Tim Zimmerman, a junior at Port Neches-Groves High School, poses for a portrait at the high school on Wednesday, May 7, 2005. Zimmerman was named by The Beaumont Enterprise to the Super Gold Soccer Team.
Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise
This is the matching boys photo to this image. As I said in the comments of the other image, the pose wouldn't have worked for him.
8 comments:
I like the light gradient.
Getting that effect was the hardest part of both shoots because they are standing in front of white walls. The original assignment was to shoot them in front of a white wall so they could be cut out. They liked this idea better. :-)
Can you detail your lighting to explain how you got the gradient? I am afraid lighting is not my strong suit, so forgive me if this is a stupid question.
Oh...and cutouts....grrr. The bane of every PJ's existence. Smooth move to sidestep that one.
To get this lighting effect, you snoot your strobe and set it high and close to the subject. Light stands need to be 8 to 12-feet high. Because the light is directional while snooted, those areas not lit go dark. There's some light spillover to smooth the edge.
The dark areas are made by controlling the synch speed. Since I used The Beast and shot at f/22, the synch speed isn't an issue at this light-to-subject distance.
To get the edge of the snoot where you want it, you must chimp a dit a bit. To speed things along (or if you're still using film), ask the subject if s/he can see the NON-FIRING strobe inside the snoot without turning her/his head. If s/he can, then you know both eyes will appear in the final image.
"Chimp a dit." ;-) I love lingo :-)
Translation for anyone who doesn't own a copy of "PJ Slang for the Modern Newsroom," Mark is referring to the practice of referring to the monitor on the back of your digital camera to preview images. SportsShooter.com has put together a fun presentation of "chimpers" in their natural habitat .... http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/chimping/index.html
Thanks for the info, Mark. Did you just use a piece of paper to snoot? Can you get the same effect with a spot grid?
I love the portraits of the kids.
Thank you Laurie.
Carmen you made me giggle. With my lights the subjects would have a shocked expression on the second frame if I used paper - it would burst into flames (it's 2000 watts). :-)
My snoot is a heavy aluminum tube. I've seen other shooters paint small coffee cans black and use them on smaller systems for the same effect.
Ahem, yes. I stand corrected (and a little embarrassed). Thanks :-)
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