HOW TO GET A BADASS HEADSHOT IN BILLINGS MONTANA! TIP 3: GO HORIZONTAL AND CROP THE HEAD!

I cannot stress enough how important a great looking headshot is these days. There is simply no getting around the fact that most potential customers will get a first impression of you online before meeting you in person. To make the most of those first impressions you need the best looking headshot you can get, which will help your potential customers make a human connection with you, even through a computer or phone. If you think about it, your headshot will be used a lot, and not just in marketing. You can use it for your profile photo on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and on your website. You can even use a headshot on your business cards and in your email signature to make a human connection every chance you get. Because it’s so important to have an awesome headshot I’m giving everyone my best headshot tips, so everyone knows how to get the best headshot they can get, whether they book with us at Paul Bellinger Photography, or with someone else. If you’re new to the blog, you might want to check out Tip #1 here first, and follow the links to Tips 2 and 3. Tip #3 is below.

Tip 3: Go horizontal and crop the head! This is a great tip because almost anyone can do this right now without even having to get a new headshot, just crop the one you have and tell your photographer to shoot horizontal next time. If you’ve looked around on this blog, or on my website you’ll see I only show horizontal headshots when it comes to professional business headshots, and they’re all cropped very tightly into the head. Why have we gone for the horizontal head crop? The main reason is because today’s devices are almost all horizontal, with widescreens being the new standard on computers, TVs, and mobile devices. As a result, most web developers and social networks display horizontal images more prominently than vertical images, with more real estate devoted to horizontal images. So if you have a horizontal headshot you increase the chances people will see it, and people are more likely to take note of it and make a human connection if they do, because you’ll be utilizing as much space as possible. But why the tight head crop? For the same reason we want your headshot to appear as big as possible, we also crop off the top of the heads and most of the body, so more real estate is devoted to what we really want people to see: your eyes! Cropping the head is necessary to make the eyes as big as possible in the photo and we don’t want to waste unnecessary space on the background above the head. It’s all about the eyes! The look in a person’s eyes is what tells the whole story about who they are, and that’s why looking into someone’s eyes is such an important human connection. By giving as much real estate as possible to your eyes, your chances of making a human connection will dramatically increase. That’s also why we want to keep headshots cropped very tightly around the head, and not include much of the body at all. Vertical headshots and portraits tend to include far too much of the body, making the eyes too small to make a human connection with the eyes. Take a look at your current profile pics, if you can’t see your eyes very clearly then you need to crop it tighter!

For these reasons, the horizontal head cropped headshot is very popular right now, it’s the biggest trend in headshots in the major photography markets in New York City and Los Angeles. So naturally people are associating a horizontal headshot with being very modern, while the vertical headshot is starting to look more traditional and maybe even old-fashioned. Cropping into heads is also very common, it’s very popular in magazines, especially fashion magazines. Just look at any magazine rack and you’ll see head crops everywhere. Again the head crop is thought to be very modern and in fashion. Just as an FYI, I always include the whole head during my sessions and deliver cropped and uncropped versions, just in case anyone needs the top of their head for something! If you didn’t read it already, check out Tip #2 here! 

Tips for photographers: This is my favorite setup for headshots. I’ve written about the lighting setup here, so you’ll have to read about it there. But I want to mention here that I generally prefer some type of beauty lighting setup for headshots, which means a lot of soft light that is flattering for all skin types. To get the light as soft as possible you bring the lights as close to the subjects face as possible. Bringing the lights close has the added benefit of creating very fast falloff, which slims the face and creates dimension, ensuring that your portraits are flattering but don’t ever look flat. For the most part, all you need is one light with the biggest soft light modifier you can get (a big white umbrella is nice and cheap), and a reflector or two, which is what you use for “clamshell lighting,” the traditional standard for beauty lighting (Google it!). For people that want to look at little more badass, I like to adjust the ratios of my lights to create directionality and shadows, but I’ll leave that tip for another day.

HOW TO GET A BADASS PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT IN BILLINGS MONTANA! TIP 1: LOOK GOOD!

