For my lighting class last fall, we learned how to shoot with high contrast aka “Sin City” just like the comic/movie. This assignment was the one I had most fun with because you can get so creative with this kind of lighting. Instead of the homework usually being, “use 2 umbrellas” or “use 1 umbrella and 1 grid,” this time it’s “shoot like Sin City.” We watched some parts from the movie in class to study the lights and how they were used and placed and how the lighting was different for a “good” guy and for a “bad” guy.
The effect of the Sin City look is to make the photo look like it could’ve been drawn with a pen, which the first 2 photos were. I like the 3rd one just because it looks awesome and glamorous using the flare from the lights.
In the setup shot below, what we did was used 2 lights with the same grids (I forgot the degree) and the same power and placed them on either side of the model. And then we shot with a speedlite on-camera with the lowest power for added fill to light up the sunglasses and make things shiny.
After we finished, my friend asked if I could take a photo of him smoking since the lights were already set up. The smoke looks really good in the light and the catch lights in his eyes look great!
And then while shooting, it started to rain so we quickly packed up. Don’t want to get electrocuted with the equipment, it’s powerful enough to kill us. My friend told me a model was modeling in a pond with the photographer in it and then one of the lights fell into the water and both the model and photographer died. (O_O；)
I arranged 3 photo shoots with 3 amazing ballet dancers and shot at different locations in San Francisco. I didn’t have any permits to shoot at any of the locations so I was worried about getting kicked out of the area or worse, getting fined or even worse, getting asked to delete my photos. Luckily, no one asked us to leave. A couple of people just stopped by and watched.
no comments