actor headshots: studio or location?

actor headshots: studio or location?
if you're an actor or actress and have been wondering which is better for you, studio or on location, this article is for you. when you're taking headshots, you need to have the highest comfort level. photography is about lighting, posing and composition but before an actor can show their best, they have to find themselves in an environment that makes them feel at home. this post goes over the differences between studio lighting and natural light for taking headshots and highlights the respective advantages, from the perspective of the subject being photographed. of course, there are issue related to costs, timing, logistics as each option poses a few challenges.

a studio shoot allows you to control
lighting and background

natural shows faces the way we're used to
but objects can add clutter in backdrop

if you're looking for a photographer for actors headshots in dc, sharpfocus photography is a good option.

headshots of an aspiring actor

headshots of an aspiring actor

thomas is a fine musician who teaches the piano. it was a pleasant surprise when he told me that he needed some actor’s headshots. I met him when he was working on his website but I didn’t know was interested in acting. he brought a set of clothes and was prepared to pose for different looks. he was comfortable enough with a few expressions that were suitable to pull off a few characters in commercials, tv roles or as a movie extra. we took well over 100 shots, out of which he made a selection of 12. happy client. hope that he's doing well.

actors headshots tips

actors headshots tips.

if you're an actor looking for great headshots, you can use these tips to increase your chance getting noticed by casting directors. a headshot is your ticket to success in your acting career so every care must be taken to represent you as truthfully as possible. it may be tempting to use fancy makeup, wardrobe and decor but the real focus is on the face and nothing should distract from it - sharpfocus photography dc.

photo shoot with aspiring actress

this must have been my first photo shoot with an aspiring actress in dc. the lady contacted me and expressed her desire to have a makeup artist. I kinda thought that makeup was not necessary for actors headshots but women just want to look gorgeous. the makeup artist showed up early as usual. this was gonna be the third time we worked together. when the lady arrived I saw that she had a few blemishes on the face that she might have wanted to conceal with the makeup. 
she was very concerned about how she would look on the pictures and I was doing my utmost best to give her assurances. everybody knows that makeup can only go that far and for skin badly flawed the help of photoshop is a must. I have quite an extensive background in photoshop from my experience as a graphic designer and am used to retouching pictures myself. I promised the lady that photoshopping would take care of the blemishes makeup wouldn't cover and showed her some sample of glamour retouching from some fashion magazines. 
the shoot went quite well. after she made her selection, I did some basic retouching on all of the pictures except one that I found the best and did some beauty retouching on it. beauty retouching is just using photoshop airbrushing to give extra gloss to the pictures just like those you see in fashion magazines. when I sent the pictures expecting a thank you, I got a response that I was supposed to glamorize all of the 12 pictures that she selected. 
I said that it would take me about 25 min to glamorize pictures and to apply that treatment to 12 pictures would be too much for the $99 she paid me. she wouldn't have it. she wanted her money back, which I refused. I made a mistake. she would harass me over a period of nearly a year. to this day, I regret not refunding her money. it would've cost me less in headaches.

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examples of actor headshots in dc

examples of actor headshots in dc

here are samples of some of the best actors headshots that I've taken of young men and women in and around washington dc for sharpfocus photography. some are veteran actors but most of them are aspiring to make it in film, television or theater by tapping into their acting skills and trying to get an audition.  sharpfocus focuses on revealing your character so your pictures get noticed.

actors headshots in dc - sharpfocus on behance

this is sharpfocus photography dc portfolio on behance. these are examples of headshots of actors and actresses in washington dc by from souleye, photographer, sharpfocus photography . sharpfocus specializes in actors headshots that focus on revealing your character in order to increase your chances of getting noticed by casting directors so that you can get an audition.

