We shot images for the opening of Red Hot Patriot earlier this year when it debuted on the Wisenhut stage at Zach Scott. Because Molly Ivins is such a larger than life character in the history of Austin the play is being brought back for a longer run in the Zach Scott Arena stage. We wanted new images to re-launch the Fall run.
I headed over this afternoon with a simple kit in the car: Two small Interfit monolights with supplied reflectors, two shoot thru, white umbrellas, two light stands and a bag with a camera and three Zeiss lenses. I set up a classic portrait light for the above frame. One light from camera right positioned above and 45 degrees to the side, the other light from camera left, a little closer to the camera axis and set at one quarter the power of the first light.
I shot around 1/60th f 8 @ ISO 200 with the Canon 1Dmk2n and the 85mm Zeiss 1.4 ZE lens. When I got back to the studio I looked at all the frames in Lightroom, selected this one to output as a jpeg with no changes in post.
We took an hour to set up and shoot about 300 different frames. Barbara, the consummate pro, gave us a range of looks and expressions. We got in at three, I was packed and heading home by four. Some work is really straightforward. It works best that way for everyone.
Why the 1Dmk2? I have a split screen in there that works really well with manual focus lenses. And I like the noise the shutter makes when it fires.....
Another hot week coming up. Hope everyone around central Texas stays hydrated and cool. Not a good week for a mid-afternoon run.
3 comments:
My question is not, "Why the 1D Mk2?" That's a great camera and I loved shooting with it. Still use it when I need an additional camera for a remote or a long lens.
My question is, Did you really take only one camera body, and a six year old one at that? I'm just way too paranoid not to have a backup in the car, if not in my bag. It would be kind of embarrassing to have the camera stop working and make the actor sit there while I ran back to the studio for another.
Ken, My friends and family would laugh at your question knowing that strewn throughout the Honda Element are plenty of extra cameras, lenses, film, batteries and lights. But the serious answer is that there was a second 1dmk2n in the bag for just that reason.
With a show at 5pm no one would have sat still if I messed up.
That's what I figured - you're a pro, after all. And professionals are nothing if not paranoid about backups. And backups for the backups.
Maybe worth a blog post one day...
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