How to make the headshot work for you in Chicago as an actor

I've been shooting pictures since I was about 12 years old. The first picture off of the first roll had me so stoked. Through the years I experimented with different mediums but was always shooting pictures of people for one reason or another. After getting an art degree I decided that commercial photography was for me and did a short bit of assisting and went on my own. So for the last 4 years or so I've been self employed and running my own photography business. I don't specialize JUST in headshots but do a decent amount of them. I'm a portrait shooter in chicago and do headshots when my clients ask and they are an important part of my business whether for actors, musicians, business people, or other creatives.

It started with helping an acting friend out, Kevin Viol, because he'd gotten some crappy shots from some guy who bought a decent digital camera but was still using brown cloth backdrops from the 90s. (This was back when the people who used digital were somehow more legit or unique). Since then I've shot numerous other people's headshots and been a casting director for my own productions (normally fashion and lifestyle/commercial stills productions). I've also spoken with a few people who are also casting directors for respectable theatre organizations or cast for on camera projects.

The one thing that connects what everyone needs is the shot that really shows who you are and especially what they can do with your look/presence. That means probably not too far in one direction and not forgetting your important features. For example, one of my friends is a female actor but she's tall and strong. That matters on stage especially as it makes her more commanding. So her shot shows her whole body in proportion to her surroundings to give the viewer a sense of what she has to offer physically. Another friend is pretty much a blonde bombshell so she has a nice warm and slighly sultry picture. But both of these opposite type actors lean to the middle and play it slightly safe stylistically in the pictures. Subtlety is key here.

Recently Rj Dugan, a designer and art director for new media projects in Chicago wanted to do a professional portrait/headshot session that showed him as approachable, slightly edgy, current, and commanding. Things that showed good leadership qualities but still made him seem like a nice guy and someone you want to like. Professional yet creative.

When I shoot models for agencies, normally two routes are taken and done in varying degrees of intensity. If they are more commercial minded and do mostly catalog work, a nice warm and happy shoot is needed. A beauty shot may come but the makeup is never too strong to let the model's natural features shine. If the model does more runway and editorial work or needs to fill out that part of their book then that's the other direction. The makeup tends to get stronger and stronger as the shoot progresses as its easier to add than to take off.

Here's a bunch of images that I would consider successful heashots and or portraits that I've done over the years. That are everything for actors to musicians to personal art projects to my friends.

sourdough

I'm on a breadbaking adventure. Moving in with with my lady has been good but a definite fringe benefit is the oven. I love baking bread and I've finally made my own starter. Here's the first loaf. Its 50% wheat, 40% white and 10% semolina. I have a mostly white loaf raising with some flax today. I'll take pics of the little rolls n roast chicken I'm making for easter tommorow.

Wifi isn't a recession-proof business

This is a start on my adventure to explore photographically the few blocks of ashland avenue around my house in Chicago. I'm planning on shooting at least once a week for the next few months to start and see what is out there that interests me and then make some decisions about what I think then.

downtown with Lois from elite

Lois had her hair all curly from a hairshow so we took it downtown for a quick shoot. She was so Carrie Bradshaw I just had to play it up and then take it somewhere else. Enjoy.

wicker park february elite shoot

So, this first photo was listed on the flickr.com explore page and got a bit of attention. Pretty sweet to get some recognition for sure.





I did this shoot when a photography student of mine Ravi sent me a text saying he was in my neighborhood looking for locations to shoot and that he had 2 models with him from Elite and if I'd like to come along. It was the first sunny day in a long time with 50 degree weather (for February in Chicago that translates into a heat wave) and the light was just perfect. I had to go. So we started walking down under the L train tracks and I looked down this alley and saw all these great old garages, and most importantly the perfect sunlight streaming through the trees and bouncing off the pavement. So we walked down, shot some pics, had a good time and I went home to process the shots.

I shoot with a 1ds mark II that has really good dynamic range and you can push the files pretty hard in photoshop if you like, and these shots are a good example of this. I started with a slightly bluer file, using a custom click white balance in Digital Photo Professional (canon's proprietary image editing software) when I was working on the Raw files and then transferred the jpgs to Photoshop CS4 where I continued to edit the final look. (I also use a 55mm F1.8 SMC takumar lens via a m42 to eos adaptor- info on this whole concept here)

I am trying out the Alienskin Exposure 2.0 software as a photoshop plugin and finding it to work out quite nicely. You open the filter, and select the film stock you want to emulate and that emulation is applied as a layer on top of your original image. I find that useful because you can apply the effect as a 100% layer or use multiple film stocks/polaroid emultions as translucent layers in photoshop to get a unique look (that's what I did). You apply the effect, go to the layers palette and proceed to adjust your layer opacity and then go on to the next step.

