I was recently in Jacksonville, Florida and while I was there had a great advantage to talk to a few Navy photographers and hopefully inspire some motivation. Afterwards I invited a few guys to come out and do some what I am now calling 'S.O.M.P. photography (Seat Of My Pants). I may change this term later, but like it for now. It describes the ability to be creative at any given moment. To be prepared at all times to create something on the fly with little help from any other creatives. No planning, no meetings, no permissions, etc. So I took a couple guys out to a local movie theatre that had a bunch of neon lights (for those who know Jacksonville, yes I know about the other one, but there was a conflict on our meet place).
Anyway, I was teaching how to approach lighting a situation like this, when one of the managers walked outside. He made his way to us through a nonchalant walk to his car and around us. He had a very curious look as to why we were in front of his theater taking pictures. I quickly gave him my non-intimidating happy passionate personality and before he knew it, he was my subject for an environmental portrait. Lit with a Gary Fong Light Sphere (clear). I put a red filter inside to match the neon. I also brought the shutter speed down to 1/6 of a second to get an 'on purpose' motion blur in the background. The flash and f/stop where set to f/5.6 to get him in a good depth of field and freeze him nice and sharp. I used the same exact equipment the students have in their shop. That way I am somewhat demystifying the final product and giving them the power to go and do the same thing again if they want. The working shot is exactly how we shot the first shot.
1 comment:
Nice shot. I like the way you describe the process. It's a bit like a "found" poem.
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