FullMathematician486

Even if your lens turns out fine after doing some test shots, I'd definitely contact the shop you bought it from and let them know how atrociously bad the packing was... Might've been someone new and needs to be educated, or someone that doesn't care and needs to be let go...

I hope the test shots prove it to be in good shape!

Have you tried actually testing the lens yet...? Shitty shipping prep, yes, but they're honestly built pretty tough and can survive quite a bit of abuse. I'm a working photographer, and have seen gear survive all sorts of rough treatment.
I get that camera gear is expensive, but so many people on reddit seem to thing they're handling the Faberge Egg....

Put the lens on your camera and take some test shots... make sure the AF works and doesn't sound like it's broken. Shoot at various apertures and make sure that's working. If anything is actually wrong with it, it'll be obvious.

Aside from that, enjoy shooting with your new lens, it's a nice one!

a PiCturE oF foOd iSn't rEal foOd.

Ai isn't photography, it's digital image creation conceptualized by detailed copy writing and generated by software. Photography requires the use of a camera, Ai image creation requires describing something in detail to a computer program. Both require creativity and knowledge to produce good results, but they're two totally different things.

Topaz works great, unless your photo is too bad, then the answer is more practice with your camera.

Do you have constant lights for video..? Because you could use those for the headshots... One speedlight for headshots is gonna be a tricky one without really knowing how to work with it.

You'll need to put the speedlight on a stand and fire it remotely, preferably through a diffusion panel or bounced off of a larger reflector to get any kind of decent result.

If you only have a speedlight that can be used on camera, your best bet is to skip the artificial lighting and find a spot with some good natural light and shoot them that way.