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.
OK, first the easy stuff:
It was made with a Nikon D3s, ISO 800, 1/100 and f/8 (manual exposure mode) on a 24MM lens, according to the EXIF information. EXIF also claims that the light source was a flash but that the flash didn’t fire, which I don’t believe for a second here – you doubtless had a flash trigger on that doesn’t do TTL. Probably a pocketwizard, since you’re a professional 😉 The white balance is 5300, which is pretty much in line with being flash.
The image dimensions are 2400 tall by 3607 wide, which is not the native resolution for the D3s, so I believe the EXIF when it suggests that photoshop CS4 Macintosh touched this image.
The date on this is May 14, 2011, which was two days into your Dasein project, so the location would be New York, probably in the Ace Hotel itself.
Now, on to more inference:
I think I see three lights to this exposure. One of them is the key light on the Prince himself (by the way, I had to look him up in Wikipedia – what an amazing story!), and two or three on the background speakers. The key light on the prince is coming from camera left and high, probably at about the classic 45 degree angle (with the subject as the center of a sphere, the flash is 45 degrees to the left of the camera and 30-45 degrees above the camera). You can tell this from the shadow of the nose and chin.
The lights on the speakers are shown by the specular highlights. One highlight is on a black speaker, three in from the left; one is on a wood-paneled speaker, three in from the right, and it looks like a third is on the speaker just behind the Prince. The highlights on the sides are probably caused by strobes to either side of the camera, possibly snooted and/or gridded. The light on the right is positioned above the camera, and probably about the same distance away from the speakers as the camera is, given the shadows from the candles on the speakers just behind the Prince. The light on the left is probably pretty similar, given the lack of shadows. The flashes are probably within a few feet of the camera, given the locations of the reflections. There is a third flash behind the Prince’s chair, which produces another reflection in the speaker part that you can see through the fabric draped over the Prince’s right shoulder. Between the three lights the speakers are fairly well lit.
Oh, and if I haven’t mentioned this yet, there’s no way that I believe this was a simple snapshot.
Composition:
The Prince is placed slightly above the viewing level of the camera, which gives a sense of respect or awe to the viewer, since we are looking up to the Prince from below. This looks like a similar set of clothes to the Prince’s state portrait that appears in Wikipedia, so I’m guessing that this is a pre-arranged formal portrait, because the clothing adds to the Prince’s air of authority. This seems juxtaposed against the speakers behind the Prince, with the dress seeming a bit more from another time than the speakers, which are fairly current technology by comparison.
The lighting emphasizes the prince and the speakers, but draws the eye inwards and away from the edges. This makes the Prince stand out, and possibly points out some connection between the Prince and the sound technology – possibly he is a music enthusiast?
Post-processing:
Looking at the EXIF information again, I think that this has been processed from RAW by either Lightroom or ACR, since some of the settings – such as Brightness, Contrast, etc – are set to the defaults that Lightroom gives you. It looks like you slightly underexposed the photo in camera and pushed the exposure up 1.55, and added some clarity. It looks like you also played with a tone curve, where the dark end are rendered to be darker than default. The exact midtones are left alone, but 3/4 of the way up the curve is again darkened before hitting a normal tone at the white end. Possibly some color correction was applied, since 5300 isn’t a pre-defined color temperature.
I would guess that this also has some vignetting applied to it to accomplish the focus that I mentioned earlier. Finally, I would guess that there is a light stand behind the Prince’s chair that has been cloned out, if any of the legs show underneath the chair.
Nikon D2Xs – 24-70mm lens – F/8 1/320 – ISO 400
1 flash light with white card in the left of the picture (75 degrees from the angle of view) to enlight the profile of the prince (right side of his face). Spot higher than the height of the seat.
1 spot enlightning the speakers on the left in the picture to get background but get mind focus on the prince.
No Post-Prod
Nice picture = 🙂
Hello Chase.
I live in Denmark, Europe and have been following you from across the great pond for some time now.
I believe this one is and easy one.
You shoot the picture exactly as you liked it. I migth not make a picture in that ligth myself, but you made the picture and said to yourself – “I like it” and you stand by your action and your own style like everyone should try.
Nice one Chase
I’ll have and eye on the mailman 😉
Stay on top
Svende.com
One flash camera right, fairly large source – umbrella that’s been snooted/flagged? – aimed at the speakers in the back. One flash (main) about 75 degrees camera left, smaller source than first flash, slightly above subject, aimed at subject – flagged and gridded. A third flash also camera left, hitting the left side of the speakers, snooted, fairly large source, probably same as the right, but less power.
f/9, ISO 200, 1/250s.
Post-processing? Maybe getting rid of extra speculars in his eyes.
>How did I make this picture?
with a DSLR, some ordinary 24 or 35 mm lens.
>Is it a snapshot?
sure, every photo is a snapshot.
>Lighting?
not really.
>If so, how?
one light, top left, with grid and barn? another spot to the back.
>The camera Settings?
who knows, ISO 800 or higher if you are shooting Nikon. 1/250 + f/8? Probably not Sandisk but Transcend flash card.
>the direction?
frontal
>post production?
increased contrast, added dark vignetting. Then uploaded it with some ftp client (I guess WinSCP) to /blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2011/08/deconstruct-this-photo-5-0 and made some noise at twitter to get people here.