Mixed light
Uploaded: November 23, 2007
M.Christine Duncan November 01, 2008
I stopped at this photo John for a few reasons... first, your DOF. I've heard and read consistantly that for portrait work it's best to use a very general aperture (F/8) so every feature is sharp... but here you have a very shallow DOF, and it makes a powerful statement allowing for his best features (his eyes) to command attention! And secondly, the light is very well done, with variances to it's intensity which also gives depth along with the mentioned DOF... and both of these things made your choice of B&W so ideal! I'm sure your client was wowed by the result!!! #1027114John H. Siskin November 01, 2008
Hi Christine,I did have to use a very long shutter speed, about a 1/4 of a second. I needed this long speed to bring the room light up to the right value. This long exposure allowed a place for luck to enter the project. After I did a couple of shot where the camera was on a tripod and the subject was still, I started moving the camera or asking the subject to move after the strobe triggered. This was one of those shots. In the areas where the strobe is virtually all of the light her is sharp, but in the areas where the existing light is an important component of the light there is softness created by blur. While there is not a lot of depth of field in the shot, probably less than f8 on a medium format film camera with a 180mm lens, this might be like f4 on an 85mm lens with a small sensor. The thing that really severs to create the three-dimensionality in the shot is the slight blur. I did this several times, most of the others were lousy, often the case when you trust to luck.
Shot for AidsWalk in New York. This shot was used for banners and collateral materials. I believe they were pleased with the image.
Thanks, John
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