kimayres

The Open Book

Promotional image created for a second hand book shop

Promotional image created for a second hand book shop
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Canon EOS 7D Mark II

settings

Aperture f/6.3 ISO 100 Shutter 1/160 Focal Length 10/1

location

Dumfries and Galloway, GB

upload_date

Oct, 2019

Views

321

Likes

+13

Awards

Contest Finalist in Manipulations Photo Contest

Peer Award

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

Superb Composition

Emotions

Impressed

Behind The Lens

Location

If you've ever had the desire to give it all up and run your own second-hand bookshop, you can actually try it out by staying at "The Open Book" in Scotland (and the small apartment above it) via AirBnB. This is where I took this photo.

Time

It was taken early afternoon, but that's more or less irrelevant because all the lighting was artificial.

Lighting

This was shot using 3 speedlites. One is a large softbox (later Photoshopped over with the book). One was in the lamp at the back, with an orange gel on it, as the actual light bulb wasn't powerful enough The final one was just to the left of me on low power to act as a fill light on the books at this end.

Equipment

I used a Canon 7D MkII with a Canon 10-22mm lens and the 3 off-camera flashes and softbox mentioned above.

Inspiration

If I had to choose only one location to be able to create as many different possible kinds of storytelling photos, I wouldn't be able to think of anything much better than a second-hand bookshop. From a film-noir thriller, to monsters under the bed, to portals to other dimensions - a bookshop offers a perfect venue for creative photography. People coming to stay at The Open Book have the option to book me for their very own narrative portrait, so I needed to create a few photos to inspire potential clients, and this was one of them

Editing

The original idea was a portal to another dimension. My friend wore a wedding dress and her daughter was sat reading a book under the lamp behind her. I knew I would need her lit up, so I put a large (approx 6 foot) softbox in a gap in the bookshelves, that led back round to the front of the shop. During the editing, I tried several ideas that just looked awful - from a pool of water, to lightning, to fire - none of them worked. I was close to abandoning the idea when I thought of the possibility of a giant book. I chose "The Borrowers" from my daughter's book collection, which is about small people who live under our floorboards. I set it up against a black cloth to photograph separately, but I couldn't put a light behind the book, to make it appear to shine out, because the spine of the book was in the way. So I put a strip of foil into the book and pointed a speedlight into it, which helped make the pages glow. I then Photoshopped it into place. I also slightly curved the edges of the bookshelves closest to the viewer to give a slight fish-eye effect and make it appear that the viewer is peering into the space.

In my camera bag

My primary 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

If creating an image which is going to involve compositing on the computer, then it's really important to make sure the lighting and shadows of each of the elements is going to match up, so you need to be as clear as possible what the final image might look like before you start.

See more amazing photos, follow kimayres

kimayres

kimayres

The Open Book

Promotional image created for a second hand book shop

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow kimayres

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