I want to to create an portrait style avatar for use on my profile on stackexchange, facebook, and other social sites. Ideally the image should be a quality head shot, recognizable over a range of sizes, and still look good when scaled down to tiny thumbnails. Hopefully the image would stand out in an array of other avatars.
I know this is a lot to ask of a couple of hundred pixels.
Are there any tips on preparing such a shot? Is there any particular lighting that works best? Are monochromes better for this task? what about cropping? Head and shoulders or face only? Edit: the avatar should be recognizable as me.
Answer
You want to basically just treat an avatar as you would any other portrait, keeping in mind that you want it to me a very simple image.
Here are several items to keep in mind to simplify the image:
- Minimize the background details, making your subject(s) very clear
- Color contrast between your subject/background
- Fill the frame with your subject (keeping in mind that avatar images are often 1x1 ratio)
- Shallow DOF which goes along with minimizing the background details
Consider your lighting setup, using a lighting technique that makes the subject "pop"
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