P1040594-Edit
Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was at San Diego Comic Con several years ago. My friends and I were walking around and found a group of people in Star Wars costumes letting people take photos with them. We just decided to stage one as if my friend was being lifted up by her neck by Vader's Force grip.Time
It must've been sometime at noon, because the sun was almost directly over us.Lighting
It was just the natural afternoon light of San Diego in the summer.Equipment
I used to Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 (with its 3.8x F2.0 ultra-wide-angle 24mm Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens). I didn't need a flash because it was such a cloudless sunny summer day in San Diego. That allowed the shutter speed to be high enough that there was very little motion blur when my friend hopped up to look like she was floating.Inspiration
My friend's bundle of energy and excitement.Editing
I shot this raw and took it to Lightroom to sharpen and desaturate the image to match the 'stark and doom-laden' tone of the scene. My friend had set her purse down on the ground, so I airbrushed it out in Photoshop. I also cropped the original image heavily to get a composition I liked.In my camera bag
That day, it was just the Lumix. I don't like being burdened by gear, so I don't really carry around a bag. Just the camera.Feedback
When it comes to photos of people, good work comes out of smart staging and composition that tells some kind of narrative (the simpler the better) that immediately communicates some kind of dynamic, be it spatial or relationship-based. Obviously, Darth Vader taking control of his prey is somewhat low-hanging fruit. But hey now... Another friend took a photo of the same moment with a nicer camera, but he just took it standing up like a tourist observing the moment. The photo had no drama. I assumed my friend's little hop would be more dramatic from a lower angle, so I crouched down and shot up with a little bit of a tilt. The wide angle lens on the Lumix really enhanced that angle. Tell the story. Show the drama.
