Hello Steemit!

I wanted to share with you on my thoughts on using cinematic compositions for your headshot photography for Actors. I've been shooting Actor's headshots for eight years and actively been in the Film and TV Industry for much longer, behind and in front of the lens. Below I will share some of my opinions on using unique cropping to give your client that extra edge to their Actor's Toolkit.

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The Cinematic Style - Set-up

Lighting

Proper lighting is key and I recommend a 'clam-shell' setup for the face and a single backlight with a cool color gel off to the side and pointing behind the actors head. Nothing complicated. The idea is to copy lighting setups from popular movies and television shows.

Aspect Ratio

To put it into simple terms, the aspect ratio simulates the boundaries of what is captured on film and video for specific screen sizes to project onto. The reason why this style of headshots has more impact is because it gives the people casting the actor a better idea on how they appear on screen. Directors see this format constantly and their eyes are comfortable when they view the image. Also it breaks the eyes away from a sea of headshots.

Lenses

Preferably I use 50mm and 85mm cineprime lenses. Like most cinematographers, I use apertures over f/4.

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The Network Crop

Actor Colin Flanagan - Photograph by Deneb Catalan
Canon 80D - 50mm f/4 - ISO 200

The Network Crop or High Definition sizes raging from 720p to 4K resolutions, mainly share the same aspect ratio of 1.9:1.
This is a safe crop because there is more information on the image and acceptable as a standard headshot when printed.

This is a fairly common crop that you will see on TV in most cases. I like to shoot my subject close for drama and detail. This image was enhanced to show more detail using Lightroom.

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The 16:9 Crop

Actor Katie Haynes - Photograph by Deneb Catalan
Canon 80D - 50mm f/4 - ISO 200

This crop is borderline acceptable based upon how the image impact the viewer. It would be the photographers job to bring that mood or look with every actor.

I really love to use empty spaces in my compositions and dramatic back lighting and shadow. I left the skin untouched and enhanced the image detail in Lightroom.

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The 2.39:1 Crop

Actor Bethany Jacobs - Photograph by Deneb Catalan
Canon 80D - 50mm f/4 - ISO 200

Not a popular choice, but I truly believe the image would make a great first impression and big impact on the casting wall because it stands out and easy to spot among a sea of faces. This would also make a great banner for their website, business cards, email, mobile and the list goes on.

The closer the better. This image of Bethany is striking and the angle and lighting sets the mood. Below is an example of what I would do for her if she really wanted to print it out for a headshot. This image is unedited and enhanced using Lightroom.

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Finally, I highly recommend to shoot your headshots with a cinematographers eye, especially for actor headshots. It's easy to go too far with cinematic shots. It's always best to have enough other shots for insurance. And most of all have fun!

I hope this post has been helpful to you. I will touch upon more on the subject of Retouching Headshots soon. I'm a slow writer and doing my best to get these posts up. Please leave a comment below and share if you like.

Thank you.

Deneb Catalan