Take Five CASE STUDY #9
CAMERA:
Hasselblad 503c LENS:
FILM: EXPOSURE: LIGHTING:
50mm
Kodak Plus X
f/11 at 1/8 second
large Chimera light bank OTHER:
tripod
Assignment
The Story
If you haven’t figured it out yet, working on a per-
The only time Dave and his family were all free and in
sonal portrait project allows you the opportunity to
the same place was a week before Christmas. Fortu-
meet your heroes. For my “Fathers and Sons” proj-
nately, Dave only lives a couple of hours north of New
ect, I had photographed Alan Arkin. He was friends
York City and I was free that day. By the time I got
with jazz musician Dave Brubeck and suggested I con-
there with my assistant, Jo Caress, it was dark and the
tact him for the book. Score!
home was filled with holiday lights. It was very festive and the Brubecks were gracious hosts.
Visual Objective
Capturing the family dynamics is always one of my vi-
Tips
sual objectives; each son has their own identity and re-
When photographing a large group you need a large
lationship to their father. In truth, though, the portrait
light modifier. Because four of the sons wore glasses,
is as much about me as it is about the Brubecks. Once
I used a boom stand to raise the light about three feet
I was happy with the placement, I would “let the cam-
above the subjects to avoid causing reflections.
era roll” and try and capture their dynamic.
To capture the ambiance of a large room, try dragging the shutter, as I did here. Once you focus, turn
Posing
off the modeling light to avoid recording subject
When I arrived at their home, I noticed that Dave and
movement, unless that is the effect you want.
his son Daniel were wearing black shirts. That started me thinking about a keyboard—black keys surrounded by white keys. This concept, although not obvious, was the driving force of my placement of the family. (It also helped that Dave was wearing a white belt.) I also used the steps behind the family to stagger their heights. Then, I had them bend their knees to create a more casual look. The final touch was hand placement—and the key was having Dave crossing his
large softbox
arms. This set the tone for the rest of the portrait’s family dynamic. LIGHTING CASE STUDIES
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