Canon 5DSR - 24-70mm @ 24mm - f/5 - 1/100 - ISO 100
In 2016, my friend Ryan was in town for my birthday and rented me a 50 megapixel full frame camera as my gift. As I said in another submission, I am disabled and could only afford the APS-C 80D. But I wanted the full frame experience and decided to plan a photoshoot for the occasion.
I had this image in my head for a long time of someone reading in a dark forest. I felt compelled to try and manifest it in real life. Again, since I am mostly housebound, we couldn't go to a real forest, so my neighbor's yard had to do. Ryan dragged my mom's antique rocking chair all the way to this spot. I duct taped a speedlight into the lampshade to make it look like it was a functional light while plugged into nothing. I had a 7 foot umbrella with a studio strobe as the key light.
Because of light pollution I knew I'd have to replace the sky to get stars. And I had to add the fireflies as well because only a few were visible. One or two might be real. But everything else was done practically. I just really wanted a magical, fantasy vibe to match what was in my head.
I loved having the extra megapixels. It made it much easier to do the compositing work. Complex selections are more forgiving. But I think I could have still gotten close to this result with my 80D.
(The Frogman Photo 2 of 3)
I adore this picture. The juxtaposition of the starry night sky and dark outdoors with the subject appearing transposed from an indoor scene gives this a great surrealistic feel. The streaking star in the upper left is so perfectly offset. I love the use of the lit lamp, without a visible electricity source it invokes a magical aspect of existing outside of science.
I think it’s incredible how you balanced that electric light with the natural light to keep the full scene in view, without either light source obscuring the things they reveal. I think his expression really nails it down as a kind of absurdist humor scene, while still being visually stunning and genuinely beautiful. I could see this being any writer’s author portrait wet dream! Great work.