Head shot Feedback?

[peterasmith]

March 11, 2009 at 6:11 pm

I was wondering what people think of this shot as I’m new to the whole game of portraiture. I’ve taken three rolls of film of a variety of shots, (full length, head and shoulders, details etc), for what might be a long running project on musicians. This is the first one I’ve got around to posting:

This was taken using a Nikon F100 and 50mm f1.4 AFD on Fuji Neopan 400 CN using available light from a large window.

I’ve taken lots of candids before but not deliberate portraiture so this project could be a steep learning curve…

[emjay]

March 11, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Nice portrait Peter. The subject seems very relaxed and you captured that relaxation and a hint of amusement in his eyes.
This makes the picture very pleasant to look at. Good soft lighting too.

I like the tight crop. Your scanning technique from film to digital is very good.

Nice shallow depth of field. Although I would have tried to keep both eyes sharply in focus in this case.

Also an 80 to 100 mm lens would probably be better for this type of tight head shot. The 50mm lens may be making his nose
seem a little longer than in reality because you had to move in close.

Cheers

[peterasmith]

March 11, 2009 at 9:34 pm

emjay wrote:

Also an 80 to 100 mm lens would probably be better for this type of tight head shot. The 50mm lens may be making his nose
seem a little longer than in reality because you had to move in close.

Cheers

Thanks emjay – I was confused why a shot taken with a 50mm might display the distortion you’d normally associate with a wide angle! This shot was taken at the end of the shoot (hence my subject was more relaxed) and I didn’t bother changing lenses. I’ll make sure I change lens next time!