(Not So) Cheap Lighting Part 7: Lighting for Headshots
by Mickey Rountree
Headshots for actors or models are much different from a standard portrait. Portrait lighting tends to use direction and shadow to sculpt the face, and allows the subject very little freedom to move once the lights are set. The lighting setup I’m about to describe is loosely based on the lighting setup used by Peter Hurley, one of the masters of the headshot. It is soft and flattering to the skin and allows the subject a lot of freedom to move. Once the lights and subject are in place, you don’t have spend a lot of time critically examining how the light is striking your subject, and your subject doesn’t have to be as stiff as a mannequin, so both of you are free to work on interacting and getting a good variety of expressions. The one potential disadvantage of this setup is that it is very flat, shadowless lighting. Without shadows we lose some the shape of the face and a round or heavy face will look even rounder or heavier. In a beauty or glamour headshot we would compensate by using makeup to create the contouring and dimension that flat light doesn’t provide. But actor’s headshots usually avoid heavy makeup since the intent is show how the person actually looks.
Part of the Peter Hurley look is that his headshots are shot in horizontal format, and the top of the head is cropped off. Not what we were taught in photography class, but it works.
