The Tailor
The brooding look of a man who knows things.
The brooding look of a man who knows things.
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May, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this photo for my local barber shop that also tailors custom suits. This is their tailor. He's all business.Time
I shot this in the middle of afternoon in the shop during the week when it wasn't very busy. The whole storefront is glass so I had a lot of light coming in.Lighting
Giuseppe always has his business face on and it was very easy to capture his look. I just had to light it the right way. I wanted a very dramatic look so I decided to light him with a 26"x26" soft box on an Elinchrom strobe. I directed the light down on the subject and at a 45 degree angle to cast deep but soft shadows. I had to over power the light coming in from the front of the store which also added to the punchiness.Equipment
I had my standard set up, Nikon D600 with Nikkor 70-200mm f4 lens. Set on a tripod and paired with a soft box on my Elinchrom D-Lite RX-4.Inspiration
The Tailor was inspired by how serious Giuseppe always seems. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word but you rarely see a smile on his face without engaging him first. He always seems to be working in his head, or brooding.Editing
I put the image through Photoshop with standard RAW processing, sharpened him up a little bit. Final touch was putting it into Nik Silver Efex and fine tuning the black and white aspect. I pushed the details out of the coat and added a slight sepia color to finish.In my camera bag
I've learned to keep it simple. Nikon D600, Nikkor 50mm f1.8. Thats my standard "go to" if I'm just out shooting random things. As for specific ideas or jobs I have, I'll pack more adequately depending on what the assignment is.Feedback
Lighting is arguably the most important aspect in photography. It creates your photo, and it can destroy it as well. Knowledge and experience in lighting is paramount. For portraits of people, I try to capture them in their own element. It's very easy to get a specific look or emotion from someone if thats the type of person they are. If you have someone fake an emotion, it will show.
