I was shooting in the temporary Zachary Scott photo studio a few days ago and we needed to create a photograph for the musical, White Christmas. This was one of the shots I created and I wanted the lighting and the general feel of the image to harken back to the 1940's when so many images were lit with big, pan reflectors and lots of fill light. Our one formalist constraint was the white background, which became a leitmotif throughout the two days of shooting. To light the actors I used a large dish reflector just to the left of center and a large umbrella fill (one and a half stops down) just to the right of the camera. But, of course, the expressions make the shot for me. It's always a collaboration.
Later, back in the studio, I was playing around with the image in SnapSeed and ended up with the image below. In retrospect, this is one occasion on which I should have considered a little bit of hair light. I'll try it next year.
Camera: Sony a77, ISO 160
Lens: Minolta 24-85mm 3.5-4.5
Lighting: Four Elinchrom monolights
White Christmas will open on the stage of the new Theater later this Fall.
I don't know if you are looking for feedback from people who don't know what they are talking about, but I like the non-Snapped version a lot more, and it still looks nice and old fashioned to me. Anyway, enjoyable series of theater images.
ReplyDeleteCould this not have been a case where LED lighting could have been used effectively?
ReplyDeletePeter.
Yes. we could have done it either way.
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