Jordan Matter Photography — Interesting to see what the actors were using before, and how they changed.

wow some people look totally different. But you can definitely see the same style for the new ones.

I love Jordan's work. He's one of my main competitors, but I tell you if I EVER see one of my shoots up on his site, I will kick his ass! Well...I will probably throw a few swears in his direction.

I have a question about his posing. A lot of the models look like they're leaning forward and looking up at the camera.

A) how do you do that
b) why does it work (cause obviously it does - its got sort of a "hi, how are you?" feel to it.)

A = Get Higher than them.
b = The perspective will make people seem less agressive, think of kids, you are taller than them therefore look down on them, they look up and its cute. Think of a 6'5" man, (if you are 5'5") you look up at them and they seem to loom over you which is an agressive pose.

Another benefit to having the subject look up at you, even if it's slightly, is the foreshortening aspect which hides flaws that may only be seen at eye level such as eyebags, upturned nose, double chin...ect.

Notice that most of the femal portraits on his site have the model looking up alot and the male portraits have the model looking up only slightly, this is a general rule and although true most of the time, it needs to be bent to fit different people.

Ya know, his work is great, sure, but (imo) there were a few he had featured on there where the before image wasn't THAT bad. But yeah, there were lots where the before image was pretty terrible.

I guess I just don't see his point in putting something like this on his website, other than to say "look how much better I am than everybody else". Not very lovecat of him, eh? I don't know...I just think it's not a very nice thing to do--building yourself up by tearing other's work down.

Technically speaking, he didn't tear the other photographers down. Here's the actual wording from his lede-in text:

"Before/After: The headshots they were using before we worked together, and the ones they use now. If I named the other photographers, I wouldn't have many friends left in the industry."

He also seems to recognize that it's not a very lovecat thing to do.

Well, at least he acknowledges it, I guess

i bet it's not legal....but it's a decent campaign to the actors. it has impact (on most of them anyway). clever, but not entirely ethical. very interesting.

Ethical no, but there's a chance it's legal - most actors/actresses/models make sure they get the rights to their shots so they can use them in their OWN promo pieces. Headshots would be useless if you couldn't use them anywhere & anytime you wanted without asking the original photographer. I would say he's in the legal right, but the moral wrong. I mean who goes around digging other photographers like that?

Most of the time they only seek unrestricted rights to reproduce the images. A lot of photographers retain their copyright. It automatically stays with the photographer unless a contract says otherwise. I've never had anyone ask for outright ownership of the images.

If a photographer asked him to take down an image, he'd probably have to. I know him. He's a nice guy, so I don't think for a minute he's doing it to be unethical. There are people doing headshots here who are far more unethical (asking girls to get undressed, among other things). If he were naming photographers, I think that would be a different story.

I agree ... I thought some of the difference where they looked better was because they had changed their looks (haircut, makeup, etc.) ... there were several that I thought the before picture was just as good!

Yeah, I can't imagine doing that to my competition ... here's what you get with them ... and with me ... yikes!

I was wondering the same thing - thanks for clarifying!

It allows people to drop their chins a little more which opens up their eyes. It also opens up the under-eye area to light. It also tends to make people feel a little more flirtatious. I just find it much more flattering.2) The aggression issue is totally fer real.The general trend in the industry in New York is that photographer maintains copyright and the client gets limited reproduction rights for self-promotion and personal use only. I would guess he's not contacted those photogs to check on this, though. :)It's icky

This is really interesting to consider.
I guess because his own version wasn't always better I didn't get the sense he was tearing them down, just thought he was showing his different way of thinking. Hope that's not too harsh...

so chris, can I take some images from your site to use on my site to compare and contrast with my own pictures?

+1. I think he's showing how he's different, not how he's better. That's subjective.




If you photographed a headshot client of mine, I probably wouldn't mind if you compared your photo to mine as long as you did not use my name or intentionally manipulate it to make it look worse.

I dunno, but I'm in love with his uncovered gallery. Wow.