Alone
Apr, 2016Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this in my home studio, not long after setting up some new equipment I had picked up and was eager to try. I love low key photography and enjoy playing with light and shadow. This is my favorite shot.Time
It was taken mid morning around 7:00am earlier this spring I believe, if memory serves me correct.Lighting
Yes, this shot was all about the lighting and getting the right ratio of light to dark. I was after a certain feel, and it took quite a few frames of test shooting before I was happy with the lighting. Then it took a couple more to get the right angle on the model.Equipment
I shot this with my Nikon D3100 mounted on a tripod with my Nikon DX 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G Nikkor lens. For flash I used one of my speed lights with a snoot, and had flash and camera hooked up to radio triggers.Inspiration
My son and I are both huge war/history fans and enjoy collecting various things related. We had talked many times of doing some sort of "Fall Out" shoot, but hadn't pinned down the details. Then one day my wife and I were at an auction and spotted the gas mask in a box of war memorabilia. I was so excited upon seeing the mask, knowing this was exactly what my son and I needed for our shoot. I ended up paying far more then I should have for the box, but simply had to have it. When I showed it to my son the next day, he grabbed it out of the box with a grin on his face and said "Dad this is perfect!"Editing
I actually didn't need to do a whole lot of post-processing, which isn't the norm for me. I can sometimes spend hours in Adobe Photoshop and or Lightroom depending on the project. In this shot I used it only to remove the colour and add a bit of detail. Probably one of the reasons I love this shot so muchIn my camera bag
I always carry the same gear when out of my studio. My D3100 accompanied with 3 DX lenses (18-55mm, 50mm and 55-200mm) along with a couple of speed lights and batteries, extra batteries, and batteries!Feedback
Yes, although there are many ways to capture a low key shot, I would say focus pushing your ambient light out with your aperture settings first, then add the light in second. Play around with different types light diffusers too, making notes of distance and or power in your flash. For my shot "Alone" I used a speedlight mounted on tripod with a homemade snoot filled with straws hooked up to a radio trigger. My model was only a few feet away from the camera and my flash slightly up and to the right. Don't forget that closer the light is to your subject the softer it will be. And the most important advice I can give is have fun, play around with your lights and angles, you may be surprised and what you find!
