The_Nail_Factory
I was asked to photograph a group of artists in a gallery called "The Nail Factory" where the photo was to have a feel of an "Old Master's&q...
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I was asked to photograph a group of artists in a gallery called "The Nail Factory" where the photo was to have a feel of an "Old Master's" painting
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Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Aperture f/9 ISO 100 Shutter 1/125 Focal Length 22/1 
Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway, GB
Feb, 2019Views
280
Likes
Awards
Contest Finalist in Virtual Exhibition Project
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Superior Skill
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 30 rank week 1
Top 30 rank week 7Top 30 rank week 6Top 30 rank week 5
Categories
geophotos
April 09, 2019
You've certainly succeeded! Rembrandt would be pleased with this work, as no doubt were all the artists concerned! Superb understanding of composition, colour and light in this Masterpiece! :))
bobtoye
December 30, 2021
Another gorgeous grouping. My first thought was of the Last Super as well. My last is of craftsmanship in abundance!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at a tiny gallery called "The Nail Factory" in Dalbeattie, Scotland.Time
It was early evening at the end of November, so was completely dark outside. It was also pretty cold (3 or 4 celcius), despite the stove pipe you can see in the background. Peter had lit the stove earlier to warm the place up, but due to the direction of the wind, all the smoke had come back down and filled the room completely. All the doors and windows had to be opened for several minutes to clear the air, by which time the room was freezing cold again.Lighting
The lighting design for this shot was critical. We were trying to recreate the feel of an "Old Master's" painting. The first light to get right was an off-camera flash, with a yellow gel, hidden behind the fruit bowl. This was to make everyone look as though they were lit by the candles in the middle of the table, but of course in real life their light was no where near strong enough for what we needed. The second light was to the upper left, just out of shot - a large gridded softbox to light up the 2 on the left of the image, but trying to be soft enough to make it feel like windowlight. A third, low powered light was to my left pointing at the front of the table, just enough to light it up - otherwise it would have been completely lost in the shadows.Equipment
The photo was taken with a Canon 7D MkII, with a 10-22mm wide-angle Canon lens, set at 22mm, f/9, 1/125th sec, ISO 100. As mentioned in the lighting section, I used 3 off-camera flashes, one with an orange gel, and the other 2 with softboxes.Inspiration
The Nail Factory in Dalbeattie is a very small building that had been turned into a gallery and art space. The intimacy of the place, the pleasant surrounds and the warmth and friendliness of owners Rupinder and Peter, made it a favourite venue for many local, and not so local, artists. It was the last day of November: with the closing of the exhibition season, and several of the artists arriving to collect their work, the owner, Rupinder, was putting on a spread of food, turning it into a social gathering. Wanting to make the most of a rare moment when so many artists would be in the one place at the same time, Rupinder and I had met up the previous month to discuss how we might create a photo to reflect that sense of artistic camaraderie. Bouncing ideas about, we settled on the notion of having them gathered around a table, with some art and tools of the trade, in conversation with each other, perhaps with some light food – fruit, bread and cheese: hinting at a feel of a Dutch "Old Master" painting.Editing
Mostly it was making adjustments to the light and shadow levels, but it didn't feel complete until I put a very subtle textured overlay on it, which then gave it an almost subliminal feeling of being on a canvas, thereby giving it more of a painterly feel, to match the lighting and composition.In my camera bag
My main camera is a Canon 7D MkII. The 3 lenses I use most are my Canon f/2.8 24-70mm, which is pretty much my workhorse lens; a Canon f/2.8 70-200mm which is fantastic for shooting live performances - getting in close in low light conditions; and finally a wide angle Canon 10-22mm for when I need to take in a lot in a small space. I also usually have 2 or 3 Canon speedlites to hand and an assortment of softboxes and modifiers.Feedback
The key thing here is to study as many paintings from the era as you can, and try and reverse-engineer the lighting. By far and away, the lighting is the most important aspect. If you don't get it right, nothing else you do is going to compensate (unless you are a Photoshop genius)
