28
Votes
Scott S's picture

The Leather Craftsman

This cowboy is a skilled leather worker and made all of the leather he's wearing (and the chaps you can't see).

The scene was pretty unique here. It's inside an old 1800's limestone farm house in the Flint Hills of Kansas. The light was horrendous outside so I put him in the shade where the light would wrap around a little bit from the windows. Originally I placed my light on the left so I could short light him (my preferred style), but I just couldn't get rid of the glare on the glasses. Yes, I could photoshop it later, but I didn't want to resort to that. So, I broad lighted him from the right with the Paul C Buff 47" Octabox feathered away from him. A white reflector was camera left, right off the frame, to fill in the shadows a bit.

I processed this in Capture One, worked in Photoshop a bit, then did a few rounds of Exposure 7 to color grade it.

Camera: Mamiya 645 DF+
Digital Back: Credo 40
Lens: Schneider 80mm 2.8 LS
Light: Alien Bee 800
Modifier: 47" Octabox from Paul C Buff

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8 Comments

Nice portrait!

Thanks Brett

splendid one, the wals are so familiar to the region where I live (Armenia), yet it feels very unique with the man's totally great style and outfits, the light is beautiful

Very nice, Scott! Color grading is spot on.

Thanks Joakim. That's always something I'm trying to get better at, so I appreciate the kind words.

absolutely stunning! The light, the model, everything! God job

Thank you Peter. This was part of a mentor session I was teaching. I didn't do too much shooting, but I jumped in and shot frames to show my student what I was looking for and how to control the light. In terms of the model, he's an every-day man who loves leather craftmanship. Met him about 10 minutes before this shot.

looks good, I like the colours.