I hope this helps explain what I did to get the effects in these images. I've had a few questions, so I thought I'd shed some light on the subject. Stay tuned as there will be more posts like this in the near future.

I heart serpico collection

After a string of random events that include shooting pictures of a friend's fencing club I ended up shooting the look book for Melissa Serpico's 2009 fall/winter collection. Her clothes to me needed to be new wave, old french, inspired by guy bourdin, they needed to be shown properly. Her work is great and I knew I needed to express my feelings about it to others who also see it. I think it turned out well. I made some stop motion videos as well, but they're still in production stages, so more on that at a later date. Here's the meat.

haroula rose

Haroula is a musician. She's friends with a friend of mine in LA. The funny thing is that we were neighbors in Madrid for 2 years and somehow never met. So when she flew to chicago to see family and needed pictures for promotional purposes, I was stoked to meet this mystery woman. She was a pleasure to work with and I feel I got some incredible images out of the whole process. We used strobes, natural light from my windows as well and got quite a variety. These are some of my favs. Megan dodge on the face paint hair teaser once again.

fashion vs art

So i'm torn. I love shooting commercial and dabbling in fashion. But there's this hole that is only filled by doing personal work and I'm really wanting to escape the commerce side of photography and just to shoot for myself.







this is my home town at night in some intense fog the day after Christmas.





these two girls did a shoot with me, using megan dodge for makeup/hair and clothing supplied by Serpico.

Both were fun and fulfilling for different reasons, so it looks like for now, I'll keep on doing both.

Interview with photographers who work with the newyorker

http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2009/01/12/090112_audioslideshow_portraiturenow

I love hearing about portraits from the point of view of the photographer. When it comes to shooting high profile sitters for editorial pieces there are always weird constraints. Almost no time, publicists, or unwilling sitters. Also, I really feel that portraits are almost more a reflection of the photographers at times and these two really push to get something out of the sitters, to get the pictures to show some sort of humanity. But in the end, the pictures still show the shooter. The light is theirs, the cameras they use, what they invoke in the sitters, as much as is shown about the subjects their remnants are still there, like a fingerprint on a crime scene. That's why they're hired over and over again.

leonardo

Leonardo Kaplan is an artist friend of mine. He just got a new haircut and wanted a new facebook photo. This is the result. I'm really liking this sort of light. I liked the fight between symmetry and asymmetry in his hair so I decided on using really symmetrical light.

whittier road at night

I was home for christmas in whittier, iowa. There was so much fog coming home from grandpa kluver's house my dad couldn't really see the road. Funny how in climate weather makes for great photos.

I really want to do more of this. I think i've found a new direction.

I'm thinking that I want to work more on personal work like this, and take my work in a new direction. As much as I love shooting people with studio lights, etc, the process of shooting "art" is fulfilling on different levels. The idea of working narratives came to me after reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. The stories are lush, every detail is described in depth and it made me really rethink how I shoot. Inspiring.

It just goes to show exactly how much inspiration that comes not from other people's photography, but rather other people's way of telling stories is important as a photographer. Its a way of being derivative with my work, or rather referencing something, but using my visual language to express what I'm absorbing and not being someone who just copies another's style. I guess also finding content worth talking about is half the battle, and then you have to figure out what you want to say and why you want to say it that way.

gina and marshall again

this is another few shots of Marshall and Gina. Enjoy.

this first one has a bit of post production done to it. I created a second image, desaturated it, made the tones the right texture and color of creamy white, layed it over the original, changed the transparency and then erased everything but the highlights on the second layer. Love Photoshop CS4. It's really easy to clone and the way the image adjustments work has been improved and is faster for sure.



This shot is just two adjusted shots as transparent layers on top of the original and then desaturated.


These two were purposefully underexposed to see how bringing them back to a normal level would affect the grain/noise. I like the texture. It would look good printed. Too bad the paper in the background wouldn't stay smooth...