Business headshot done on location in Clearwater, Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 42" brolly to frame left - white background added digitally in PhotoshopThis afternoon I drove to Clearwater to meet Kathy to make her business headshot. Earlier in the week we discussed the specifics, like how she needed both a standard vertical headshot and also a full body headshot, both of which needed to be on fully white backgrounds with no shadows. This is easy enough to do if working in a studio, but I made these shots right in her office. Therefore, I needed to maximize the amount of blank wall I could get behind her in the space given to make it as easy as possible to add the white background later in post. For the above standard vertical headshot, it was no problem to do.
Full body business headshot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 42" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame left - white background added digitallyNow for the above full body shot, adding the white background was much trickier because as of about two-thirds of the way down the skirt the border of the wall started and then the dark blue-gray carpet began. This made selecting the edge of the subject using the Quick Select tool in Photoshop somewhat in exact, even after refining the edges. After placing just the subject onto a new layer and painting in a white background, I then took that same 100% white Brush Tool and tediously smoothed the edges especially around the border of the shoes, ankles and lower skirt where the carpet was. Still, this technique allows me to make on location shots with any background the client requests.
Kathy was a great subject easy to pose and we also had help from her cheerful office mate Rosemary.
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