I’ve been thinking about updating my head shot. If you’re observant, you’ll notice its copyright date is 2004. I like that it’s black and white. I may do that again. The photographer who took my head shot, Greg Schreck, is known for his black and white work, and I liked the head shot he did for another local artist.
This time, I’m thinking of buying my own lights and having my husband, a gifted ametuer photographer, take the head shot.
Any excuse to buy more equipment, right?
Here are the lights I’m thinking of getting:
with the clip-on diffusers:
or perhaps the beefier kit with umbrellas:
For a backdrop, I’m looking at the ones at Set Shop. Part of the reason they have some that are amazingly affordable, is that they are small, certainly big enough for one person for a head shot.
Would you have thought you could set up a mini portrait studio for so little?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Marco Fleseri 03.14.08 at 10:44 am
cool stuff, but seems like a lot to spend for just one photo? or will your photographer husband get more mileage out of them, perhaps?
Tamra 03.17.08 at 10:55 am
You know, IMHO, I really think you should skip doing it indoors and do it outdoors in natural lighting. It’s free, and if done well, it can look better than the staged set up a lot of times. I’ve done some natural light portraits, including self-portraits, that turned out really well.
I’m a black and white gal myself, so my preference, even for outdoors, would be that vs. color.
What you show though, is basically the lighting setup I have for my jewelry photography.
Elaine 03.19.08 at 7:06 am
Marco, sure, we’ll get more use out of the lights. Hopefully having the lights will mean I’ll update my headshot more than once every 4 years!
Tamra, yes, outdoor can be great, I’ve done those too. There’s a park in the Chicago area where a lot of wedding parties go for their outdoor pictures — I go there.
It’s harder to schedule the time though, to wait for the nice day, then rush over to the park, you know? I like to have lights for jewelry and people, so that I’m not dependent on the weather, especially where we live!
Elaine