Oni
Model: Anthony Washington
Assistant: Stephanie
Camera: A7Riii
85mm F1.8
Jul, 2018Views
1619
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Awards
Chatter Award
Hero Award
Contest Finalist in Creative Reality Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Fantasy In Color Photo Contest
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
We took this at our studio in Rochester NYTime
Being in the studio we had more control over the lighting. I believe it was at 8pm EST.Lighting
The intent of the whole shoot was to capture Anthony's strength. We were messing around with rimlight and body landscapes. The image was intentionally underexposed. Shooting in RAW allowed me to bring the exposure up in post just enough to keep the mystery and highlight his form.Equipment
Camera is a Sony A7Riii. Lens is a Sony FE 85mm 1.8 at 1.8. Shot is handheld. Lighting is a pair of cross firing Godox 600BMs with a Godox trigger. I shoot in RAW, manual. Mainly because I have been shooting since the 80s and I never learned any of the modes on my camera so Manual is the only way I know how to shoot. I really don't trust shooting in any mode. I feel like I am losing control or something.Inspiration
I printed the mask that Anthony is holding for my son's high school social studies class. It was about Japanese culture. We chose an Oni mask because the file was available to download. After printing I painted the mask and hung it in our studio as a prop. Anthony is such an amazing model. He has beautiful musculature and poses are spot on. We were winding down the shoot and I grabbed the mask. Handed him the sword and asked him to pose in different ways. This one just popped out for me. I thought the pose, with his head down, and the mask being taken off of his face was so powerful.Editing
Believe it or not, there was almost NO post processing. I did adjust the sliders in lightroom and did remove the corner of a stand, but for his body, I did not need to.In my camera bag
I used to shoot with full frame Nikon. I am now in camp Sony with my A7Riii. In studio I have about 7 sony lenses, out in the field I may take 2 primes and my 100-400GM. I hardly ever use flash out in nature.Feedback
The key to this image is underexposure. Intentionally kept the flash & beauty dish far from him with them set at 1/256. They are cross firing so both sides of the body. Black background helps as well. 85mm is quite tight so portrait profile is best for the full body at about 8 feet back from the subject.
