Daily Photo – Samantha in Stripes and Plaid
The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
This shot of Samantha was taken at the advanced lighting workshop hosted by Christopher Fergusen and Steven Noreyko. As I noted before, the workshop was a bit of a free for all — students chose the lighting, composition, pose, and so forth; the instructors simply acted as assistants and would help only if we couldn’t solve a particular lighting problem.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/7.1
- ISO: 100
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
- Lighting: Small gridded softbox camera left and up (probably an SB800 but don’t know).
Original:
Composition and Processing
- Gordon McGregor was shooting just prior to this, doing some neat wide angle stuff against the corrugated metal background. We were basically out of time — the workshop was over — so I stuck with Gordon’s lighting and shot from deep inside the room across from Samantha. The doorway made a perfect frame for the background, creating a built in mat of sorts (and made more dynamic by rotating the frame.) It also adds a feeling of isolation, with the subject that small and contained by the dark surroundings.
- I wanted Samantha to relax against the background, but all the lines in this image (not to mention contrast) added tension and made her not so much relaxed as possessive of the scene. Largely unplanned, but I’m happy with the result and something I’ll have to try again in the future.
January 14 2009 05:39 pm | Photography