Peter Hurley - The Art Behind The Headshot
Before I begin this review about the DVD I want to clear some stuff up. I am all about the FREE education. I am all about sharing every bit of knowledge that I have with the rest of the world, but I also believe that there are exceptions. This DVD is $300.00 which is a pretty big chunk of change compared to free. So for me to put something up on my website with this big a price tag is for a reason.
I still remember the first time I ever heard of Peter Hurley! I was at WPPI in Las Vegas and I ran into Lee Morris and Patrick Hall from the fstoppers.com. They told me about a DVD they where making about headshots. At first I really wasn't that interested. After all, I'm not in the headshot business. I honestly always thought they where boring! I listened to Lee and Patrick explain the talents of Peter Hurley and I was interested. They explained how he had the ability to literally "Photoshop" the client right in front of the mirror. How Peter's ability to manipulate, or better yet, to tell the client how to manipulate their face to acquire the perfect result while in front of the camera.
I was intrigued. I've always used posing techniques to get the best out of a subjects body but in all honesty, I never though the face could be posed. Don't get me wrong, I know there are very common tricks to make someone's better features shine and hide the others, but not extremely transform them! Even though I'm not a headshot photographer, I still wanted to see it after that explanation.
I put the DVD in the back of my mind and every time I ran into Lee or Patrick I would ask about it. They kept delaying and delaying saying that it wasn't perfect yet.
The day finally came when it was available.
I downloaded the two files for a total of over 4 gigs. This baby is 4 hours long in HD.
I started watching as soon as the downloads finished, big mistake to start at 11PM. I thought I would just get a jist of it, and leave it for later.
Peter starts by introducing the lesson and showing a few quick examples. Immediately my attention was grabbed by two things. The first, Peter, he seems like a kick ass dude that is so laid back you can't help but like him. The way he explained what was going to be in the DVD really got me pumped to want to watch it. I was hooked, and he hadn't even taught anything yet. The second, the images he showed. The before and after shots where amazing!
It was now 1am and I had finished the 1st half. It felt as if it was 5 minutes long. I was captivated. He walks you through the entire shooting process. Let me clear this up, not the shooting process, but the creation of the image process. This DVD is not about setting up your lights like this and like that, although he does touch on it briefly. It's not about the gear he uses, it's not about meters and lighting. This DVD is about the emotion. The emotion you as a photographer are supposed to capture. This is what truly makes the image and what makes you a good or bad photographer. Your images can be sharp, well lit, noise free but if they have no emotion, you have nothing. This is what makes this DVD unique and why I found it so refreshing. DVD's and books that show you technique are a dime a dozen, but one that teaches you about the emotion in a shot, well this is the only one I've heard of.
I had to wake up early so I couldn't watch anymore but I didn't want to stop!
The next day I finished watching the second half and I was pumped!
The DVD has 7 complete shoots and shows you every aspect of how he gets the emotion out of each client. Each client is different and the techniques he uses for each really open your eyes into seeing the possibilities with your own clients. I actually started going back in my head to some shoots that I wasn't completely happy with and how these techniques would have vastly improved them.
I have never been one to be shy, or at a lack of words when doing a shoot. I actually consider myself pretty good at it, but I was still amazed at how much I learned. Everyone that knows me from the lightenupandshoot.com days knows, one of our things was actually approaching people on the street to shoot. I thought I knew every technique I needed to get the shot, well, I didn't!
I know I sound like I'm only giving praise, but in all honesty there was nothing about this DVD that I didn't like. I found all of the information to be spot on, especially since I was so pumped up about trying it out. I actually setup a headshot shoot for the next day. All I can say is that the techniques really work. The interaction Peter teaches with the models helped me so much. I started seeing what he saw and used his techniques to correct the emotion in my shot. The headshots we took are amazing!
I can honestly say that even with my strong belief that education should be free, this DVD is an exception. If you are, or wanting to be a headshot photographer - BUY THIS DVD NOW! If you are a photographer that is having problems communicating with models - BUY THIS DVD NOW! If you are a photographer that looks at his images and says "there is something missing" - BUY THIS DVD NOW! If you are a photographer that says "I know it all" - BUY THIS DVD NOW!
I'm really this impressed by Peter and the fstoppers. It was definitely worth the wait! I want to thank them for waiting to make it perfect and let them know they achieved it. The only thing I would change is....just kidding...nothing!
Go check out the fstoppers.com and do yourself a favor and spend the money! It's worth it!
Here is the promotional video for it:
Peter Hurley: The Art Behind The Headshot DVD from FStoppers on Vimeo.
I'll be posting up the headshot photos I took as soon as the client allows us to release them!
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