Sisters in the Studio

It’s been months since I last set up the studio, so I was thrilled when a friend asked me to create some headshots for her daughters. As I’ve mentioned before, headshots need to be truthful representations, because casting agents don’t want any surprises when they audition someone based on a photograph. And while a headshot has to be about the subject rather than the photographer, one’s style can still be instrumental in capturing the agent’s attention. I studied hundreds of children’s headshots before the session, and I didn’t see any red backgrounds. There might be a good reason for that. In retailing we were always told that red is too aggressive and alarming, but I needed to separate the girls’ dark hair from the background, and decided that impact might trump psychographic theory, so I put a red gel on my background flash and went for it.  To play it safe, I shot a few with a black background and a hair light. Of course, these girls are so beautiful and engaging, the background might not matter at all. What do you think?

Techno babble: Nikon D7000 with Nikon 85mm f/1.4 lens. SB800 with Gary Fong Lightsphere as commander/fill. SB600 in Photek Softlighter II as key. SB600 with grid/gel as background light, with grid alone as hair light.