Everybody needs a great headshot these days. Most new clients will meet you online before ever meeting you in person and your headshot makes the biggest first impression. So it’s very important that wherever people can find you online, your headshot looks professional, modern and stylish. I’ve been telling this to people in Billings Montana for over a year now, but it is apparent that what I mean by “professional, modern and stylish,” must not be very clear, because I’m seeing a lot of people with unprofessional, dated, and lame headshots. If you come to me for your headshots I’ll show you what I’m talking about and give you a headshot that will make the best first impression possible for you and your business. But I know that not everyone in town can afford the luxury of having me as their headshot photographer, so I’ve put together some headshot tips so you can still get a badass headshot. I’m dropping the tips one at a time and here’s the first one.

Tip 1: Look good! This one is on you, put some effort into it! Do everything you can to come in for your headshot session looking great and looking like you want to look. Whatever your personal style may be, make sure your clothes fit how you want them to fit, and are not wrinkled. If necessary, get a haircut, get groomed, or book a professional hair and makeup artist for your headshot session so that you’ll look your absolute best. If you book a headshot session with me you’ll have the option of having a professional hair and makeup artist in the studio, keeping a close eye on your hair while we shoot so your hair looks amazing. I work closely with my favorite hair and makeup artist Sydney Ross, who is one of the few true professionals in Billings at camera-ready makeup and hair. We do this all the time and we know how to make sure you look flawless on camera. We also do a pre-consultation with our clients about what to wear. In general I advise neutrals, gray, black, white, off white, and earth tones. Bright colors, patterns and accessories are distracting and we want your headshot to feature YOU, not your clothes. Your look should compliment your personality, not compete with it. That’s it! The rest is on your photographer! Unfortunately I see a lot of photographers doing headshots that either don’t know how to, or simply aren’t doing their damnedest to make their clients look good. I’ll tell you what to look for and what to ask when picking a headshot photographer in the next tips, but I’ll let you in on a little secret right here: a good camera doesn’t make a difference if it’s not in the hands of someone who has carefully studied the art of the headshot. Any photographer can give you a mediocre headshot, but only a headshot specialist who knows how to make a great headshot can truly make you look your best. Be sure to follow along! Tip #2 is here! www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: This is a four light setup, three on the face and one on the background. The light setup is the right triangle setup made popular by Peter Hurley, the headshot king. Using two stripboxes and a small softbox I make a right triangle with lights and shoot through the triangle. I use a stripbox and the softbox to create a 90 degree right angle with the softbox on bottom. A second stripbox makes the hypotenuse of the right triangle. Some people use this setup and keep the lights all at the same power, but I personally like to have a definitive key light so that the direction of the highlights and shadows does not get confused. The key light is the vertical stripbox (as opposed to the angled hypotenuse stripbox). In this case it is camera left and is about a stop brighter than the other the two fill lights. The catchlights in the eyes make the setup very obvious, so look closely and you’ll see exactly how my lights are placed. Bring the subjects as close to the lights as possible while still keeping the catchlights fully within the colored part of the eye (don’t let the catchlights leak into the white of the eye, it’s not pleasing). The background light is a bare strobe with 8 inch reflector right behind the subject. I light the white wall to the point that the white starts to get blown out on the histogram. Make sure to keep the subject about 10 or more feet from the white wall or the background light will bounce and backlight your subject.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – GROUP HEADSHOTS

I’m excited to offer a modern approach to corporate headshots and business portraits that looks amazing and is very convenient for businesses to upgrade the entire team, including the group photo.  The Rocky Mountain College Enactus team wanted professional portraits and headshots for each member, and a group photo go along with it.  But as any business knows, assembling the whole team in one place is inconvenient and time consuming.  So I took a modern approach and made portraits of each individual conveniently scheduled at their own time and later combined the individual portraits into a group photo. Our theme was based on the Netflix original show “House of Cards,” to make the group look serious, professional, and powerful.  Each team member was posed with the group photo in mind so that we could execute the theme and make a realistic group portrait.  The result is very striking, and very unique for Billings Montana.  Thank you to the RMC Enactus team for thinking outside of the box and entrusting me with your professional portraits.

