Head shots Filters

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wookie6262

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I did a headshot job this week. Images were fine but the client has asked for a filter to be put on them in post. I suspect this is to take away blemishes etc and maybe add a bit of glow and smoothen skin. Is this normal for headshots. Not my normal line of work and not sure this is the best part of teh forum to ask but I suspect this will have the expertise needed to answer.
 
It’d be better in the ‘talk people and portraits’ to be honest, cos mostly this is where the lighting nerds hang out.

As above; ask her what she thinks needs ‘improving’ it might be that she’s so used to the crap filters on phone pics that she doesn’t like what she actually looks like.

But also as it’s not your area of expertise, maybe you could have improved the shooting angle, lighting, pose etc.

So maybe some improved processing or a ‘filter’ is the answer, but maybe the answer is a reshoot.
 
Phil V said:
It’d be better in the ‘talk people and portraits’ to be honest, cos mostly this is where the lighting nerds hang out.

As above; ask her what she thinks needs ‘improving’ it might be that she’s so used to the crap filters on phone pics that she doesn’t like what she actually looks like.

But also as it’s not your area of expertise, maybe you could have improved the shooting angle, lighting, pose etc.

So maybe some improved processing or a ‘filter’ is the answer, but maybe the answer is a reshoot.
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Cheers,

I've asked the question and see what she comes back with
 
Also
If you do want tips for either the shooting or processing, feel free to post an image and ask for guidance :)
 
You’ve not made a bad job of the photography, as far as capturing something of the sitter. but I’d have shot tighter, and shortlit this subject for a slightly less light and airy feel (the contrasty backlight gives a feel that doesn’t exactly match the persona).

As for retouching, whilst I don’t generally do a lot for males, the first rule is to remove / reduce any obviously temporary marks or blemishes. I’d also even out the skin tone a tad.

Hope that helps a bit.
 
Phil V said:
You’ve not made a bad job of the photography, as far as capturing something of the sitter. but I’d have shot tighter, and shortlit this subject for a slightly less light and airy feel (the contrasty backlight gives a feel that doesn’t exactly match the persona).

As for retouching, whilst I don’t generally do a lot for males, the first rule is to remove / reduce any obviously temporary marks or blemishes. I’d also even out the skin tone a tad.

Hope that helps a bit.
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The framing wasn't my choice, replicating the client's wish. The light and airy feel was trying to replicate this style. Their background was front lit I had the sun coming in from the rear and had to block it or it would have blown out the right side of the sitter. When you say even out the skin tone do you mean losing some of teh red.
 

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Now I recall your earlier question.

So… that nice backlit light and airy feel works a treat on the younger subjects, so I suppose you have to accept it’s the clients wishes.

The look you were going for isn’t ‘filtered’, but you ought to do some work on blemishes, the red skin tones etc.

Probably a couple of ticks in lightroom, healing brush then desaturate the reds.

But you might want to try a heavier job on one, brightening eyes etc. to see if that’s what she’d prefer.

The good looking guy with the beard probably looks ‘in real life’ like his wrinkles are lighter and his eyes brighter*.

* looks like he had a few beers and a late night :)
 
Phil V said:
Now I recall your earlier question.

So… that nice backlit light and airy feel works a treat on the younger subjects, so I suppose you have to accept it’s the clients wishes.

The look you were going for isn’t ‘filtered’, but you ought to do some work on blemishes, the red skin tones etc.

Probably a couple of ticks in lightroom, healing brush then desaturate the reds.

But you might want to try a heavier job on one, brightening eyes etc. to see if that’s what she’d prefer.

The good looking guy with the beard probably looks ‘in real life’ like his wrinkles are lighter and his eyes brighter*.

* looks like he had a few beers and a late night :)
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They are all Scottish so different complexions to down south. Here is what the client has asked for, pretty much what I was thinking she would. - something that makes the skin look smoother and maybe a bit brighter on the face so there’s a bit of a nice shine. A bit out my wheelhouse but that is how you learn.
 
