I still deconstruct the work of other photographers all the time – it’s a great way to expand skill sets and understanding. And I know from your previous feedback that you guys are fond of these posts, so let’s dig into another one.
I was asked to photograph the amazing and controversial Prince Manvendra of India last month in NYC. It was an honor. But tell me…
How did I make this picture?
Is it a snapshot?
Lighting?
If so, how?
The camera Settings?
The direction?
Post production?
Whatever details you think were needed to make this image.
We’ve done this lots before, but I thought this particular image would be a good one to dig into for a couple reasons. I’ll reveal how it was made in a followup post and give a signed book or something to one person who nails it in the comments below.
I’m not going by the EXIF data for the reason that I know that you know that it is there. Might be correct, might not be. I’m going to go by what I know.
Camera I’m going to say you shot this with you Nikon D3s only because I know that’s the system you typically shoot this type of work with. Lense? There doesn’t look like there is any distortion, nor does it look too flat, so I’ll say it was shot at or very close to 50mm. f/10. From the look/size of his feet, I think 24mm is pushing it.
Lighting: 5 light set up.
1. spotlight hitting speakers on the camera left, possibly a grid, it depends on how tight the reflector is.
2. standard reflector on subjects upper half
3. standard reflector on subjects lower half.
4. There’s a light behind the chair aimed nearly strait back.
5. another light on camera right hitting the upper speakers. I’m guess a pretty tight/medium grid.
I think the fill on his face is mainly coming from his reflective clothing.
There’s really no way to tell what was done in post with the flexibility of raw.
My guess is contrast adjustments, some sort of burning on the sides. Color adjustments were very minimal.
“I was asked to photograph” tells me this was not a snap shot. If you’re photographing a prince, it’s typically more than a snap shot.
Direction – With out knowing more about who it was that asked you to photograph him, it would be hard to tell the direction. My guess, though, is that the prince is getting involved with music in some way, and wanted to incorporate the speakers to compliment that. you are shooting up on him in order to show that he has power as a prince – as if he’s the bigger man, looking down on us.. in his throne.
I cannot wrap my head around the speakers…. Why the speakers….. I did some research on him. I found absolutely NOTHING on his being or becoming involved with music. Every single resource I looked at mentioned his homosexuality. so my (revised) guess for the speakers, is that he is loud and clear about his homosexuality. He wants it to be known at full power. It symbolizes his voice on homosexuality.
Also, I looked at the photo again, and I noticed and realized something I didn’t before; the yellow in his turban sticks out more than the other colors, but not too much. This makes me think that there was DE-saturation on various parts of the image. Mostly on his clothing, but not his turban… As I think about this more, I’ll be back
1. Not a snapshot, pre-arranged setup.
2. All the lighting info, visualized on top of the actual photograph, with text comments and drawings (in brief: 2 lights, med sized octabox/beauty dish and flagged background light) – picture here http://i51.tinypic.com/2n84n75.jpg
3. Camera settings: 1/100, f/8, 24mm, iso 800
4. direction: clash of traditions and technology/modern world into harmonious synergy. first impression: controversy
5. post-production: not much, perhaps desaturating background a bit to make it more monochromatic and to make the figure stand out. colour temperature correction.
I think 3 strobes were used. The first one is a little bit higher than the person, because you can see the shade on the floor. This was a pretty hard flash, probably not a softbox. This light was facing the person. The other two were used to Illuminate the speakers behind him. These flashes were pretty hard too. All flashes probably used a grid because they’re all narrowed to illuminate only a small part of the photo. The ambient light was very low.
For the camera settings, I can’t really tell, it’s not so important for this shot I think. The aperture not to wide, probably something like f/8 and the shutter no faster than 1/200s because of the flashes.
In post you just pushed the blacks a little bit, but not much more than that.
Very nice shot btw!!
Lighting:-
At least 2 lights.
One for the chap in the chair coming in from camera left diffused using a large softbox to give direction and quality of light.
One for the speakers, this is most likely a bare flash hidden behind the chair because there seems to be a hotspot on the central speakers. I’m guessing the flash was zoomed wide to spill the light as much as possible.
Camera settings:- around f8 to give good focus on the main subject and the speakers. ISO and shutter speed set to give correct exposure at chosen aperture.
Post:- vignette to darken the edges
Lighting:-
At least 2 lights.
One for the chap in the chair coming in from camera left diffused using a large softbox to give direction and quality of light.
One for the speakers, this is most likely a bare flash hidden behind the chair because there seems to be a hotspot on the central speakers. I’m guessing the flash was zoomed wide to spill the light as much as possible.
Camera settings:- around f8 to give good focus on the main subject and the speakers. ISO and shutter speed set to give correct exposure at chosen aperture.
Post:- vignette to darken the edges
Full setting:
Nikon D700
35mm
f/22
ISO 200
60 seconds
One flash snooted/barn doors manually fired twice, once 2m high 4m to camera right at the background, then the prince walks in, and once again fired at 2m high 2.5m camera left, with a large window behind the shooter (at appx 7 o’clock)