Nice Photo of the Week - ok, Month - Man With Beard and Sword
Sep 2nd, 2008 | By Mr.K | Category: Photo of the Week - ok, Month
If this image looks familiar to you, it may be because it was a finalist in last year’s Strobist Photo of the Year. Pretty cool, right? Anyhoooo…
The Idea:
“Man With Beard and Sword” is the first image I took for my series “Stills From The Unrealized Films of a Stranger.” Each image from the series captures a moment in time when the featured character is about to do or experience something that will change their life forever, a moment from which they can never return to whom they once were. This particular image is about raw, base emotion, a hatred for ones enemy, hatred so complete that it swallows the swordsman and destroys who he was. I felt the image had to be taken in front of a brewing storm to symbolize the storm in the swordsman. In LA that meant waiting for months. I think it was worth it. What do you think?
The Tech
“Man With Beard and Sword” was taken with a Canon 5D and the 24-105 L at f18 1/160 sec. 100 iso. The image is done in camera with no photoshop trickery. The tricky part of this image was getting the flash to hit the sword just right to get that sweet star burst of light on the end of the sword. How’d I do it. I bounced a 580ex into an umbrella camera left. Here is a Nice diagram of the lighting setup:
I’ll post an official announcement soon, but for you sneaky Petes who read all the way to the end, consider this an invitation to the opening of my solo show for the series “Stills From The Unrealized Films of a Stranger.” Click for more information about the free opening party on Oct. 2, 2008.
Would you like to submit an image for consideration as the Nice Photo Mag Photo of the Week - um, Month? Find out more info on the page from the first Photo of the Week - Trunk.
Questions? Just leave a comment below. Don’t forget to sign up for Nice updates by email over on the right side of the page. We don’t spam.
Nice!
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Great pic man!
Thanks for the diagram in your posts, it realy helps.
Excuse me for saying this but the best teacher in a lot of cases is seeing how it is done and trying it yourself. If some-one says thats not true, they are lying.
Let the pix roll out!
That a very good pic! And very nice of you to add the lighting diagram.
I was wondering if you could add the power of the flash and it’s distance from the man. Based on your camera settings of f18 1/160 sec. 100 iso I’m guessing you had your flash at 1/2 or full power just outside the frame.
Thanks!
Roshan, I would if I remembered, but I just can’t remember. The important thing for me is that the ambient exposure was underexposed a little more than two stops to get the clouds where I wanted them. Then I just adjusted the flash power and distance until it looked right. Hope that helps a little.
Nice!