Six Tips for capturing Great Headshots

The aim of a great headshot is to capture the subject in a way that is flattering and true to their natural look. There are many techniques of capturing a great headshot, have a look at the tips given below:

Focus on the body posture - When you are capturing a headshot, do not neglect subject’s body posture. Though it does not appear in the photo but it definitely affects the upper part of the body. For instance if a person is standing in an awkward, drooping posture, it will tend to pull their head & neck downward too.

 Keep the face firm - The best technique to capture a great headshot is tell your subject to stretch their head upwards and keep the face firm. Head shot is a close up and gives impeccable attention to the detail, so tighten the skin on their face about an inch perfectly. This trick will help eliminate fine lines, wrinkles, and gracefully firms up the skin. 

Lighting Adjustments - Lighting can make or mar your image quality. To give a nice, soft light spread evenly across the face, diffuse your light with an umbrella, reflector, softbox, as per your liking. However, abstain from using sharp or excessively bright light directly at the subject.

 Natural composition of the shot - Head shot photography is all about capturing natural expressions. Composition of shot should look natural, instead of forced. So forget about traditional way of capturing a headshot wherein your subject is always posing with a smile. Rather, talk to them jokingly to bring a natural laughter on their face and then capture by keeping the camera at eye level with your subject.

Backdrop - Keep the backdrop simple & subtle, for this best option is to keep plain white backdrop. Headshot’s aim is to draw viewer’s attention to the face of the subject, so avoid any distractions. Never clutter your image by adding fancy backdrops or props.

Jaw Line - Apart from eyes, the striking feature that draws in the viewer is jaw line. Therefore, another major point of focus should be your subjects jaw line. So, make sure you are shooting from a good jaw line angle.

The Evolution of Green Screen Technology

Chroma keying has become the basis of photography these days. Almost every photographer has tried his/her hands on it. This technique has helped many creative shutterbugs to come up with unbelievable pictures and videos that would not have been possible otherwise. Although we have been involved in this in our day to day life, very few of us actually know how it all started. The initial experimentation started in 1930’s by Linwood Dunn, a pioneer of visual special effects. He used travelling mattes to create wipes for the movie ‘Flying down to Rio’. Later, in 1040s, Larry Butler used Dunn’s principles and along with blue screen backgrounds and technology for making the movie ‘The thief of Bagdad’ for which had won an Academy award. After this, the entire film industry began experimenting with this new technique. Among all of them, Arthur Widmer, a Warner Brother employee and ex-researcher of Kodak, came up with extremely useful techniques that helped him in making ‘The old man and the sea’. Arthur developed the ultraviolet travelling matte process.

The Chroma keying industry kept using their blue screen kit until the late 1970s when the keying color was finally changed to green from blue. However, the process was still under experimentation. From weather report to film footage, the Chroma keying effects were not accurate but the industry leaders didn’t give up. They kept polishing this technique till it became the future of photography.

After 8 decades, the background replacement technique has got a wider acceptance and is frequently used to create amazing pictures and videos without even moving out of your studio. The keying process has become so accurate that it’s difficult to judge if it’s a real picture or a Chroma keyed one.

Blue Screen Photography and Its Benefits

The blue screen backgrounds are the unsung heroes of the photography industry. Except a few photographers like me, most people prefer the green one over the blue. They are satisfied with it and do not want to go for a change. The popularity of green screen has dominated the industry so much that most professionals as well as amateurs don’t even bother to experiment with other options such as black and blue.

A popular myth that discourages many people from using the blue screen kit is that it is not as effective as the green ones. I and many other blue screen fans laugh at this. Ask us and we can tell you end number of cases where it helped us take pictures that would not have been possible using the grassy backdrop. What will you do when you are featuring a model in a green dress or a model holding a green umbrella? You can still use the green screen but then you will not be able to use instant background removal features that are offered by many photo editing software. The best way to handle such cases is to use a blue screen. Both green and blue screens are equally effective; however, people use green one more because blue is a commonly worn color and therefore, has a higher chances of creating clothing conflicts.

Most people feel that blue is a dull color as compared to green and therefore, cannot make their subjects look attractive. This might be true to a certain extent but blue screen photography much more advantages than you can ever imagine. Easier color correction and less color spill are some of the reasons that make blue screen a better choice than its counterpart.

Don’t go by the name green screen photography; this is synonymous with blue screen photography. Learn the proper uses of blue backdrops and use them for your Chroma key photography needs.