Tags
Corporate Headshots, Corporate Portrait, CT Headshot Photographer, headshots, Nikon, Photek Softlighter II, Profoto
Hi and welcome back.
Today I’m shooting corporate head shots for Tangoe Marketing.
My contact at Tangoe sent me a proof from another photographer and asked if I could match the lighting? Tangoe had a conference in Phoenix about a month ago and they hired a local photographer to shoot all the executives and conference attendees who needed head shots. This is a great way to get all of the employees head shots done in a short time without having to hire photographers around the country; however, if you are not in attendance this can be an issue, especially if you are the CEO.
So, Tangoe sent me a proof. I took a crop of just the eye area for two reasons: 1. to find out how the other photographer did the job, simply look at the catchlights in the eyes, 2. I don’t know the other photographer so I won’t post all of his work as I can’t credit him or her.
Here’s the crop of the eyes. You can see a soft box on the left as key and an umbrella reflected in the upper part of the glasses for fill.
This is not how I usually shoot my corporate look, but for this job, matching is essential. So I set up my lights and took a few test shots while shooting a corporate portrait for Crysta.
In order to stay mobile and work quickly as I’m only shooting a few people, I used a 46″ Photek Softlighter as my key instead of breaking down and setting up a large soft box. Here’s the setup.
Lights: Profoto Acute 600e with three heads
Key: 46″ Photek Softlighter
Fill: 45″ Photoflex Umbrella
Back: 20 degree grid on a Studio Gray paper
Here’s a straight-out-of-the-camera proof that matched the look perfectly.
I don’t normally shoot my corporate shots like this as I prefer a hair light, but I’m exploring now using a hair light with this type of setup. The nice thing about key and fill lighting is that your subject can move from side to side without you worrying about moving a reflector or dealing with falloff on the opposite side of the face.
I like the look and it matched the other shot perfectly.
So, in short, to learn light, look in the eyes.
Till next time, happy shooting.