Headshot - need to pick

[bmulford]

Need opinions on which picture to use for a book and magazine jacket.

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.p...ostcount=22219

 

[Dewey]

what no poll? #1

 

[bmulford]

Originally Posted by Dewey

what no poll? #1

just added it

 

[Pundit]

Upper 2 seem out of focus to me. Lower left works best given outfit.

 

[evilgeniusdan]

Maybe it's my monitor but the first shot doesn't appear to be very well in focus.

 

[Douglas]

What's the book about?

I think both B&Ws look better than their color counterparts. In the smiling color shot, you look really pink. In the "straight" shot the right side (well, your left side) of your face is totally washed out.

I'd lean towards the smiling B&W unless the book is some kind of hard opinion piece.

 

[Douglas]

Agree also that the two smiling shots are out of focus.

 

[bmulford]

Think the out of focus came from Photoshops desaturate. Again I had a few minutes to send them, but surprisingly, they gave me a few days to decide which to use (WTF?).

Book - its not set in stone, but is an "In the mind of" type collaboration of industry types, giving real world advice (or 'insight' as they call it) to new managers/students on current business challenges/topics.

If it gets the go ahead, I'll post up a link when its published (sometime around January I believe).

 

[adamsnez]

focus is horribly out in first set

 

[sartort]

bmulford,

as an architect, i have to say that staging a head shot in front of an eifs wall is not the best. eifs is synthetic stucco and is unfortunately a very cheap material both monetarily and aesthetically. i guess there are 2 ways to correct this if you wanted, 1) shoot in front of another building, 2)use a lens that has a short focal legnth so that you were in focus, but the background is not. the latter would require an slr.

i absolutely mean no offense in mentioning this. it sounds like you were under the gun and had to shoot these quickly.

that being said, i think the appropriate head shot depends on the subject matter. given the seriousness of the book, i think the b/w non smiling is best but perhaps is a little severe. but for magazine articles i think the smiling ones are better.


just my .02

good luck with it!

 

[bmulford]

Originally Posted by sartort

bmulford,

as an architect, i have to say that staging a head shot in front of an eifs wall is a tragedy. eifs is synthetic stucco and is unfortunately a very cheap material both monetarily and aesthetically.

i absolutely mean no offense in mentioning this. it sounds like you were under the gun and had to shoot these quickly.

that being said, i think the appropriate head shot depends on the subject matter. given the seriousness of the book, i think the b/w non smiling is best but perhaps is a little severe. but for magazine articles i think the smiling ones are better.


just my .02

good luck with it!

thx good feedback!

 

[hypoluxo]

Originally Posted by sartort

bmulford, as an architect, i have to say that staging a head shot in front of an eifs wall is a tragedy. eifs is synthetic stucco and is unfortunately a very cheap material both monetarily and aesthetically. i absolutely mean no offense in mentioning this. it sounds like you were under the gun and had to shoot these quickly. that being said, i think the appropriate head shot depends on the subject matter. given the seriousness of the book, i think the b/w non smiling is best but perhaps is a little severe. but for magazine articles i think the smiling ones are better.
My thoughts also. If the book is serious in nature the then #3 (lower left) gets the nod. It is a much better pose. But, my preference would have been to see the pose/position of #3 with a bit of a smile so you do not look quite as severe. A better background could be used also. Best of luck! -lux

 

[BBRex]

I tried a quick Photoshop fix for the top photo, and the color is correctable, but the focus is not. I agree about the background.

 

[Douglas]

I really don't like the serious one. You look angry - your eyebrows appear furrowed. If the book were entitled something like "Black Gold: How America's Oil Companies are Destroying the World (and Why You're Complicit)" then I'd say go with it. Otherwise, the smiling is far better.

Just my $.02.

 

[quevola]

Wow, it looks like your poll is a statistical tie at this point.