Major Nick Watts Royal Canadian Artillery
Feb, 2018Views
1759
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Awards
Community Choice Award
Runner Up in In Uniform Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in In Uniform Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Genius
Emotions
Impressed
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in my studioTime
The photo was taken in the afternoon ,I had a session booked with Major NickLighting
The lighting setup was set up for my Working Class Gallery project where I photographed different people and what they did for a living ,from firemen,welders,customs officers,chefs and so on I think I managed to photograph over 90 individuals . As far as lighting the key light was a 22" beauty dish at camera left with a grid on it. Behind the beauty dish and slightly right of the beauty dish I had a 2'x3' softbox with a grid on it to fill in the shadow areas on the face. Then positioned right behind me I had a 6' deep umbrella for overall fill just to fill in the overall shadows.Equipment
The images was taken with a Canon 1DX , a Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens on a studio tripod with Elinchrom lighting and modifiers .Inspiration
The inspiration for the image was to photograph people and what they did for a living . My hope was for the indivual looking at the image would be able to tell what the subject did for a living and also photograph people in the different jobs that they do.Editing
Yes there was a little post processing done . I did some minor adjustments in Lightroom and added a split tone adjustment. Then in photoshop I added the textured background ,some curves adjustments and a slight dodge & burn just to bring a little more punch to the shadows & highlights.In my camera bag
In the studio I always shoot with my Canon 1DX and usually the Canon 100 mm 2.8 macro or the Zeiss 85mm 1.4 . When I'm out shooting sports & horse racing , Canon 1DX with a Canon 600mm F4 and a Canon 300mm 2.8Feedback
My advice for people wanting to capture a similar image .Pay close attention to your lighting and study where your shadows and highlights fall. Take your time and its a good idea to work one light at a time and see what each light is doing. For these images I set up the beauty dish and took numerous photos until I had the shadows where I wanted them and how far away I wanted the light from the subject, The closer the light the softer it'll be. Once I set up the Beauty dish I placed the 2'x3' soft box behind the beauty dish and slightly to the right of the dish so that about 2/3rds of the box was catching the subject. Again I turned off the dish and just shot the soft box to see what kind off fill I was getting from just that light. Once I got to where I thought it was what I wanted I shot with both of them and used a light meter to get my correct exposure. Lastly I used a large umbrella placed right behind me & my camera for overall fill. I also just shoot a few frames with just the umbrella to see what kind of fill it was producing then shot all three and used my light meter to make sure I was getting a correct exposure. Its a good idea to get a friend or an assistant to sit in for you while you a getting your light set up. Don't have a client there sitting and waiting while you are tweaking your lights. They'll get bored really quickly lol. I hope this helps people out .In the end it all depends on what YOUR vision as a photographer is and the more you work your craft and experiment the better you'll get and you'll develop your own style.
