29 Portrait Photography 4: Head Shots versus Portrait Photography

Notes for this lesson come from this tutorial by Daniel Norton on Adorama

Every headshot is a portrait, but not every portrait is a headshot. Headshots are a specific kind of portrait. Beauty photography is also a specific kind of portrait photography. It uses the same tools, but there are subtle differences.

Portraits

A portrait shows something about the subject – you have to ask yourself, “Who is this person?” It doesn’t need to be someone at their best or even show them at all, it could focus on hands. Daniel says there are two kinds of portraits: one that is about the subject, and the other one is about the photographer. Richard Avedon created portraits of what he thought would be exciting, not who his subjects really were (although something about their true character really comes through).

James Story, Coal Miner, Summerset, CO, by Richard Avedon, 1979

Headshots

Headshots are portrait photos for business purposes – typically for people in corporate offices, government offices, and then sometimes for actors and models. 

Headshot of Tom Hanks, by Karen Kuehn, 1987

Headshots can sometimes be boring or generic, but they are a necessary service and a source for (potentially) steady income.

For headshots you want to show the person as they really look, but at their best. The model looks at the camera and smiles, as if saying. "Hi," to you. Lots of headshots are square. Ideal camera to subject height depends on how much you’re showing. You want the camera level, 90% of the time. Aiming down on a subject makes them look submissive, looking up makes someone look dominant:

The Kray Brothers, by David Bailey, 1965

For aperture, you want around f/6.3 or f/7.1 – you need enough depth of field to get the entire head in focus. You want to light it as cleanly as possible, with the least amount of retouching necessary. We want to see what the person looks like, it’s not a beauty contest. Make sure you leave some space around the head, don’t chop off the top. It’ll look weird as a square. You also need to worry about consistency, you want every shot for a job to show the same angle, same light, same size, same background, same cropping. A great big soft box is ideal for headshots. You can add a reflector on the opposite side, for a more even lighting.

For an actor’s headshot, you need them to show more personality, all the other rules stay the same. Models don’t need headshots. Worry more about beauty shots (see below).

Positioning Your Soft Box

Consider the position of the light, how close to a subject, above to the side, etc. The closer the light is to the model the more it wraps around them, removing shadows (and blemishes), but also the darker the background will be. You want to balance these considerations. A good rule of thumb for lighting placement is put it as close as you can, until it’s in the shot, and then back it up. This gets you as soft a light as possible. Daniel has his softbox set vertically, at a 45 angle to the model’s face. He has it raised and pointing slightly down on her. For a beautiful model, you might try a butterfly lighting style. 45 angle is more the norm for corporate headshots, especially mixed genders.

Positioning Your Camera

Headshots should be neutral, so you want a level camera. Never tilt it up or down. For full figure, it’ll be about waist height, for waist up, it’ll be higher, for just the head it’ll be higher still.

You can add a second light for more “dimensionality”. Daniel uses a strip box (diffused, and with a grid). He places it behind and to the model’s right – but it’s not pointing directly at the model. He also takes a few photos with just that light to get it positioned correctly – so it’s a nice rim on the opposite side. Then try with both lights and check your exposure – adjust the power of each light until you get a nice bit of highlight on your model’s cheek, for some extra depth. How much you use this depends on the model. For someone with lots of acne, tone it down. For someone who’s more athletic or has a square jaw, this can add interest to the headshot. You can even add in a reflector with this second light to even out the lighting.

A Beauty Shot

Switch to a silver specular beauty dish with a grid because it’s punchier – it’s more of a spotlight on your model, blowing out the highlights on their skin, while the background is darker. Position your light above, tilted down on the model for butterfly lighting – the chin sticks out more, there’s more shadow on her neck, under the chin. It’s more glamorous. You can have the model look away from the camera, turning her head to a ¾ angle.

The beauty dish creates a circular catch light in her eyes, be careful not to block out the pupils.
You can bring your camera in closer to feel closer with the subject – you begin to crop out the head, and get lens distortion of features, just like when you’re close to someone. If you position a hair/rim light behind and to the side, it adds drama. You can also set up a light facing away from the model, bouncing off colored paper so it color bleeds into your model.