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Attorney Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Christine

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In my home studio I made this photograph of St. Petersburg Attorney Christne - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in 43" brolly - digital background Another attorney visited my home studio this month for a professional business headshot.  Maybe it is the season for lawyer's to get a new headshot?  Even though a headshot shoot is relatively straight forward I find there is still quite a bit of room for variations and creativity.  There is the lighting style, the aspect ratio of the headshot, the kind of background and more.  So even though I use the same spot in my apartment for each headshot I do, there is always something I end up changing (or improving) from the previous shoot.  It is my practice to always try and out do the previous shoot I do of any kind.

Christine liked the blue-gray gradient background I used in another portrait, so I photographed her on a white background then in Photoshop "removed" her from that photo and placed her onto a digitally created background, as seen above.

Aston Martin Vanquish in Cobalt Blue in St. Petersburg Florida duPont Concours d'Elegance Car Photography

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Aston Martin Vanquish in Cobalt Blue a stunning supercar St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRThe highlight of going to the duPont Concours d'Elegance in St. Petersburg Florida last month was getting to see this Aston Martin Vanquish in person.  To me, it is the most beautiful car in existence, as seen here in a special Cobalt Blue color, although I think it looks its absolute best in Skyfall Silver.  I just stood next to this supercar and appreciated all the lines and details in the carbon fiber bodywork.  It was parked in the far back corner of the event space, but I would have put it right by the entrance!

The original image used to make the finished edit of the Aston Martin Vanquish above.As is often the case with photographing cars at car shows, the background was less than ideal.  There was also a Mercedes S550 right next to it limiting the angles the Aston Martin could even be photographed from.  To minimize distraction I cut just the car itself out and dropped it onto a digital black background in Photoshop (top photo).  This particular Vanquish as of this moment is still for sale at Dimmit Aston Martin!

Executive Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Elwood

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An executive came to my home studio in St. Petersburg Florida for a professional business headshot - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 43" brolly to frame rightAnother business professional visited my home photography studio in St. Petersburg Florida this week for a professional business headshot.  Elwood needed a headshot to be used on the corporate website and had guidelines from the home office for lighting, pose, etc.  The above headshot is not the result of following those guidelines that were rather bland.  Instead, this is a headshot I made just for his own personal use in a more modern and creative style.  I used only one speedlight to frame right in a 43" brolly to create the shadow and light falloff on the right side of his face.  Having shadow defines the look of the person in the headshot much more for a modern look that is still professional.

Elwood was seated for this shot with his right forearm on his right thigh to create depth in his posture.  To avoid glare in his glasses, I positioned the speedlight higher on the light stand than I normally do.  I also had him look just about one centimeter lower too.  Poof, glare and reflection in his glasses was gone.  The background was a white sheet, and in Photoshop I removed that and replaced it with a pure white digital background for the final look.

Engineer Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Terry

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Professional headshot for Tampa Engineer - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly & SB-600 in shoot through umbrellaEldest friend Terry called me up about coming for a visit to St. Petersburg, which is not unusual, but also about having a professional headshot made while he was here.  It is always great to photograph people you know well as things are naturally more relaxed.  So soon after he arrived, after Kiki calmed down, Terry put on his tie and dress shirt (photography secret, he was only wearing casual shorts underneath!) and I placed him in my home photography studio setup.  

I have been making Terry laugh for decades, so when I needed some material to loosen him up and get his smile to be more natural, I had a plethora of topics to choose from.  I was ready with the shutter to catch that first, most natural smile expression.  After a quick background change (we started with my neutral gray collapsible background) and another joke, we were all done.  The second headshot was shot in front of a white background so that I could then more easily cut Terry out of that image and place him on any color digital background.  The gradient background used in the above image was added digitally in Photoshop.  

After the headshot shoot it was off to the dog park to Kiki's delight!

Ferrari F430 Spider Digital Composite Tampa Florida Car Photography

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This is actually a yellow Ferrari F430 Spider converted to black & white and put on a digital background in PhotoshopFor some reason I got it into my head yesterday afternoon to finally edit this photograph of a yellow Ferrari F430 Spider that I had lingering for almost a year.  I have posted other shots of this particular car actually, but this shot I guess I did not like as much.  My motivation to edit it now was because I envisioned cutting it out of its original background and placing it on a half black half white digital background as seen in the above image.

Original image used for the above digital manipulation of a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Jet Center - Nikon D300 f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRThis is the original HDR image made from a bracketed 7-exposures.  What do you prefer?  The black & white Photoshop edit or the original HDR image?

Business Headshot Photography in St. Petersburg Florida with Eric

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A black & white headshot on a pure black background revealing only the subject - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in 43" brolly to frame rightI met Eric this afternoon in St. Petersburg Florida to make a few different style of headshots for him to help him promote the publication of his first book!  I used my usual strobist setup of two speedlights and brolly & shoot through umbrella light modifiers.  I did not intend with the above headshot to have the background be all black, meaning I did not use the fastest shutter speed and try to control light spill as much as possible to create it while shooting.  Instead I added it using a black & white conversion filter in Color Efex Pro.  Personally, I really like headshots and portraits where the light only reveals some of the subject, making it look like the subject is emerging from the background.

Three-quarter standing business headshot on digital white background St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in 43" brolly frame right & SB-600 @ 1/1 power in 43" shoot through umbrella to rear frame leftEric wanted an approximate three-quarters view headshot on a white background.  I had my neutral gray collapsible background setup with a white sheet over it.  The white sheet does not produce a pure white background, Photoshop editing is still required, but it does make cutting the subject out much easier.  For this shot I used more of a backlit setup with the secondary light well behind Eric.  

St. Petersburg Florida Business headshot and standing shot on location with Colby

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Standing headshot for business client in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left

There was a little bit of a twist to this business headshot shoot in downtown St. Petersburg Florida yesterday.  The client wanted new images for marketing materials, including an updated group shot of the staff.  The only problem is the staff is spread out over the country and cannot easily get together for another group shot.  So I made the above standing headshot on a white background so that their graphic designer could more easily insert Colby into the existing shot.  The edit you see above is just my own version of it on a digital white background.

Square headshot for business client in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftLikewise for the more standard square headshot above, they already had a specific background color for all the other staff, so I again photographed Colby on a white background so that he could easily be digitally removed onto the existing background the client had for the rest of the staff.  Colby was a great model and basically I got every shot on the first take.