Hey guys, this is Daniel Norton.
I'm here in my studio in New York City, with Erica
and today we're gonna do some head shots.
So the other day I came in the studio and
my friend Seth who has a show here on
that Adorama Rewind check it out...
was doing some head shots.
He was actually testing
some different scenarios, and he had, I
think four or five different things set
up. He was trying different techniques
and we were talking in between things,
about how some of them could be
combined you know? Cuz you know... you don't
always have a big space like this, and you
name... we don't have all the equipment or whatever,
and that's what I'm trying to kind of do today,
is combine two different looks.
I'm gonna do a kind of a overall like big
soft look, which I think is good for pretty
much anybody, and then I'm gonna do a
look that's a little bit punchier, that's
good for people that have either good
skin, or just want you know the nice hard
light. Probably a little more dramatic look.
So you can get both without... in a
very small footprint basically.
I'm gonna use the the Profoto system,
and their controller and basically just use the
different groups in order to control
which lights go on and off.
So pretty simple, the very first shot I'm
going to do is going to use this 4-foot
Scrim Jim, as my key.
This is going to be a nice soft look,
you could use a big umbrella,
you could use a big soft box.
You could use a soft lighter from Photo Tech which
is actually what Seth is using, which
would also all work. You kind of want a
light that's going to our like
modifier, that's going to kind of spread
the light out, and give you a nice big
soft creamy light, and in addition to
that we've got the classic Brooklyn
reflector here, white. So just a little
reflector kicking it up, that will help a
lot. So again I'm basically set up in
here. Now of course you guys know my
studio is tremendously bright, but I'm
going to set up, and do a frame with no
lights, just to show you guys.
I've all the windows closed, so the
windows are closed,
so you can basically see that
black frame, no light really affecting
the the shot.
You want to kind of get to that point
always if you can. So and then
we're gonna start off, I'm going to take
A. I'm in manual cuz I had this all
set up... just to keep it easy for you guys,
what if you were using TTL. You could set
up each one separately, and then switch
to manual. Because what you don't want is
things changing as you go.
Right? you want to lock them down
if you doing a bunch of headshots.
So I'm in manual now, I'm set
at 7.1 at 250mm.
I had my 85 mm lens on there.
We're gonna come in, and bang, right?
Single light, clean, really pretty. Let's
see, you can see here, right with the
reflector kicking up, really really nice,
looks good.
Background is pretty much white.
Why is it white?
The lights creeping past right?
This is a big source, it's creeping
past her. I've got by the way, I don't
think I mentioned the, this is a B2.
It'll be a B2 with the... with a magnum
reflector, so it's giving me a punch and
some control.
So that looks nice,
backgrounds not quite white though.
If I want to be you know, in control and make
it perfectly white. I do have a couple of
lights back there. Some B1 X's there in
my C group. Turn those guys on, and now
we've got a stark white background.
you know if you want that real clean white,
you can see the difference, it's subtle
but you know if you want a ... you
want a white background, that's white
background right?
What you don't want really in an ideal
world, if you want a white background, you
don't want to start off with this kind
of almost white, and then punch up the
contrast in post. Because that affects
everything, so you know get it in camera
if you can kids!
So uh... we're good there,
let's kill those for a second though.
Of course that it's getting less sunny
outside. I can see now this is just the B
light. Now my B light is... again, I'm still
using the Brooklyn reflector, of course,
not gonna move that!
This is a 1 by 1.3 Profoto softbox.
This is a little baby guy... it's gonna be a
little bit harder,
a little bit punchier, but it's a softbox
so it's nice and diffused.
So it's gonna give you know... some
creaminess to the skin.
Still not going to be too specular.
You can see it's dark right?
Shapes her face nicely, looks really good
on Erica, notice the background is not
completely black, that's because I'm in a super
white studio, and the lights bouncing
everywhere, and basically some lights
getting on the background, even from this.
If I wanted a black background, I would
in this space I'd probably have to throw
something on the ground to block the
reflection, or back her further away,
there's a lot of things you could do in
most like office type environments.
This is probably not gonna be an issue, but I
kind of like the dark gray.
I know some people don't.
With somebody with dark
hair like Erica, if you didn't have some
separation there, she'd just be a blob,
you know?
Especially when it's really
small. You're just gonna see a face...
Like it'll look like she's
like that Queen album cover, which is
cool but maybe not for a head shot.
So what we're gonna do here though... oh good
they started the construction... I was
waiting for that, we're gonna turn those
background lights again though,
so we can get the white background.
Here we go.
Switch my focus point... here we go,
there we go.
Alright so I actually like
this one better, with a little kick from
the back.
Gives it more separation.
Notice the background is not stark white
that's because... in the first time, I turned the
background lights on, this was adding to it.
Right? So that's what made it white.
If I needed this to be white in this
scenario, I didn't need to turn the power
up in the lights.
If you're gonna do that
just make a note for yourself, how much
you need to turn it up, so you can
remember to switch it back and forth
each time.
But I kind of like because of
the darker look. I kind of like this one,
not being completely white.
So I'm gonna leave it like that, and that
gives you the two looks right?
Two looks, one's kind
of like airy, and glamour, and one's a
little bit more kind of darker, and moodier,
ok let's should another one like this.
We can see how she can move around and
the shadows gonna change on her face
because of the punchiness of the light.
One final thing you could do if you
really want to.. is it throw in a bonus..
always a bonus with Erica.
Is I have this shoe light back here.
I could pretty simply, turn them, and make
them into hair lights.
So remember that, I'm not going to
point them directly to the back of her head.
Because if I do... then it's gonna hit her
on the nose.
So I'm gonna kind of aim
them to the side here.
I'm also keeping them at the same height
that they are at,
and the reason for that is, in the
particular case of Erica she has this
light kind of brown... like blondish fade going.
So I want to highlight that, and by
hitting the blondish part, it's going to
really make it pop. So not changing things
out or anything... just kind of... and we can
see how that gives that... it really
showcases that... that pop, you know?
Ash she turns her head...
you might start to get a
little bit of light kicking back here on
the cheek. So you might want to be
careful about that,
but as long as it doesn't hit her nose
I'm usually okay with it.
Try for the smile ob this one...
there we go ... good .....very pretty
Okay cool... yeah, so we've got a lot of
good shots. I kind of like the first look,
the best to be honest with you... if I'm
being honest about what I like!
today I think this is my favorite, so I'm gonna
end this way. So background lights on
really rich and clean and white,
and nice glare on the light at the front, and that's
it she's like angelic... oh that's right I
do love the glam. So thanks for watching,
guys be sure subscribe to Adorama TV of
course if you don't already.
I'm gonna put Erica's details in the description,
so you guys can follow her on the social media.
The social media you know follow
me DanielNortonPhotographer
and I'll see you next time.