There are several benefits for businesses that choose to go with this modern approach to their corporate headshots and professional portraits that also produces an outstanding group photo.  First, the photo simply looks better than your typical group photo, as each person is lit perfectly and posed privately without distractions from other group members.  We can even execute a theme, shooting specifically with a group pose in mind (in this case the theme was based on the Netflix original show “House of Cards,” to make the group look powerful). Second, the entire team will have consistent looking portraits, conveying the highest level of professionalism for your business. Third, it’s much faster, as every person in the group doesn’t have to pose perfectly at the exact same time, which requires many takes to get right when everyone is in the same room.  Fourth, it’s very easy to update, if more people are added to the team you don’t have to get everyone together all over again and you can kill two birds with one stone by having the new team members upgrade their individual headshots while also updating the group photo.  If people leave the team it’s easy to remove them from the group photo too.  For more info visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

Tips for photographers:

I’ve posted a behind the scenes photo of the lighting setup for this photo on Instagram @PJBellinger and I discussed other lightingtechniques here.  I learned a lot during this shoot, but I feel like the compositing was pretty straightforward.  It’s never going to be easy, but if you know what you’re going for in the final image you can shoot it accordingly.  I knew I wanted a black background, so shooting on black made it easy to blend each individual portrait together and into the background.  Keeping it dark and shadowy also made it easier to hide the sloppiness of my mask edges, which meant I could do the masking quickly.  If the business wanted to be able to put them on any colored background I would need more precise masks and it would be easier with a white or gray background where there is more separation between subject and background. But make sure to get your exposures right, because separating blown highlights from a white background is impossible guesswork. In that sense there is no substitute for good photography in the first place.  This isn’t a perfect execution, as of course the posing could always be better and I was backed into a corner on which poses would work with the overall photo and the theme, even if I felt there were stronger poses for the individual.  But I am happy with the execution of the concept from start to finish.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – HORIZONTAL HEADSHOTS ARE IN

Leslie and Rebecca rocked their corporate headshots!  I’m so glad they came to me for an upgrade, and chose to go with the ultra-modern horizontal headshot on a black background, which is definitely the hottest trend in headshots.  Most screens are horizontal, or at least have a horizontal viewing option (such as phone), so horizontal photos tend to look better and draw more attention.  A horizontal photo also crops nicely to a square, which is useful for social media, profile photos, and is also growing in popularity.  Here in Billings Montana the horizontal headshot is almost a totally new concept, so it has the added advantage of helping it’s users stand out from the crowd that much more while the rest of Billings catches on.  Using black as a background is both modern and timeless and works to further emphasize the subject rather than the background.  The traditional vertical head and shoulder headshot is not going away, but increasingly people prefer to have a more modern horizontal headshot to go with it.  I offer one of each with my “All Business” corporate headshot package, along with square crops, and black and white versions of each.

Tips for photographers:

The most difficult thing about headshots is that the subject expects a very quick session, usually less than 15 minutes.  With such little shooting time you’re not going to get a lot of great expressions out of the subject so you better be ready to catch them when they happen.  You can’t be fiddling with lights and composition, and you can’t miss focus.  Cropping.  There is an art to cropping someone’s head and it’s not always easy to find the perfect crop.  Sometimes it comes naturally when I’m shooting, and if it doesn’t, I try to find the right crop as soon as possible when the subject comes in.  If I’m struggling I’ll give myself a little breathing room to crop in post, but I prefer not too.  Lighting.  This is a two light corporate headshot technique.  These photos are lit with one 3x4 foot softbox camera left about a foot above head height (meaning the strobe head is about a foot above head height, not the entire softbox) and about 6-12 inches in front of the subject and perpendicular to the subject so they are hit with feathered light from a large source.  You can see the large catchlight in the eye.  The result is very soft light that is flattering for all skin types with some directionality to shape the face.  There is a 4x8 foot white reflector out of frame to camera right to bounce the soft light back onto the shadow side of the face.  This further softens the transition from highlight to shadow, but it doesn’t eliminate the shadows so there is still some dimension in the face (that’s why I prefer to use a reflector rather than another light source, it will automatically adjust to whatever you do with the main light, but will never wash out the shadows).  The background is lit with a second light, a bare strobe with 6 inch reflector about 3 feet above the subject’s head pointed on the background so that none of the light from this light hits the subject at all (you can adjust the placement so that some of this light catches the top of the subjects hair if you want a hair light).  This is a simple, go to lighting technique that is very forgiving and looks good on any subject without the tacky “overlit” look that adding a bunch of strobes can create.