more pictures can be seen on sharpfocus photography actors headshots in dc

shooting actor’s headshots with charles

these are picture samples of a man who booked a photo shoot for actor's headshots. he wanted to submit pictures to castings but was kinda worried that the scars on his face would ruin his chances of getting an audition. I would've preferred that he looks the way he is but prefer to look different. I tried to reassure him that having imperfections was fine since they were showing him the way he looked like. I told him also, if he wanted, I could edit all the skin blemishes in photoshop and he was happy to hear it. we did a full hour shoot and he had a few changes of clothes. different moods. little change in lighting. I think he came out with great headshots. he made his selection after a while and I did more than the traditional  touchup in photoshop. since he wanted the scars and skin blemishes removed, I did a more advanced retouching, without extra change and looking at his smile, he seemed very happy.

shooting actor’s headshots with charles

headshots of a young handsome man in dc

headshots of a young handsome man in dc
I had the pleasure to do a shoot with this good looking young man who relocated to washington dc from california who was looking for a dc photographer to take some actors headshots so he could submit some pictures for casting. he's tall and good looking and had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. he brought in a couple of changes of clothes, mainly shirts because all we were gonna take was head and shoulder pictures. either he had acted before or else, he felt very comfortable in front of the camera. I set my lighting so I could get some good contrast. we got some music going and pretty soon, it was camera, action. we took about 100 pictures out of which he selected 12 and was very happy - see more samples of actors headshots

headshots of a teen actress in dc

headshots of a teen actress in dc

photo shoot with an aspiring dc teen actress with a beautiful smile. all american girl with dreams to make it big someday in the movies or a tv sitcom. she wasn't really sure whether she would go for modeling or acting. since the shoot is booked for an hour, she could do both at no extra charge. she had brought a whole wardrobe for a few changes of clothes, so we decided to do some acting headshots with different looks. in between, we would take a few modeling shots with half body and full body shots with different lighting setups and poses so she could have a wide selection to choose from. sshe needed to have some headshots printed and a comp card that she could also send to some modeling agencies as well. she got great pictures and I helped her find a printer for comp cards and resume. she needed the pictures before the weekend and we were lucky to get the prints back in time for her trip to new york. she was very happy.  see more sample actor heashots on sharpfocus photography website

sharpfocus photography dc headshots portfolio

sharpfocus photography dc headshots portfolio

these are sample pictures from the portfolio of washington dc headshots photographer of sharpfocus photography. sharpfocus specializes in people photography with a focus on corporate headshots, actors headshots, model photography as well as portraits for business. with a unique approach to letting clients make themselves comfortable in the studio, balanced lighting and minimal use of props, souleye tries to take pictures that reveal the real character of the subject. more photographs can be seen at sharpfocus photography website.

actors headshots that reveal your character

actors headshots that reveal your character

sharpfocus photography lets you discover a no-pressure way to taking actors headshots that focuses on bringing out your real character so you will get noticed.

headshots of tiziana, actress in la

headshots of tiziana, actress in la

headshots of an aspiring actress who moved from europe to the united states. she stayed in wasington dc for a while before relocating to california to take acting classes and be close to the movie industry. 
more from sharpfocus photography: 
headshots of a cheerful actress in dc
headshots of teen actress for drama audition

headshots of a little aspiring child actor in dc

headshots of a little aspiring child actor in dc
it was a great pleasure to shoot headshots of this little child with tremendous acting skills. her mom booked a half-hour shoot, which was a special that I was running. they walked into the studio without the girl saying a word. she showed great comfort in front of the camera and would improvise perky poses. with more child actors growing successful careers, I suggested that she should get represented but her mom replied that she already had an agent and she was patiently waiting for the pictures - see more at sharpfocus dc actors headshots

sofia is a little child actor in washington dc with great acting skills

headshots of a teen drama actress

headshots of a teen drama actress
I did headshots for this teen actress who wanted pictures on short notice for an audition. she's a drama student with enigmatic look. since she's was auditioning for theater, I focused on lighting, posing to create smooth yet dramatic pictures. sharpfocus photography dc

headshots of a black woman actor in dc

headshots of a black woman actor in dc
this black woman in dc wanted actor's head shots to go to a casting in new york the following weekend for a role in a tv show - sharp focus photography dc

