping the shutter.
It begins with the click of the shutter, and ends with the click of the mouse. . .

Glad you made the distinction between glamour work and basic portrait work. They are different animals.

Stuff like removing redness shouldn't necessarily be thought of as distorting someone's true likeness, as that redness usually has more to do with the camera's interpretation than reality. It is, more often than not, exaggerated by the camera's sensor. The other thing is that the camera's dynamic range pales in comparison to that of the human eye. So, barring any ridiculous attempts at fairytale beauty (over-the-top skin-smoothing, etc.), careful post processing might serve to bring back the details we see but the camera might have missed.

Another (often) very important consideration is that many clients want to look good. And sometimes, frankly, they do not. I shot a venerable Broadway performer about a month ago, who looks-wise - I'm really sorry to say - is light years past her prime. Wrinkles everywhere - the effects, no doubt, of 40 years in show business. That's fine, but she also still had this image of herself as the soap opera beauty queen she was in her 20s and 30s. So what do you do? Present her images which depict her exactly as she is? Try to match the self image? Something in between? Sometimes it's a tough call, but in this case, I wanted to make her feel as good about herself (and my work) as possible. So I brought out the shallac, bigtime. Was it completely ethical? Probably not. But in this case I wanted (needed) to make a good impression, which would have a lot to do with how they feel they look. The pictures themselves still suck in other ways, but at least she looks far closer to the beauty queen in her head than she did in the original frames.

I definitely agree that one should try to alter as few things as possible in every situation, but there are times when it behooves you to throw ethics out the window in favor of client satisfaction. I feel dirty saying that, but again, in the case of the aforementioned artist, I don't even want to begin to imagine what her reaction would have been had I sent the images SOOC.

[MarcusK]

What I meant by contrasting with the background was what i think you understood.

Sometimes, with natural light, the model and background receive similar light... so having the color darker, would decrease the exposure on the background without going pitch dark, and more focus would be on the model's face.

Just a thought, since I had such problems during my early phase.. noticed the darker background was more interesting...

Looking forward to some more!

[caleb]

Ok, I did just a little work on #2. I'm surprisingly backed up on editing/etc so I'm sorry to rebump this after so long.

I've fixed the green cast (good eye, Jet). I didn't even notice it until turning on/off the color balance layer. I added a very slight vignette (and extended it to also darken the background a bit). I sharpened and dodged just a little bit under her eyes. I'm still having trouble with the blue/purple shadow on her nose, although I tried to do what I could.

More suggestions?

Original:


New:

[Axle]

"... I found that photoshopping is borderline unethical..." To whom??? - TF

I've been looking into headshots, not for myself, but shooting headshots for an actress friend. And the general adjustment of the face, smoothing skin, removing blemishes is generally frowned upon when it comes to headshots. As the shots are designed to show the person as they are, so that means light makeup, nothing major.

[gahspidy]

Looks good, Caleb. A big improvement and very natural looking.

[daq7]

It boggles my mind that ANYONE could think photoshop is unethical outside the realm of journalism. I get that it is when doing journalism, but outside that, it is ART. Who cares how you did it. If there is something wrong with photoshop, then why is there not something wrong with Raw? Why aren't we all still using only film? Or hell, scratching things on cave walls with sticks... The tendency of artists to rally around the techniques of the recent past and pronounce "bad" anything that is different would be funny were it not so universal...

If it exists in digital form, it is unethical NOT to photoshop it.

[jetrim]

I've been looking into headshots, not for myself, but shooting headshots for an actress friend. And the general adjustment of the face, smoothing skin, removing blemishes is generally frowned upon when it comes to headshots. As the shots are designed to show the person as they are, so that means light makeup, nothing major.

While this may be true, DMV mugshots under a ring flash ain't going to land you any work as an actress or model. The more skilled photographers do it in camera by manipulating the light (and don't think for a second that throwing a warming gell on a grid spot is any different than adding a digital tan in photoshop). The less experienced do it in post processing via dodge & burn, levels, curves, and other such adjustments. I do quite a few headshots and the main rules I follow are to only remove temporary blemishes (zits, etc) and to try to shape the light in such a way that permanent blemishes are minimized (scars, etc) - and never ever use the liqufy brush. If I can't make them thinner/younger looking with light, they need to go on a diet.

[daq7]

Think of the sweet freaking pictures we can get in hell! I want to go NOW!