Head shot

[Ben Sherman]

http://photos.modelmayhem.com/photos...a7f5ebcd53.jpg

I know this is not a retouching question, but how do you get so close on the models face, and still have everything in focus? (like the nose)

[Flashtones]

Strong lights = small aperture = large depth of field. And probably cropping in on a larger image.

[thehjj]

In addition to what Flashtones said, possibly a macro lens that will allow you to focus that close.

[madclark]

Long lens - 85mm+
Closed down f-stop 9+

[hippooo]

i like f/8 or even less to have the ears out of focus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indi_ar...n/photostream/

[Rubiks]

A macro lens will reduce the depth of field at any given aperture this close in. I would go with madclark and shoot longer to give a better perspective and still retain the nose at optimum aperture. Depth of field will change depending on the glass you are using. You will have greater depth of field on a wide lens, a 24mm for instance and a lot less on a 300mmm lens say but at the same aperture. Focal length, aperture and subject distance all change depth of field.

[ray12]

Commercial photo studios often have very powerful (watt-second) strobes that produce incredible amounts of light even with a softbox over them. This allows the photographer to stop down his lens to a very small opening like perhaps f22, f32 or f64. This small opening creates a fairly large depth of field (field of focus). The required depth of focus to keep the nose and ear in focus is approximately 6 inches.

Each lens you own may have a depth of field chart or table somewhere on the net...and will tell you what each f stop will produce in terms of depth of field.

Check out your lenses depth of field...and provide the required lighting power to use that particular f stop (you can change the iso sensitivity some to cheat a little if required...increasing the iso will make you stop down more...and will increase the depth of field...but it will also add some noise to the image...so its a balance act).

Sometimes retouchers will also use selective sharpening to increase the visual impression of sharpness in an area of the image that is not truly sharp.

Cheers,

Ray12