Sunday, February 21, 2016

The HERO post template

The Hero Photo post is the place where you present your photograph to the client (and the world).

"Impress Me... Make Me Care, Tell Me A Story"

It should follow a format that puts the final photo at the top. 
(making it the icon or thumbnail for your post on mobile devices)
A nice touch is to add captions to each picture too. (Photo by: Morgan DiLallo)
Info: 24-120mm zoom at 85mm. 1/100 at f7.1 (ISO100)

The Hero post should contain 3 or more images... HERO + 2 supporting images. And 200 or more words telling about the project and photo.

Basic blog format.

For this example, I could talk about Morgan and how she reluctantly agreed to be the photographer for my idea. Or I could describe the photoshopping that was done to the final file. Or I could talk about how we had a false start when my old Nikon 85mm lens wouldn’t stop down, so we had to switch to a 24-85mm zoom. If you want to impress the client (me) you can always show more photos and say more about them...

The additional images can be before & after Photoshop examples...
Before Photoshop and tighter cropping. (Photo by: Morgan DiLallo)

A description of the retouching might be appropriate. Here I lightened the facial light and the book light. The face was warmed and the book was saturated. The background rimlight was toned down and the color temp was cooled to give it color contrast from the warm face. Little hairs and dust on the book were cloned out, and my hand was darkened so it wouldn’t stand out. Then the image was rotated and cropped tight to make it more dynamic. 

Or include sketches or lighting setups...
Final lighting setup for portrait.

Snaps of the final lighting setup or studio during the photography...

Top: 85mm lens malfunction.
Bottom: Hairlight needed a gobo.


Or before & after makeup with your models...
Jake stood in as a model
while we figured out the lights.