Nicole Pretty Pictures in the studio { Hudson Valley Headshot Photographer }
I sure did have a nice weekend this weekend. The fiance and I spent Sunday running errands, but the fun part is realizing how much fun we have together. We really do enjoy each others company so much, and we make running errands fun. I know we’re a bit gross, but whatever. Hell we even finished off the day with some doughnuts from Dunkin. And if that’s not a way to finish out a day, I don’t know what is.
Lynzi was running around pulling together some props for a shoot she wants to do that’s very Tim Walker. I’m excited to see how her shots turn out. I already helped her figure out what she wanted to do with the lighting so she could get
a mixture of natural light, and studio light in the studio. Now in our portrait studio we don’t have any windows for natural light, but I’ve been working the last few months on perfecting my natural light in the studio look, and I think I have something that really looks like a nice Hudson Valley photography studio.
Nicole is starting a new business, and came in wanting to get some great product shots. Yeah that’s right I said product shots. Now, can you tell what the product is? That’s how good the product is, you can’t even tell it’s a product. She came in wanting me to shoot her extensions that are apparently some of the best in the market. They are thick, and gorgeous. I have to say I was super impressed because they didn’t even look like extensions. No seriously, do those look like hair extensions to you?
For this shoot I wanted to do something that was modern and clean. Something that showed off the hair, and at the same time Nicole, because she’s gorgeous. So the lighting setup is fairly simple. Although not basic. I started on the backdrop creating a nice soft gradient, which give the shots a nice modern look. Something that isn’t just a boring plain backdrop, but just a bit of a gradient. Again I didn’t want to distract from the hair, or her face, so it’s pretty light, but noticeable. Banana Republic has been doing this reverse gradient in their catalogue shots a lot lately so that’s where I got the idea. For the key light it’s pretty simple. It’s an octobox on camera left as the key light. Then I put a v-flat over to the right of Nicole so that her hair would have a nice sheen to it. This bounce back of light reflects nicely against the hair, and brightens up the shadows nicely. Because this isn’t exactly a moody headshot I didn’t want it to be too contrasty. I also added a reflector underneath her face to bounce light back up. This softens the shadows under her nose and chin. Of course there’s still a shadow there, but it’s less pronounced. This is pretty classic beauty lighting.
The funny thing is how well these kinds of lighting setups work for headshots. That’s why I use these kinds of lighting setups when I’m shooting headshots. Whether it’s corporate headshots, or acting headshots, everyone looks pretty when you’re putting them under great lighting.
I sure did have a lot of fun on this shoot, and I was certainly happy with the way these headshots came out. If you’re looking for a [Hudson Valley headshot photographer](http://www.davebrownphotography.com/Hudson Valley-Headshot-Photographer.aspx) please check out my portfolio.
I feel like in this shot you can see how thick those extensions really are. They just look gorgeous. Maybe one day I’ll need extensions, and I’ll get myself some of these. Man buns are in right?
