Perfecting the Headshot

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When Fstoppers originally debuted in 2010, our objective was to offer the behind-the-scenes secrets of famous photographers. One of the first short movies we ever made was by Peter Hurley, a somewhat obscure but highly excellent headshot photographer. Fstoppers opted to record a much longer, full-length instructional on Peter Hurley’s headshot technique after recognizing the wisdom behind Peter’s teaching approach. The ensuing educational series, The Art Behind the Headshot, received tremendous recognition from the photographic community, and it helped Peter Hurley establish himself as one of the world’s best photography educators. The Art Behind the Headshot was published in 2011, and since then, Peter has not only improved as a headshot photographer, but also as an educator. Peter has spent the last six years improving his skills and teaching methods. Hello and welcome to Perfecting the Headshot!

Approachability combined with confidence

If there is one recurring aspect in Peter’s work, it is that everyone must appear both confident and friendly. When photographing people, the most difficult issue for any photographer is understanding how to break them out of the all-too-common “deer in the headlights” pose and making them appear comfortable and interesting. In this session, Peter delves deep into the human mind to explain why individuals nearly always feel nervous and fearful when staring into a camera. After studying what causes people to appear “blank and out of it,” Peter offers you a variety of ways for making your subjects appear more confident and beautiful.

enhancing facial characteristics with body positioning

Removing Fear and Increasing Confidence Through Approachability

Enhancing the Physical Aspects of the Face

One of the most difficult talents for a photographer to learn is guiding individuals into a nice stance or position. We used to believe that there were excellent and terrible models, as well as appealing and unattractive themes, before working with Peter. Peter flips that concept on its head by putting the photographer in charge of every component of the image. Peter is a master of body manipulation, and he can disguise or highlight someone’s face characteristics with innovative angle positioning. Celebrities and celebrity photographers are masters of this skill, but Peter teaches you how to strengthen jawlines, lose weight, straighten crooked noses, even out differences in eye size, improve posture, and conceal perceived flaws like crooked teeth, large ears, double chins, and forehead wrinkles. Peter can extract the maximum beauty from everyone who goes in front of his camera by appraising every customer who walks through his door and implementing his tactics. The variations between the first photograph from a session and one taken 10 minutes later when the client utilizes Peter’s coaching tactics are rather astonishing. The individual’s features seem totally different in many circumstances, and the overall finished headshot is a far more pleasant depiction of the person. Peter tells you everything he uses to make the smallest detail flawless so your customers appear their best in this video.

Straighten Your Nose Using Only Lighting

Creating Dramatic and Attractive Lighting

One of the most distinguishing features of a Peter Hurley headshot is his lighting. Peter normally employs soft, flattering lighting for his female pictures but frequently employs shadows and dramatic edge lighting for his male headshots. Peter’s iconic “4 light beauty light setup” has developed over the years into a more efficient triangle design, and he demonstrates precisely where to put your lights so that you, too, can get the most flattering skin tones, shadow density, and general pop out of your own headshot lighting. Peter also shows you how to use a kicker light to carve off jawlines and how to manage fill light to boost or decrease overall shadow density in your male lighting setups.

Discover Peter’s Soft, Flattering Lighting as well as His Men’s Shadow Lighting.

Peter is well-known for his big constant lights, which cast warm, pleasing light on any subject. However, if employing continuous lights is out of your budget, Peter demonstrates how to generate similar-looking lighting using modest speedlights as well as 100% natural light. This lesson will show you how to create Peter’s headshot lighting regardless of whether you are using natural lights, hot lights, or strobes, or whether you are shooting inside or outside.

Discover Peter’s Lighting Techniques Using Speedlights, Natural Light, and Studio Strobes.

Peter’s Favorite Photography Equipment

Without discussing photographic equipment, no course would be complete. Peter’s clothing has evolved significantly throughout the years. Peter was recognized as the photographer who photographed headshots with a Hasselblad medium format camera and a square array of Keno Flo fluorescent lights when he first started working with Fstoppers. Peter’s current setup consists of Canon DSLRs and his characteristic Westcott Flex Kit LED lights. Every piece of photographic equipment that Peter utilizes on a daily basis serves to expedite the headshot process, allowing him to spend more time capturing images and less time fiddling with gear. In this video, Peter will demonstrate all of the techniques he use to achieve the consistent style for which he has become famous.

Everything from tethering to lighting grip and everything in between is covered.

Makeup, Hair, and Facial Hair

In his headshots, Peter Hurley is very cautious about women’s hair and cosmetics, yet most photographers miss these subtleties. Should it fall on the front shoulder, can you put it in a ponytail, should it be straightened or left curly, do you let it wrap to one side, how do you prevent it from covering an eye, how messy is too messy, should you use hairspray to contain flyaways, and how much styling should your hairstylist do when a client walks into your studio? Peter answers all of the tough questions. Peter answers all of these questions and demonstrates what he loves and dislikes when photography a female headshot.

Discover which of these styles Peter like and which he despises.

Peter also tackles some of the challenges that may arise when a male client want to shoot with both a beard and a clean shave. You may provide a lot of value to your clients just by enabling them to change their dress and hair, as well as photographing them with and without facial hair. Most photographers leave hair to their clients, but Peter explains why you should take responsibility so that your clients appear their best.

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