Erin Schaut

Chicago actress Erin Schaut. Not only did we get some great headshots, but we had some wonderful conversation. Here is her headshot and an outtake from the session.

Erin's "Pirate Face"

Andrea S.

Recently did a headshot session for Andrea S.  She was a wonderful women who was very natural in front of the camera.  This was my favorite image from the shoot.

I used one light, set at camera right with a medium softbox and eggshells.  I've been really happy with the nice gray/white gradient background that this set up lends itself to.  Personally, I feel like the subject really pops.  Especially with a black top and jeans.

Greg

 

PS Just a reminder, I'll be holding the $100 headshot event on Saturday, February 6th.  I only have 4 slots left, so if your interested please contact me ASAP.

Headshots

This weekend was all about headshots.  Yesterday was Tom, who you can see in my last blog post.  Today was Janice.  A sweet girl whose specific request during our consultation was "I want the shot to look like me."

It reminded me of when I was a kid.  My grandma went to the grocery store and got me some Macaroni and Cheese shaped like pinwheels.  When we opened the box, the wheels were significantly smaller than those on the box.  My grandma wrote Kraft a letter claiming that they misrepresented the product, and sure enough kraft sent her a coupon for free macaroni and cheese.

Years ago when I was assistant directing shows we'd be casting a show and an actor would come in with a headshot that looked nothing like them.  I'd think back to my grandma and wish I could get some sort of actor coupon.  Its important for your headshot to look like you, otherwise when we're laying out headshots in our A B C piles the first thought going through our mind is "Oh yeah, this is the shot that looks nothing like him."

So when Janice told she wanted the shot to look like her, I was happy to oblige.  Here are two of the shots from today.

Saturday Headshots

Shot headshots for Tom today.  He was fantastic to work with and really pushed me creatively.  I wanted to try some new things today and feel very good about the results.  What do ya'll think?

 

Greg Inda

Steph's Headshots

This will wrap up me talking about Steph's session. I've shown you the sassy and trashy shots, the lensbaby shots, and now its time to show the shots she came to me for.

One thing I love about my studio's location is the surrounding neighborhood. It would be easy to stay inside and just change lighting set ups, but outside my door are so many great shooting locations. The three shots I'm going to show you were all shot within 300 ft. of the studio, in a little alcove on a neighboring building.

The texture and color of the wall played really well with Steph's hair color and clothing selection. Because most of the colors are in that brown beige "wheel" it really brings attention to her blue eyes. They really pop out at you and draw your focus in to her face... where it should be.

This first image was my favorite shot from the day. The smile, the pose, the colors. I think it would make a glorious headshot. If I could make a "perfect world" improvement on the shot, I would retouch the 2 stray hairs on the left side of the image that just push into her smile. Easy fix. Maybe in the coming weeks I'll post some before and after photos to show just what's possible in post processing.

 

These next 2 images were Steph's final selections and have gone through final retouching. All these images are clickable to reveal a larger version. Would love to hear your feedback on these headshots.

Greg Inda