Post your best promo shot, articulate the positives, and articulate what you would do differently if you could do it over.
This may not be my best one, but it was handy so I'll use it here. The photograph was taken with only natural light, on an overcast day, at the opening to a narrow walkway between two historic stone buildings.
Positives
Shallow depth of field, sharpness, tone control, shadows, body posture, facial expression, turned head, direct eye contact.
Negatives
I wish I had used off camera flash set at -1.7 flash compensation to put a little more sparkle in the eyes.
Hardly Any
Well, I have hardly any since this isn't part of my business model but here one from the band I work with http://latinsoulreview.info:
Positives:
I remembered to use a flash so I was able to capture the Santa Ynez mountains in the background. It was taken in the kids park across the street from me ... Pepe is sitting on one of the benches for the parents to watch their kids. Anyway, I like the setting and it doesn't have railroad tracks or brick walls as the background.
Negatives:
One band member was missing and I didn't think this pose up, Pepe did!
And here's one from my little home studio:
Positives:
It looks professional and is well lighted.
Negatives:
It looks professional and is well lighted, sigh.
A nit for the second pic
For the first pic, good to remember to use your flash. More flash power would have made those mountains even more balanced, but you have to have a high enough flash sync speed to permit that. A really good book is one by Michael Grecco. He talks about overpowering directly sunlight and shows examples where midday portraits looks like they were taken in the dark of night because he has SO much flash that he overpowered the sunlight.
For the second pic, too bad about the reflection from the right person's eyeglass lenses. A different angle of the lights would prevent that. I'm reading the book Light: Science & Magic and it talks about that exact problem and how to eliminate it. It has to do with angles between the light source, subject, and camera. Think ahead about what elements in the image will reflect light back into the camera lens and what will not. Place your lights to your advantage depending on whether you do or don't want that reflection visible in the final image. That book also discusses polarizing the source light and using a circular polarizer on your lens to eliminate the reflections. More than one way to skin a cat as they say.
Walter Rowe - Rowe Images
Professional Photographer
Columbia, Maryland - USA
I'm reading Light: Science &
I'm reading Light: Science & Magic too! I just took a pic of a fellow student with glasses and their suggestions do work. However, having the face lit like that isn't very flattering and he ended up taking off his glasses in the end.
Hehehe - Eric's Glasses
Let me assure you that I am well aware of Eric's glasses reflections! In a portrait shoot of just him we tried everything. His lenses, while it is not obvious, have a shape that really wraps around. I had him with the ear pieces almost on top of his head before the reflections disappeared and it looked weird. I had the lights moved so far around that there wasn't light on his face before the reflections went away. His eyes look so squinty without glasses that he hates those pictures. I am not quite so far along that I can polarize my Bowens QUADX flashheads although I do have circular polarizers for my lenses!!! :-) We have decided to live with it.
Only done like one promo
Only done like one promo shot so far, I don't have what you would call 'portable' lighting
Also next to no lighting experience
but here is my submission anyway :)
grrr skin little overexposed in this one
www.dbedford.com
I'm Not Sure ...
That I would want to be in a dark room with those guys! :-) Personally I would prefer a touch more fill light or something to separate them from the background.
It was done in a small
It was done in a small dingey recording studio, had to have them standing against the wall with me shooting against the opposite wall
I asked if they at least had a sheet to put against the wall they said all good, they rocked up with a pink bedsheet hahaha - so very metal!
basically they wanted to replicate an old shot which was just with the black background before they went on tour as they had replaced their bass player....here's the before & after
www.dbedford.com