DZ2826amaroFS
Jan, 2016Views
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Contest Finalist in The Face Of A Man Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my home studio in California.Time
You know, I'm not entirely sure what time of day this photo was taken, because daylight had no bearing on the image. The image was lit with strobes.Lighting
This was just a simple two light setup, with a reflector in the front. The accent/rim light was probably 10-12ft in the air, and the light was modified and controlled with a gridded strip softbox. The front light was a simple white umbrella, at 45 degrees to the model, to achieve the classic butterfly/beauty lighting. Personally, I felt that this was the best lighting for this situation, as the focus of the image needed to be on the model, and nothing else. The lights are two Calumet Travelite 750's.Equipment
Again, I kept the equipment to a minimum also. The image was shot on my Canon 7D, with a Canon 28-135mm IS lens. The flash that I used were studio strobes, and they were placed off camera.Inspiration
I met Dan(IG: @danzbeard) thru IG(@corystierley), while we were both in the same area in California. After a few back and forth messages, we decided to collaborate. For this shoot, I didn't have any specific shot list in mind. I told Dan to bring a bunch of different options for clothing, and having worked at a department store with a fancy dress code, he had PLENTY of dapper clothing options. When he arrived and laid everything out, I saw this coat, and it immediately all came together in my head. I wanted to go for a throwback flavored portrait, that also looked very current. I remember looking at my mom's yearbook and seeing "senior photos" that looked similar to this. I immediately knew what I wanted the final image to look like, after post processing, so I shot for that end result. My favorite part about this image is the many different textures and patterns in it that all happened to come together perfectly.Editing
Yes, I did process this image, as I do all of my work that is released. First, I went thru to take out any major blemishes(Dan didn't have many, so that was an easy task), and then I applied a small amount of high pass, just for sharpness. I then applied frequency separation to bring a bit of cleanliness to the skin, while still maintaining acuity and texture. After I was finished with the processing on the skin, and all local adjustments, I did my global adjustments(tonal, contrast, color, etc). I don't have a set rule for any image as far as the look I'm going for. For me, Photoshop/post processing has always been "season to taste", so as soon as I got this image to where it fit the look I was going for, I saved it, and then applied the same settings to the rest of the images in the set.In my camera bag
I always have my Canon 7D and my Canon 28-135mm IS lens. I also have my Sekonic L-558R Dualmaster light meter(the ONE piece of equipment I can't live without, next to my camera), my Canon 580 EX II portable flash unit, Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal LSU-Cloud Flash Diffuser, X-rite Colorchecker Classic(just so I'm prepared for any lighting/white balance condition), numerous lens filters, AA batteries, 6 Pocket Wizards, at least one CR123A battery(for the light meter) at all times, 34 CF cards(ranging in size from 2GB to 32GB), matting powder(for shine reduction on faces), and a partridge in a pear tree.Feedback
The best advice I can give to someone trying to shoot something similar is that you need space, you need to pay attention to lighting, and you REALLY need to plan wardrobe. With this image, I was lucky in that Dan brought plenty of wardrobe for us to work with, so we didn't need a stylist. When I see an image that I would consider unsuccessful, 9 times out of 10, it is because not enough attention has been paid to one of the three above-named factors. It's really amazing what you can get away with as far as the lack of "fancy" equipment, as long as you have good previsualization. Lack of attention to detail is probably the number one killer of all photoshoots, and to be completely honest, I'm of the opinion that the photo should already be made before a shoot. The only thing left to do, during a shoot, should be clicking the shutter. Happy shooting, my friends!
