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03/18/2007 08:43:21 PM · #1 |
the continuing chronicles of my freelancing...
friday afternoon, i checked my email and found a 10-minute old message from a woman needing a corporate headshot done with a quick turn-around. i called her immediately, and scoped it out. she had just changed jobs and her new employer was preparing a press release--however, she wouldn't have access to the company's staff photographer before the release was due to go out. to top it off, she had to have it done by sunday afternoon.
well, thanks to the weather, all the sporting events i was scheduled to shoot had been postponed, including one that afternoon. when i asked her if she'd like to meet somewhere, she informed me that she had read through my website, including a bunch of my articles, and she felt comfortable with me coming over to her apartment. so i grabbed my gear and went.
she was a delightful woman, and knew exactly what she wanted and what she had to do. i set up a couple lights and grabbed a handful of shots. when i asked her if she wanted anything else, she said not now, but in the spring, she'd like to arrange for something outdoors with her daughter and her dog. with that, i gave her an invoice and she wrote me a check.
the shot
while it really was a straight-forward shot, it did take a little bit of work post-processing to get it finished. the background wall was white, and i had my 420 slaved to completely blow it out (as well as knock out any shadows). that way, i would have no problem separating her from the background so that i could drop in a more suitable backdrop.
one of my 'live-and-learns' from this was to really pay attention to the hair. most of the time, it doesn't matter, but, in this instance, there were too many frizzies. as you can see, i erased most of them. it decidedly would have been easier if they had been brushed out before the first click.
i used a lot of the stuff i learned here at dpc, such as healing out blemishes, whitening teeth, and smoothing out wrinkles. then i had to deal with the background. she had shown me some headshots of other people in the company, and she wanted something similar, but not exactly the same. i created a new layer and set the foreground color to a color complimentary to her complexion and somewhat similar to their standard backdrop; i made the background color white. i then selected the new layer and added clouds via the Filter | Render menu options. after a little more cleanup work on the hair, i was done.
google?
whenever someone contacts me, i ALWAYS ask how they found me. she told me that when she googled "richmond va corporate portraits" i was the first hit that was for an actual photographer's site, as opposed to being a directory site. just goes to show, keeping that site content somewhat fresh, and embedding relevant keywords actually does pay off.
cheers,
skip |
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03/18/2007 08:50:26 PM · #2 |
| Cool story Skip, and as always, great advice for anyone else looking to succeed as a photographer. Great inspiration. Congrats once again! |
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03/18/2007 08:56:07 PM · #3 |
Skip you're the man.
Not for getting this job and getting paid for doing what we all love, but for considering how your little stories can help.
And they do.
So thanks. |
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03/19/2007 12:11:18 PM · #4 |
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03/21/2007 10:49:00 AM · #5 |
Do tell - how did you fix her hair so well ?
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03/21/2007 11:28:32 AM · #6 |
| Coolio, thanks for the post, Skip! |
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03/21/2007 01:05:15 PM · #7 |
The story and how/what took place is great, but am I the only one that thinks the edit isn't very good?
I respect you in more ways than you know Skip, but honestly, the background looks so computer-generated
(which I know it was, but could be altered to look more random) and her hairline looks like it was cut-out with scissors.
What you did with her skin and clothing is good I should add.
Hope I'm not making waves here, but it's an honest and non-patronizing opinion.
Yeah, I know I'm a lunatic when it comes to editing and can envision the final product looking like it was actually shot in a studio.
Message edited by author 2007-03-21 13:06:59. |
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03/21/2007 03:39:10 PM · #8 |
As soon as I looked at the side by side, I thought the same about the fly-away hair. I tend to agree with brad about that, and would not bring it up at ALL if you weren't one of the most generous contributors on this site. Since you quite obviously could get by without DPC, your coming back to 'give to those who gave' is outstanding.
A few months ago, I attempted my first maternity shoot. Our customer had stunningly beautiful eyes and long, flowing hair. Unfortunately, I gave in to the 'I can fix that in PS' theory about the hundreds of hairs around her - the shots are much the worse for my error.
I have made sure to keep a $4 bottle of frizz-ease type stuff in the bag at ALL times. It has made a HUGE difference in the number of shots I am happy with, AND made life easier - one of my favorite 'tools' ever.
Wishing you the best & thanking you for all your shared knowledge... |
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