Headshot - week 4

I've been so busy lately and have fallen a bit behind with updating my blog regarding the 52 week challenge. It's going well by the way! I'm at week 7 now but will continue on the blog where I left off: the headshot for week 4.I was lucky enough that lovely Alex, an acting student here in Cardiff, wanted to have some new headshots.I felt this week's theme was quite easy, if one takes into consideration the definition of a headshot, you can have a winner image just by following a few rules:

• Use a wide aperture lens that can give you a lovely blurred background and make the subject stand out. (I used my 35mm 1.8 lens but heard that the 50 and 85mm are amazing too)
• Focus on the eyes, make them spark and stand out (I struggled with this one a bit, not sure if it's my eyes or the lens who weren't cooperating)
• Find good light either in the shadow of a building or in the studio or shoot on an overcast day (which ended up being my choice whether I liked it or not ... me living in Wales and all)
• Keep it clean, a classic headshot is normally used for marketing oneself, and it has to represent realistically their appearance.

Even if I did think it is quite straight forward I ended up researching it quite a bit to see how the professionals do it. Loved reading the following articles: Setting Up a Successful Headshot Session Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. And I love Dylan Patrick's attitude, professionalism and results!

During this week I also found a new way of editing skin and I'm obsessed with it - it's called Frequency Separation Retouching.As you can see in the images, the skin looks very clean and fresh, still keeping its pores and its natural texture. One little problem: the technique works best with a headshot at good resolution, with skin that has clear texture(no blurry images). Also if dealing with other skin imperfections a combination of this and other techniques might be needed: patch, healing brush, dodge and burn etc. Her skin was beautiful already and the editing only really enhanced the image and removed any pigmentation or uneven tone.The final headshot was the one selected for the week's theme, I just loved her smile and youthfulness. How about you .. which one would you pick?