Disappearing - man behind the fence
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Aperture f/2.8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/320 Focal Length 50/1 
Kranjska Gora, Bohinj Commune, SI
May, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at the tennis court in Kranjska Gora, which is my friend's (the model) home village. We knew there was an appropriate fence for this kind of photo, as it is tall enough, so he could stand normally by it and that there is only nature behind the court. We asked the owners, if we could take a couple of photos there, and they were more than happy to help us and they let us use the place.Time
I took this photograph in the middle of the day, which would normally not be the best time to shoot. I remember that after lunch I was talking to my friend and he said: "Hey, come over and we will take that photo we wanted to do." So I packed my gear, sat in the car and drove to his house, picked him up and we went to the tennis court. The photo was taken around 15:30 on May 26th. It was a bit cloudy day, so it was perfect for the mood I wanted to create on the final photograph.Lighting
I have only used natural light for this photo. As it was shoot in the middle of the day, I was happy that it was cloudy, especially because I was aiming for a bit darker mood, something lightly mysterious, so I didn't want strong sunlight on my photo.Equipment
I shot this photo with my main camera, Canon 5D Mk IV. I photographed with Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L II lens at 50mm, f/2,8, 1/320s and ISO 100. I didn't use flash, as natural light was good enough, but I did use tripod, as I needed to take two photos from the identical position, to merge them together into one.Inspiration
Inspiration for this shot came from my friend. We have worked together on many projects and we always found a way to make the photo interesting, different, unique somehow. He got the idea to make a composite where there would be parts of him missing. I thought fence would be interesting to use, to make it almost look like he's holding the fence in attempt not to disappear from this reality. The symbolism of this photo was also meant to represent the fact that in today's world it's easy to lose your focus, your calling, your identity - you disappear and a generic self takes over. It is a reminder to hold on and stay focused on who you are.Editing
After choosing the two photos (one with and one without the model) I edited them in Adobe Lightroom first. I used one of my favourite presets, which raises the clarity and kills a lot of colors except the skin colors. I adjusted the shadows a bit and lowered the highlights, also lowered the whole exposure for a bit. Then I went to Adobe Photoshop. I imported the photo of the background first, then over it the photo with the model and started erasing some of the squares from the fence. I also retouched the skin a bit, corrected the color hue a bit, adjusted the saturation, played with the light a bit more to finish up. At the end I cropped the image to a square and saved it.In my camera bag
I always carry my Canon 5D Mk IV with me combined with the lens Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L. It is my favourite combination. Maybe because I got used to it, maybe because it is most useful for my line of work. In addition I normally also carry Canon 70-300 F/4 lens and the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Besides the lenses I always have my little bag of SD cards and two or three extra batteries. You never know when you will need some extra memory and power.Feedback
For this kind of shoot it is good to have an exact idea of what you want to do. It is helpful to find the location beforehand and to try to anticipate the light conditions - will you need flash? Will it be an open space? Is it better to come in the early morning or later in the day? Besides the location and light I would suggest using a wide aperture (I used f/2.8), to get a blurry background, which makes the model stand out more. Also be careful not to move the tripod, as the fence will not align when you try to combine the photos in Photoshop. Using remote trigger is useful.
