I recently spent an hour with Lily Delamere, a talented actress based in Tucson. I wanted to grab a few shots to illustrate how an actor's heashot should look.
The image should look natural and subtly enhance the actor's best features. Other than some level adjustments to get ready for printing, there should be no retouching of the actor's features. The image should basically be Straight from the Camera.
The image I selected is an example of a properly 'edgy' headshot - it has some dramatic lighting and is backed off her face just enough to utilize the black space around her so that her features can shine.
Lighting should subtly complement the actor's features without looking too dramatic. This image is as dramatically lit as they should get. Here's my lighting diagram with some explanation:
I decided to go a little non-tradidional on this lighting to hopefully create an interested talking point. You will see round catchlights in her eyes - these catchlights were created with a ringflash in a 36" round softbox (abr800 with moon unit). I love my ringflash but don't use it the way rings are typically utilized. I use mine mainly for fill to reduce the overall contrast of an image. I create a dramatic effect then increment up the ring until I reduce that dramatacism to the desired level.
To Model Left is a 24x36" softbox positioned vertically up close to her, within 2' - rather than centering it, the center of the box is about 12" closer to the camera and it's turned in towards her just slightly. It is placed just outside of range so that it doesn't create a reflection in her eyes. I didn't want a distracting group of lights in the eye.
Behind and above her is a 16" beauty dish with a white sock. This creates the edge lighting on her left (camera right) cheek and highlights her hair while separating her black dress from the black background.
The reflector is positoned to reflect light from both the dish and the softbox, creating a light wrap-around and bathing her in soft light.
The observant readers will notice that the catchlights are different than what would normally be seen from a ring flash. I used Photoshop to 'fix' the black center of the ringflash and make the round highlight look a little more natural. As much as I love my ringflash, I find the catch annoying.
The overall effect is a soft but dramatically lit portrait of our actress.
