Make Sure You See Everything In The Frame

Last year, I wrote about watching your backgrounds. Now, I want to tell you to watch everything else in the frame. I made the mistake of not checking the little things, and that bit me in the butt a couple weeks ago. I had to make a head shot of a Baltimore businessman and did not have a lot of time to shoot this because of both my schedule and the subject’s.

I set up my lights and background, and then the subject came for the sitting. We exchanged greetings and got started. I shot a couple test frames, made a few changes then got started. I made 20 images; everything looked good and I thanked him. I packed my stuff and then went on my way.

When I started to edit, it hit me, the guy’s tie was not tight against his collar. This does not look very good. I am not happy, the client is not happy and I am going to have to re-shoot it. While it is not my fault that he did not tie his tie correctly, it is my fault that I did not catch it before wrapping the shoot.

I did retouch it in Photoshop and it looks pretty good, but it added extra time to the post processing.

So be sure to check not only your backgrounds, but the little things in the frame like a tie, an out-of-place hair or even a man’s pants zipper. It is a lot easier to catch before the end of the shoot than to fix later.