www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – WIFEY HEADSHOT

My beautiful wife is a political scientist at MSUB and I really enjoyed making her new professional headshot.  She is all business when it comes to political science, so she wanted to look serious and chose the most serious pose from the whole set.  She’s not messing around!  Haha!  It was fun to have her in the studio again after a long time.  I used to make her pose for me all the time when I was learning the art of portraiture.  She used to get so mad at me for making her pose for too long!  And that’s usually when I got the best poses out of her, looking mad.  So I love the stern look on her face, it reminds me of the good old days!

Tip for photographers:

This is one of my favorite lighting setups at the studio.  It’s all natural light from a big block of windows out of frame to camera right about two feet from Nisha and two 4x8’ white reflectors in a V pattern opening towards Nisha out of frame to the left.  Without the reflector the shadows on her face would be too dark and her hair would blend into the background even more than it already does.  The background is a black wall.  Beside my preference for black backgrounds, I also like having my walls painted black because it helps control the light in my studio, which can be difficult because it is small, so it’s hard to prevent the light from bouncing everywhere.  With a really large studio it’s easier, because light falls off (reduces in power) over distance, so as long as you have enough space between subject and background you can always make the background go black, or light it separately and make it any exposure or color you’d like, without having the background light affect the subject and vice versa.  But in a small studio we have to use a lot of flags (usually black foam core) to block the light from hitting anything we don’t want and reflecting back into our shot.  It can be tricky, but if you’re struggling in a small studio, I recommend reducing the light from ambient sources, and using flags, grids, and light modifiers that will let you control your strobes.  If you have a window, you can control the quality of the light by opening or closing the curtains (or you can use a flag or reflector if you don’t have curtains) to create just the light you want.  Read more about manipulating natural light in the studio here.

Making lasting portraits of the people I love is one of the most rewarding things about being a professional photographer.  Portraits become more powerful with time, even if they are often taken for granted in the short term.  We will cherish this portrait one day, and I would be honored to make a portrait of you for your loved ones to cherish.  www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – NEW PORTRAIT WEBSITE AND ZAK’S HEADSHOTS

We’re excited to be launching a new website exclusively for our portrait studio in downtown Billings Montana (http://portraits.paulbellinger.com).  We offer modern, stylish portraits and headshots with the timeless look of classic portraiture.  Inspired by the great masters of portrait photography, we strive to make photos that will stand out and stand the test of time.  We don’t want your portrait to look dated with colored lights and distracting backgrounds.  For us, the focus of the portrait is you, the story in your face, and the power in your eyes.  Let us make the portrait that tells your story.

Tips for photographers:

Zak and I hit the studio to square away our corporate headshot lighting setups for an upcoming headshot promotion we’ll be running in a few weeks.  We’ve created a look that will help our clients stand out, but is timeless, with classic black, gray and white backgrounds.  We’re especially showcasing the black background as the studio’s signature look.  In these photos you can see how versatile the black background can be, from a more powerful look with the horizontal photo, to something more inviting and friendly in the vertical photo, depending on the lighting that is used.  Black and gray draw the viewer’s attention directly to the face while colored backgrounds can distract from the face, as can bright colored clothing.  That’s why most portrait photographers prefer black and white photos because there are no distractions, only a person and the light.