Theres Portrait Pro, and Beautybox, both aimed at skin softening, on the rare occasion I do it I go for Portrait pro. That said it's a numbers game. If your only doing a few I'd be tempted to do them manually in photoshop (look up some retiuching videos on youtube).
Personally for these sort of headshots I'd be reluctant because these are supposed to show the person and what they look like, this isnt 97 year old aunty Marge in wrinkly mode.
Just remembered theres Portraiture by imogenic and perfect 365 by arcsoft
 
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swanseamale47 said:
Theres Portrait Pro, and Beautybox, both aimed at skin softening, on the rare occasion I do it I go for Portrait pro. That said it's a numbers game. If your only doing a few I'd be tempted to do them manually in photoshop (look up some retiuching videos on youtube).
Personally for these sort of headshots I'd be reluctant because these are supposed to show the person and what they look like, this isnt 97 year old aunty Marge in wrinkly mode.
Just remembered theres Portraiture by imogenic and perfect 365 by arcsoft
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Thanks. Lots to look at there
 
This sort of reminds me of when I used to do the headshots at my old employer, just for internal use. The receptionist always asked for a new one, because she claimed that she looked old. If she had stuck with the original, she would have looked 10 years younger, because she was 10 years younger :LOL:
 
wookie6262 said:
They are all Scottish so different complexions to down south. Here is what the client has asked for, pretty much what I was thinking she would. - something that makes the skin look smoother and maybe a bit brighter on the face so there’s a bit of a nice shine. A bit out my wheelhouse but that is how you learn.
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If you are using Photoshop then you could use Frequency Separation - the advantage of this being that the skin smoothing and tonal adjustments are done on separate layers.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Theres Portrait Pro, and Beautybox, both aimed at skin softening, on the rare occasion I do it I go for Portrait pro. That said it's a numbers game. If your only doing a few I'd be tempted to do them manually in photoshop (look up some retiuching videos on youtube).
Personally for these sort of headshots I'd be reluctant because these are supposed to show the person and what they look like, this isnt 97 year old aunty Marge in wrinkly mode.
Just remembered theres Portraiture by imogenic and perfect 365 by arcsoft
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Portrait Pro may be worth the money. I hate faffing about with images and even after a few clicks it is doing what I think the client wants ie making sitters look better than they really do or being kind making them look as good as they do on their best days. It will be 80 Quid well spent if the client is happy and it was still a far better earner than the sports jobs I do

My view is the same as yours and if headshots are not authentic then I dare say I would wonder what else was. However, I remember doing some for the management team I was in a few years back. I ran them through something similar to PortraitPro and made them all look ridiculous with perfect skin, bright white teeth etc. I then gave them a choice of teh original or the edited and every single one, mostly men, chose the edited version. At that point I thought Scots weren't very vain but I changed my mind at that point. My original image went up on teh intranet and every other manager had a fake version of themselves posted. I didn't last long as a manager and that literal two facedness was one of the big reasons. I couldn't fake it telling staff a terrible idea was a good one.
 
juggler said:
I played with Portrait Pro a while back.

For this kind of image it's quicker to do it manually. If you really want batch editing then look at the Retouch4me plugins.
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Might be quicker for you but I would need to learn how to retouch portraits so any aid in that is good. I'll take a look at Retouch4me this evening. Thanks for your help
 
If you just want a simple solution portrait pro is probably the quickest.

However; it really does have a tendency to overcook and the images in the promos are frankly absolutely awful.
 
Phil V said:
If you just want a simple solution portrait pro is probably the quickest.

However; it really does have a tendency to overcook and the images in the promos are frankly absolutely awful.
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I get the feeling that is what they are looking for. I'm going to give it a go in teh next couple of days. Had a play with the trial version and it probably won't be a bad thing to have in my arsenal
 
I purchased PortraitPro. I doubt I will use it much but it was worth the money as it allowed me to process the images pretty quickly and the client is happy. with the images of her now more youthful, smoother skinned workforce.
 

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