Posts Tagged ‘headshot’

2015 Corporate Staff Portraits

Executive Business Portraits - Tysons Corner Center
2015 Corporate Staff Portraits – Tysons Corner Center

Tysons, Virginia

At the beginning of the new year, updating staff portraits is a popular assignment for me. Maybe getting a new headshot is a popular New Year’s resolution? The feeling of renewal extends to websites as well. I see lots of updates to my frequent stopping points online.

Executive Business Portraits - Tysons Corner Center
2015 Corporate Staff Portraits – Tysons Corner Center

These headshots were made in a conference room. I brought a mobile lighting setup with a white cloth backdrop. One flash through a shoot – through umbrella was the main light, and another light was placed on camera right to light the background with a little kick to the side of the face.

Staff Group Photos

CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center

This staff photo was a little nerve wracking for me. Not for anything having to do with me or my position for the photo, but for my subjects! The ice rink on the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center was the setting for this updated staff photo for CBRE. They were also the sponsor for the Zamboni machine that keeps this ice smooth. So the idea was to have the Zamboni out in the middle of the rink to provide the branding for the company as well as a focal point for the staff to pose for the photo. Because it was outside, I wanted to make the colors and faces pop from the background, so I set up one large 500 W/S flash to camera left. I did not have any modifiers on the light to ensure I got the most power out of the light that I could. I set it to ¾ power and I made a few frames.

CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center

I did not want to have them standing out there for too long since it was cold. Not to mention it was slippery since they were out on the ice! The staff of the ice rink did have some mats to help with the traction, but I still held my breath as they walked out there carefully. I only moved two people from their initial position to make a better composition, but I luckily, the results were great right out of the camera. Whew!

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Headshots Friday

Tysons, Virginia

It will be a busy weekend for me – two large shoots are on the schedule. Tonight, I will be photographing headshots for the University of Maryland University College Alumni Association. They will be having a awards dinner and I will be setup to make updated headshots for those attending. With social media networks for both personal and professional uses, it is important to have a great profile photo. It is the first impression that you are making on prospective clients or employers. Let me know if you or your office have portraits that need refreshing for this use.

Headshot portrait - ©TimeLine Media
Headshot portrait – ©TimeLine Media

Also, I am excited to be photographing more dancing in Rockville, MD. There is another great event planned for Bachata Masters this weekend including workshops and a party with showcases. I have been invited to photograph a few of these, and they are always awesome events for some photos. The enthusiastic audience is so close to the performers, so the connection they make with their audiences is very intimate and exciting as they have been working with each other throughout the day. With the showcase performances, I try to do something different with the lighting to add something to the images. Some ideas are going around in my head, and I will definitely share them on the blog sometime soon.

Bachata Showcase - ©TimeLine Media
Bachata Showcase – ©TimeLine Media

Also, as far as the proofing website goes, the early-bird photo sale from the DC Area Arthur Murray Summer Showcase is ending on Monday, June 23. Also on Monday, the photos from the USA Dance Mid-Atlantic Championships are expiring. This will be the last day to view and purchase photos from this event before they are removed from the website to make room for new events. Thanks to everyone for visiting my websites, and be sure to follow me on Twitter or Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Light Modifier Reflections – Tech Thursday

Musician Portraits

I have been doing a lot of great portraits lately! Luckily for me, the people that have been in front of the lens have been great subjects. It seems like it would be easier to have a person giving you all the attention for the photograph. Compared to event or dance photos where it is more up to me to catch a great image. Making portraits is a different challenge. It is a true collaboration with your subject that needs input from the photographer to make it happen.

Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box - ©TimeLine Media
Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box light modifier – ©TimeLine Media

Studio Portrait

This setup on a black background was at the suggestion of the subject. The easiest way to have the most control over the light is to use a strobe to light a subject with the dark material as a backdrop. For this, I used a Nikon Speedlight firing through a Westcott Rapid Box Octa. The flash was triggered with the FlexTT5 from PocketWizard. The great thing about these triggers is that they use the TTL ability built into the Nikon camera body. Thus the computer in the flash will set the power. This is different from shooting with moonlight strobes that I typically use as those are set manually. But for this, the TTL worked very well as I setup the flashes, so I kept using them so that we could change backgrounds, and setups quickly as needed.

Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box - ©TimeLine Media
Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box light modifier – ©TimeLine Media

When photographing people with clear eyeglasses, it is not typical that you would want to have the light reflected from the glass. With sunglasses, and the kind of photos we were making here, the reflection actually turned out to be a nice element to the face!

Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box - ©TimeLine Media
Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box – ©TimeLine Media

I did make images that also did not have the reflection so that the subject would have options. In case the later use of these images would not work with the octagonal light reflection, we had both in the can. My favorite, was when he just moved the glasses above his eyes so we could see underneath – this was the best of the session in my opinion.

Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box - ©TimeLine Media
Portrait with Nikon D4, SB-910, Westcott Rapid Box – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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