Actors Headshots Perth – Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias Actors Headshots

Photographing actors headshots is something that I’ve been enjoying for a few years now. Fortunately, being involved with musical theatre in Perth as a musician has given me access and exposure to this industry and it wasn’t long until the opportunity presented itself to combine my passion for photography with my love of theatre. Having shot a variety of productions now, I’ve had the chance to shoot numerous styles of headshot, and while working with studio lights and soft-boxes etc is fun, I find it hard to go past the beauty of natural light in a nice open shaded area.

When Ryan Taaffe, director of Steel Magnolias (at Stirling Players), approached me to produce the headshots for their production, he was looking for natural, professional (rather than character based) images to include in their program and front-of-house displays. A quick scout around the theatre surrounds revealed several locations for stunning natural light at almost any time of day. Thank you open shade! The images were supplied as both colour and black and white to leave the production crew flexible with their artwork. Often I gravitate toward black and white headshots, but in this particular case I think I prefer the colour. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

If you’re not familiar with the story of Steel Magnolias, as I wasn’t, here’s a synopsis:

It is the Deep South, and in a small Louisiana town, Chinquapin is ‘Truvy’s Beauty Parlour and Hairstylists’ that is built on the side of her house. Truvy is showing her very young, immature and nervous new glamour-consultant, Annelle, the layout of the beauty salon. The first appointment of the day arrives; she is Shelby, who has a mania for pink, and is having her hair styled for her wedding that afternoon. Suddenly there is an outburst of gunshots, a dog barks and Shelby curses her father who is shooting any birds that are doing their droppings all over the reception area. A very smartly dressed lady arrives for tinting; she is Clairee, the extremely wealthy widow of the late Mayor. In such a small community everyone is a close friend – but even so, Annelle is very reluctant to disclose her past. When Selby’s controlling mum, M’Lynn arrives, she unsuccessfully tries to change Selby’s choice of hair decoration. The last customer of the day to turn up is the miserable and rough hick, Ouiser Boudreaux. She comes not so much for fashion but for the friendship of the other regulars who come on the same day every week. Will Selby’s marriage be a success and will Annelle fit into the community?

A quick side note for photographers: These images were all shot with the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L mounted on a Canon 5D Mark II. Camera settings were: ISO100, 1/500th, f/2.5, subject approximately 1 meter from the camera. Using the DOF Calculator I can see that the effective depth of field for this setup was less than 2cms, which I feel is a very generous calculation. Shots were edited 100% in Adobe Lightroom, and consisted of little more than adjusting the white balance (auto had missed the mark slightly), cropping to change aspect ratio to suit client requirements, very minor retouching and some sharpening. The B&W conversion was also done within Lightroom.

Dress Rehearsal Theatre Photos

After spending a few minutes with each lady for their headshots, the cast and crew prepared for a full dress rehearsal, which I had the privilege of photographing. It was a great opportunity to watch the show and enjoy the many funny and poignant moments. The set was designed and constructed by John Farrington (with the help of others). Lighting design was by Jon Lambert, operator Carole Wilson. Unfortunately, there were a few issues with some of the key lights during the rehearsal which needed to be replaced prior to opening night a few days later. Here are a few of the images taken during the rehearsal.