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stevek47

With Friends Like These...

NIKON D800

settings

Aperture f/14.0 ISO 200 Shutter 1/160

upload_date

Oct, 2014

Views

585

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+17

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in a friend's place, Liza very graciously allowed us to use her living room for this shoot, we covered the walls with cloth, cleared anything modern from the shelves, and replaced them with antique or reproduction objects.

Time

The camera data tells me it was taken one Saturday afternoon, mid-November in 2013. It had been a long day, but because everyone knew each other, the time simply flew by.

Lighting

If I remember correctly, I used three Nikon SB900s on this shot, firing through umbrellas. Two were positioned to hit the players on the right hand side, and the third positioned to light the left hand player. Sadly I can't recall the exact settings I used for the speedlites. The data tells me I was shooting ISO 200, f14 at 1/160.

Equipment

The camera was a Nikon D800, with a Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens, mounted on a Red Snapper tripod. As mentioned I used three SB900 Speedlites and, having shot in this location before where I ran into difficulties with the Nikon CLS, I used Phottix Odin flash triggers.

Inspiration

My friend Paul (left hand card player) is a reenactor, who designs and makes these clothes for close friends and wanted a set of photos to showcase his creations for his website. We drafted in friends (Simon, John W and John H) who have all benefited from his services to act as models. Paul and I had discussed the best way to showcase his creations and inspiration came from many paintings from the 18th Century where people were playing cards. We liked the idea of one of the players being cheated by his "friends", this was the second shot of this tableau, Simon (chap being fleeced) turned his eyes towards the camera and, for me, it was the shot of the day.

Editing

There was an awful lot of careful post-production on this image (Lightroom), to give it the feel of a painting. One of the most obvious corrections was to remove a second candle flame that had burnt down behind John H, which gave the impression it was coming from the top of his head! I recall having to lighten some of the shadows, and generally tweaked some of the colour settings, but I can't recall doing anything too adventurous with the post-production.

In my camera bag

Usually my D800 mounted with 24-70mm lens, a 50mm and 85mm lens, plus a couple of speedlites, my Phottix Odin triggers and a load of re-chargeable batteries! I generally carry a Rogue Flashbender and Honeycomb light modifiers, plus a pack of gels. If I'm doing a shoot like this one, I'll also have a couple of lightstands, umbrellas or softboxes.

Feedback

Careful planning was certainly the key to the success of this shoot, Paul and I had several meetings beforehand (usually over a pint or two), he'd printed photos of period paintings from which we were able to draw our inspiration. Also, knowing the room where we were shooting meant I had a good idea of where the camera would be placed and what kit I would need. Having a group of friends modelling really helps, it meant that they were immediately at ease with each other and effectively I was taking photos of chums playing card and drinking brandy! We had a few set piece images (which this was one), but I was happy for the shoot to develop organically as the day progressed. I would say that if an idea isn't working, don't be afraid to fore-go that particular shot and move on. Most of all, try to make the shoot a fun day as you'll get the most out of the people you're working with.

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stevek47

With Friends Like These...

Behind The Lens

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