Can you see the light?  The vertical image is lit with a large window camera right and two 4x8’ reflectors camera left.  The effect is a soft, yet directional light.  For the horizontal image there are 3 lights and 4x8’ reflector.  I posted the behind the scenes photo oninstagram here.  I plan to post more BTS photos on instagram, so follow along.

BILLINGS MT PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – HEADSHOTS FOR DAME AGENCY

We are a full service portrait studio in Billings Montana and we especially love making corporate headshots for business professionals and portfolio headshots for models, musicians, actors and other creatives.  DAME Agency is a new modeling agency in town and I did a test shoot with some of their talented models.  Featured here is Jessica and Tylan, both are currently available for modeling and acting gigs in Billings Montana and beyond.  Jess’s career is taking off quickly and I’m sure she’ll be relocating to a major modeling market before too long.  I look forward to working with DAME Agency again soon.

Tips for photographers: Can you see the light?  The main light is a fairly hard light source judging from the shadow cast by the models’ noses, but it’s not as hard as direct day light.  It’s a 22 inch beauty dish with a diffusion sock on it that is about 4 feet from the models.  You can judge the location of the beauty dish by the catchlights in their eyes and the nose shadows.  What other lights do you see?  Notice how even in the darkest shadows on the camera right side of the frame are clearly separated from the background.  That’s created by a second light on the background, a smaller beauty dish placed up above the models’ heads pointed onto the background to create the vignette that you see.  A very tiny bit of this light is catches the top of their hair (see the top of Jessica’s hand), creating a nice hairlight.  Lastly, you can still see details on the shadow side of Tylan’s face, and that is because there is a white reflector out of the frame to the camera right that is bouncing the main light back into the shadow areas, filling in those shadows with a very soft light (hence the common phrase “fill light”).

Billings Montana portrait Photographer Paul Bellinger, specializing in modern, stylish portraits from corporate headshots to fashion editorials.  We take the classic art of portraiture seriously because we have a passion for portraits that you won’t find anywhere else in Billings Montana.  http://www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – BEFORE AND AFTER

Yes, even my bros need a makeover session!  The first photo was taken on my iphone a few weeks before the studio portrait on the right.  Wow, what a makeover!  All Tony had to do was walk in my studio for 30 minutes and he was done.  It’s that easy guys.  Call it a corporate headshot, or just a badass portrait, it’s a makeover worth investing in.

Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger specializes in modern, stylish corporate headshots that will help you stand out from the crowd.   Go from boardroom to badass with Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger.  www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - SHINY NEW SELF PORTRAIT

People who know me know that I am always shooting, always trying to improve my skills and learn new things.  I love photography and I can never get enough.  I stay busy during the winter months, when weddings are slow, by putting in a lot of work in the studio.  I study lighting and posing, test new gear, and brainstorm new ways to shoot weddings.  It keeps me fresh and in game shape for wedding season so I am ready to hit the ground running in May with a whole new bag of tricks.  That’s how I stay innovative and constantly raise the bar each and every year.

Making self portraits is one of my favorite ways to practice.  It turns out, I have a ton of patience for myself!  I don’t mind if I tinker with lights for hours, or feel bad when I make fun of my poses.  It helps me understand what it’s like to be photographed by me, and how I can make every aspect of the experience better.  But it’s also a lot of fun and quite powerful to have your portrait made, even if you have to make it yourself.

Photographers click "read more" for the lighting setup for this photo.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - PAUL BELLINGER

How long has it been since you've had your portrait made?  For me, I can't even remember the last time.  So I decided to step in front of my own camera for a few self inflicted corporate headshots.  It was so much fun!  No wonder people love having their portraits made!  

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER - GONE CORPORATE (HEADSHOT)

My buddy has gone corporate!  Jason is a long time friend I met back in graduate school and he’s super lucky because he lives in Omaha Nebraska.  So we always hang when I’m in town and this time we played around in the studio a bit so Jason could upgrade his corporate headshot.  We did some other fun ones too that you can see on my personal facebook www.facebook.com/pjbellinger.