John Cox monochrome
John is part of a Medieval re-enactment group in Waterford, Ireland
John is part of a Medieval re-enactment group in Waterford, Ireland
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Aug, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this image in a small and sweltering canvas tent at a medieval re-enactment event, held on a sunny day in late August. The test was part of a Viking village that had been erected at a historic site called Gallow's Hill near my home. I'd arranged in advance to shoot portraits of the members of Deise Medieval, a Viking-era re-enactment group based in Waterford, Ireland.I photographed sixteen people over maybe an hour, and it was so tight in the tent that I was asking my subjects to hold the side of the tent away from their face.Time
I was shooting from around 11 am until a little past noon. It was a very sunny, bright day so not at all suitable for the low key style of pictures I wanted to capture. I'd checked before-hand and confirmed that a tent would be available on the day, but the larger tent was ruled out of bounds due to it holding the weapons and personal belongings of the Deise Medieval crew.Lighting
The tent I shot in was made of thick canvas, so it was maybe three stops darker than out in the sunshine. It was also quite a bit hotter, and a lot more humid :) I used one light stand with a Yongnuo Speedlite attached. I was using Yongnuo wireless triggers as well. I had a small diffusion modifier attached to the Speedlite to soften out the light a little. I positioned the flash to the side and a little to the front of the subject's face, at a distance of a foot or less. I was shooting between f8 and f13 depending on the effect I was getting and the distance of the flash from the subject. The flash was set manually to 1/16 to 1/8 power.Equipment
I shot using a Canon 760D (T6s) with a Sigma 70 - 200 mm lens attached. I was mostly using the lens at around 90 mm and even at that the tent was only barely long enough to get the appropriate distance so as to fit the subject's face in frame.Inspiration
I'd seen Deise Medieval in action several times before, and shot action images of their battle re-enactments. Many of the group take their Viking re-enactment very seriously, to the extent that there's a lot of impressive facial hair going on. There were lots of characterful faces as well among the group, and I wanted to photograph those people in a more controlled environment, not just mid-battle.Editing
I use Lightroom, and the main post-processing done was to enhance the low-key look I was going for, by reducing the black levels and tweaking the Dehaze setting. The background of the tent was also very distracting, so used the adjustment brush to remove those details that survived the other adjustments. There was a metal support pole in particular that was a pain to remove.In my camera bag
I usually bring the Canon body, a Sigma 2.8 28 - 70 mm lens, Tamron 2.8 11 - 16 mm, and one of either the Sigma 2.8 150 mm macro lens or Sigma 2.8 70 - 200 mm lens. I have three batteries for the camera, and I usually bring a tripod with me as well. I also have a selection of Variable Neutral Density filters in the bag too, for long exposures or shooting video in bright conditions.Feedback
In my case, I was shooting portraits in bulk. I only had each subject for a maximum of five minutes, and most for less than that. Your first subject is going to be the lighting stand-in, so get your lighting right with that first person, even if you need to keep them for a little longer. That will help you get through the rest of the subjects in the short time available. Also, never trust the LCD screen when shooting low key, since what looks like perfect black on the small screen will only look slightly under-exposed when you import into Lightroom (that's a little bit Lightroom's fault too, since it wants to help.) I should have brought my light meter, but I didn't think I'd need it. Your camera's histogram can also be a great help, but luckily it's a lot easier to make a picture low key in post than it is to make it high key :)
