Michael Clayton former NFL player creative headshot Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 in collapsed brolly to frame right
I received a phone call from a networking and St. Pete Chamber of Commerce friend I had not seen in a long time. She is now working for former NFL player Michael Clayton. She asked if I could come out to his private residence and make a variety of headshots, from full body standing, to three-quarters to the classic head and neck only. While showing them some samples of past headshots, they both liked the deep shadow style seen above. I shot in a bright room, but just used a very fast shutter speed and concentrated a single speedlight on Michael not letting any spill light bounce off walls, etc.
Full body style headshot of Michael Clayton former NFL Player Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in brolly
To make the full body standing headshot on a clean white digital background, I put a white cover over my expandable standing background to make it easier to "cut" Michael later out of the shot.
Three-quarter style headshot of Michael Clayton former NFL player Tampa headshot photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 and SB-600 both in a brolly
This was the most challenging shot of the session, the three-quarters view, in particular how to place Michael's hands and arms. The above pose was the last we came up with and I think works well.
Modern square orientation digital white background of NFL player Michael Clayton Tampa headshot photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in a brolly
I recommended square orientation for Michael's more traditional business headshot as that is what is used on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I think square orientation makes a headshot look more modern as well, and the lighting is more in a modern sense too with some highlight and shadow areas.
It was a fun and challenging headshot shoot and a chance to try a variety of styles in a single session. Thank you Michael and Janice!
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