The execution of this photoshoot was one of the more difficult one’s I have dealt with in sometime. Balance had to be achieved between the still and motion aspect of each frame and angular light consistency had to be given up in exchange for drama.
My initial approach was going to blend the lights of both aspects of the image to form the final, but this is just not possible. What we found with this approach was that the motion we were describing to the viewer was confused and non-descript in what was taking place, other than movement existed.
For these reasons, we had to create lighting setups individually for still and motion. Still was much broader, large light sources, while the motion was small, more specular and at many times moving sources. For example, with the dribbling basketball images, we had an assistant running with the light alongside the player.
The next issue we faced was that of the exposure itself. Combining drastic differences in Kelvin and ISO meant there was a lot of math going on behind the scenes so that we didn’t waste time on set. Besides having to lock down the camera for the frame to be consistent, we had to make sure the light was broad enough to match the contrast ration in both parts of the image.
If I were to do it again, I would probably just have the motion created in Photoshop, as it would be much easier, but would come at the cost of authenticity. At the end of the day, it is the tougher shoots that teach us the most, so I will be happy with the education that this campaign provided. You can read my full post here.
Love that tune! I forget who does it?
The Devils always have the best portraits
Always a fan of your work blair! Looks like a good time too! LOL