short flirt with dating headshots

though I was aware of dating sites and people posting pictures on their profiles, I never thought about it in terms of how it related to the photography business. a few years back, somebody contacted me for pictures that he wanted for a dating profile but it was a one-off. fast forward to 2008 when I saw an ad from dating headshots website looking for professional photographers in washington dc to expand their network. it was a process to get approved. once approved you needed to go to their website and fill out a photographer's profile allowing prospects to view your work and schedule a shoot if they chose to work with you. a few months passed. by the time I got to georgetown I got a frantic call from a client that dating headshots referred who was trying to schedule a shoot. we missed each other for a while. it was only after I left georgetown that we finally connected to do the shoot. the shoot is pretty straightforward. 30 mn and you take 100 pictures that you upload to their servers with no touch up.  fairly easy uh! wait until you have to rename all the files to the customer id. at the time, I didn't have a bulk rename software. not even sure any existed at the time. that tedious process alone deserved the money that they paid you. I got the check about 2 weeks later. for someone who was used to get paid on the spot, that was quite a long wait. you can see more dating headshots and personal portraits here.

photo restoration

I finished a shoot for a hair expo project. I shot the project using negative film. after I got the processed film, I needed to scan some images so I could  do some photo editing and optimize some images for print. I placed the negatives on a flatbed scanner but the film slid to the side of the scanner. with the moving part it got partially destroyed, ruining one image that was my favorite. armed with patience and a good supply of tea I sat at the computer and with the help of photoshop set out to restore the image. it took me a while of industrious effort to clean up the scratches, clone some part of the image and using various tools in photoshop reconstitute part of the image that was unrecognizable. the end result is not perfect but it was a good exercise to test the limits of what I could achieve in photoshop.

sharpfocus photo-genesis

how did I come up with the concept of 'sharpfocus'? I had a contax fitted with zeiss lenses.  one particularly a 85mm at f1.4 extremely sharp that I used mainly for what it was designed for: portrait photography. I fell in love with it. even at full aperture, the lens was so sharp that you would see the pores in the forehead. one woman told me she didn't like it. it reveals all your flaws. can't you make it a little softer? she asked. at the time, I was just a photographer. no name. except myself. life's tortuous paths took me to several directions until I even forgot that I was once a photographer. when I was in columbus, I would take pictures once in a while but that was merely to document my fashions. fast forward. dc. I worked in a photolab but didn't really like it because I was confined to production in the lab, loading film, processing, drying and things like that. I've always seen myself as an artist. so the practice of photography devoid of any creativity didn't really appeal to me that much. after a stint in graphic design, I started designing website. autoreverse was born from the ashes of souleye which was an umbrella website for all my endeavors. in 2001, my web designing efforts were not taking me anywhere. I dusted off my aging contax, and thought well, I have experience in fashion, experience in photography. and I like women. so I chose to start as a model photographer. domain name. I thought sharp focus would be cool. sharpfocus (no space) cute? that's how sharpfocus photography was born.

photography gear 3 - the single reflex camera

a single lens camera (slr) is basically a camera that uses a system that captures the light through a mirror and a prism that directs the light to the viewfinder. the mirror is at a 45% angle, allowing it to direct the light vertically toward the prism but when the photographer presses the shutter release, the mirror flips upward to let the light go directly to hit the film. the term 'reflex' comes from the reflection of the mirror system used to redirect the light. it was an ingenuous invention that allowed the photographer to view exactly the image that is passing through the lens and is captured on film.

the pentaprism situated on the roof of the camera sits on the optical path between the mirror and the viewfinder. it reflects the light several times to make up for the initial inversion caused by the lens. if you would look at the image directly through the lens, it would appear upside down.

the path of light in a single lens reflex camera

the single lens reflex is further development form the earlier cameras that used to have two light paths. one for the viewfinder and one that goes straight through the lens to hit the film. since the camera had two lenses they were referred to as twin-lens reflex (tlr). the major drawback of those cameras, in addition to bulk was, that since you have two light paths, they were not sharing the same optical path. though that wasn't too noticeable on medium and long range, at a short distance, parallax used to cause some framing errors, especially in close-up photography.

long before digital, we used to shoot film. pictured here is the pentax k1000, a middle range camera from the now defunct asahi pentax who was a major player in the photography industry