Local entrepreneur Jeff Anderson of Issaquah Trophy and Award, Trophies2Go.com, PokerTrophies.com and found in the blogosphere as the Awards Guru needed some head shots and knew exactly who to call. The gig was for one casual look, one formal set-up and then another of my choice.

The casual look. I wanted a mixed light look, so I did not gel my strobe to match the tungsten light in the background. This is one Alien Bees B800 through a 60″ Photek Softlighter II.

The formal look. An Alien Bees B800 through a 60″ Photek Softlighter II against my portable Botero background.

Loosely inspired by the look of Platon that dons so many magazine covers these days, I conceived this next look as if it were for the cover of a magazine. Same basic set-up as the previous image, but with the light in more of a butterfly position.

And with a few clicks using the magazine cover creator at Big Huge Labs and a bit of Photoshop, this is what you get for a laugh.

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Tonight I did a quick, like I mean 5 minutes quick, head shot of Mercer Island podiatrist Dr. Mak Abulhosn. The image was sandwiched into a huge group family session and I ultimately would like to do a portrait with Mak that was more environmental, but that is not the point of the post.

Several weeks ago I attended a lighting seminar conducted by David Hobby, purveyor of endless photography resources, shameless pimper of light and proprietor of the cottage industry branded as Strobist.com. During the seminar he espoused the virtues of clamshell-styled lighting with the virtues being flattering and even light while still maintaining dimensionality due to the lower light being down one to 3 stops.

I think that this look is exceptional for clean and professional head shots.

From the Strobist seminar in Seattle, here is a clamshell set-up shot by Ted Leung

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