The Headshot Crash Course
This excerpt from Fstoppers‘ Well Rounded Photographer includes an hour and a half crash course from Peter Hurley on headshot photography.
Peter Hurley became the world’s most famous headshot photographer over a decade ago after his signature style took over the acting scene in New York City. When we first released The Art Behind the Headshot, neither Peter nor Fstoppers had any idea just how much it would transform the photography world. Today, Peter Hurley is one of the most sought-after photographers and educators in the industry, and he has singlehandedly changed the world of headshot and portrait photography.
In Peter’s lesson, he shares some of his most useful lighting and posing tips. For lighting, Peter covers his signature LED light bank system but also teaches simpler single-light and speedlight variations. Of course, Peter’s most valuable tips have to do with his coaching. No matter how uncomfortable your subject may be, Peter will give you the tools needed to take control of the shoot, and capture the best possible images, guaranteed.
Peter’s Lesson Includes
- Overview of what makes a great headshot
- Simple one-light lighting techniques
- Peter’s constant lighting setups
- Manipulating your background color
- How to create flattering soft light for women
- How to light men with shadows
- Directing people into an interesting expression
- How to position the body and face
- Techniques to make people feel comfortable in front of your camera
- How to make money with headshot photography
- The importance of tethering
Course Content
Student reviews
Written by students who have finished this course.
In my opinion, Peter Hurley’s lighting system creates far too much distracting reflection in the model’s pupils. I do not like it, and I am surprised he does not mention any way of getting rid of this. There is too much emphasis on how much money he makes with his system.
Really great start-to-finish course for people of all experience levels. I think I want to try renting the LED panels to see if I like working with them instead of my existing strobes. (The strobes work really well for me, but maybe I’ll like continuous lighting better?) I have to say I’m not a fan of the catchlights from Peter’s trademark “triangle lighting.” I find my eyes drawn to the model’s eyes, but not in a good way. The odd arrangement of shapes in the eyes is really distracting to me. But he’s obviously very successful using it, so who am I to judge? I know his bread and butter is doing headshots, but I would love to see how he would light a full subject using the constant lighting, which is primarily what I’m shooting as a boudoir photographer. I’m not sure the rectangular constant lights would be enough to light a full-size person top to bottom, but I’d love to find out. Regardless, really great course and something I’m glad I was able to watch!
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A great start, but a little dragged out regarding the facial expression explanations.