Monday, December 23, 2013

How to get beautiful head shots...

I remember looking at other photographers pictures a couple of years ago and wondering, "How do they do that?"  These pictures were normally head shots that looked so easy, but there was something special about them I couldn't put my finger on it.  And I couldn't duplicate it.  For a long time.  But finally it clicked (Ha! no pun intended :D) when I started taking pictures more, then I got it.  So I'd thought I'd share it with you so you don't have to go through the same frustration I did.


So this is a nice picture, obviously this girl is beautiful and adorable, but I needed to do something different to make it better and even more flattering.


So I told her to look down at the ground (I normally tap the place with my foot where I want them to look), and this just made a beautiful and totally different picture.


Then I told her,  "Okay, great! Now don't move your head, but bring your eyes back up to me".


And BAM!  Beautiful picture that is SUPER flattering!  What I did was bring her eyes closer to the camera so they looked their biggest by tilting her chin down.
See the difference?



Maybe you're thinking why didn't she just say at the beginning, "Tilt your chin down, slightly turn your head to your right, so I can give you a better picture."?  Well, I like doing what Jasmine Star calls, "Getting your client into a pose."  I knew what I wanted, but I didn't fire a bunch of confusing commands at her.  By telling her to look down, it naturally put her head into the best position.   Remember, your clients look their best when they're comfortable and not trying to remember 3 different commands you just gave them. ;)

Well this is all for now, hope it was helpful! Please comment if you have any questions or just to say hi! :)





4 comments:

  1. Hehe, once my sister saw this she asked me if I'd ever used this trick on her...and I have- only, I got the words in the wrong order: "Look down at my shoe, now look back up, but don't move your head!" And of course, by then she had already moved her head. oops!
    The right order is everything...
    Anyway, I really appreciate you posting this, I'll be sure to try it out on my next victim, er, model. ;)

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  2. Lol yep, you learn what order to do it in pretty quickly. ;D

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  3. Thank you so much for this, Olivia! It's helped me a lot in practicing; I shall continue to use it. It also gives me a better sense of how I should pose for a picture, so my arms aren't dangling awkwardly, and just overall it looks better. Thanks again! :)

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    1. I'm so glad it's helped Valerie! Keep practicing!:) If you have any questions, or just want to talk about photography, send me an email! :)

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