When I first saw Gregory Heisler, I thought he was a college professor not a professional photographer. I guess in reality he is both since this is one of the most indepth BTS videos I've seen explaining how to construct lighting that doesn't call too much attention to itself. I'm always a big fan of images like this since shooting environmental portraits forces you to not only produce a great portrait but also create something iconic and often time monumental. Gregory does a great job with this portrait of then NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Much props to Profoto for producing some really educational videos.
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He actually taught at Hallmark Institute of Photography this past year as the Artist-In-Residence. I was lucky enough to attend one of his classes while I went on a tour of the campus. Great teacher and photographer.
I think the most interesting part is actually not the lighting, but that he used an 8x10 camera. Looking at the cover, it becomes obvious why: he tilted the focal plane to get both Giuliani and the Empire State Building in focus, and still have nice out-of-focus blur behind the Mayor. Excellent work.
Was there no wind to be concerned about?!? I would be scared out of my mind...
Gregory spoke to my students last year at the Association of Texas Photography Instructors winter conference. We got to hear him explain this same pic live.
This was featured on another site a few months back, I'm pretty sure it was strobist, but I'm not sure.
This was on strobist a few months back, I'm pretty sure. I know I saw it somewhere...
Yeah these Profoto videos are really great. We get a bunch of them in our inbox from readers but I'm trying to space them out a bit. I can't imagine having to plan all this while being on top of Rockafeller.