When working in Public Relations, no assignment is in more danger of becoming extremely boring than the dreaded "guy in front of the computer" shot. So what can you do to add some sex-appeal to a computer screen? One answer is to light selectively. This is what I did
(click on pictures for bigger versions)
Computer: the Art people wanted the computer screen to be readable (sharp and bright) so I used a 50mm f1.8 set at f8 for enough depth-of-field and placed the camera on a tripod. The camera was properly exposed for the lit screen. We could have just Photoshopped in a fake screen but we still wanted to have something to work from.
Light 1: As the computer itself was the centerpiece of the photograph, I started setting up the scene by placing an optically-slaved Nikon SB-80 with a blue gel behind the screen. I wanted a blue glow under the screen and also on the black background so the flash was pointed somewhat away from the table. This is the kicker light that would separate the computer screen from the black background. The blue gel was used to create a mood and to keep with the colour scheme of the website.
Light 2: the next light to be placed was the keylight for the model's face, a Nikon SB-28 synced with a Cybersync. It was placed on a stand, high behind the computer screen and was fitted with a snoot in order to illuminate the model's face and nothing else.
Light 3: At this point we have the computer screen exposed properly and the model's face lit. The last piece of the puzzle was the keyboard so an SB-800 also with blue gel and at the lowest power was placed on the left of the screen.
Light 4: After taking a test shot, I noticed that the back of the model was too dark and "melted" with the background so yet another light was used. An SB-24 with an SU-4 optical slave and a black card board snoot was placed on a stand and pointed at the model's back on. A black flag was placed in between the light and the monitor to keep the spilt from striking the latter. Finally a silver reflector placed on the left was used to raise up the shadow on the model's face.
That's it, I hope that makes sense!
-TN
My first reaction to seeing your shot was "wow, that's boring" because I'm used to seeing some pretty spectacular stuff in your posts, but after reading how you made it, I realized just how hard it is to get a "boring" shot like that, where the photography doesn't get in the way of its advertising task. An "artistic" result would have shifted focus away.
ReplyDeletePretty darn masterful.
It would be interesting to see the results of a contest where photographers are given only basic instructions (a line drawing of what the general result should be, and constraints like "screen should be readable"), and see what people come up with. I doubt many would get to this level; I know I certainly couldn't have prior to reading this post (and probably still couldn't).
Thanks Jeff for your comment.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting note, this assignment did start with a line drawing and the composition was pretty much locked in.
And yes, I do wonder what other people might have done different, it'll surely be interesting!