Trumpet player - lighting excercise

juggler said:
I like that. And it's not at all what I would have come up with given your constraints.
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That was my reaction when I saw the image. TBF I didn't comment straight away because it came as a bit of a surprise.

But I like it, it shows you've addressed a tricky problem with creativity. There's nothing worse than having a fixed idea and then getting upset when circumstances conspire against it.
 
Phil V said:
That was my reaction when I saw the image. TBF I didn't comment straight away because it came as a bit of a surprise.

But I like it, it shows you've addressed a tricky problem with creativity. There's nothing worse than having a fixed idea and then getting upset when circumstances conspire against it.
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Thank you for kind words Phil :)

If I'm honest and in hindsight, I should have recognised the problem a bit sooner and spend some more time doing those shots rather than keep trying with the speedlight.

We have started with those shots but later, when he was properly warmed up and in his own world practicing, there was so much more passion on his face. Sadly, I kept on trying the speedlight approach then and most of those shots are crap. Oh well, at least I have learned something :)
 
For curiosity's sake, how was the silhouette created? I'm having a hard time discerning... to me it looks like a mix of speedlight with either bounce or window light. And given the lighting I'm seeing, I suspect the "white BG" was largely created in post?
 
sk66 said:
For curiosity's sake, how was the silhouette created? I'm having a hard time discerning... to me it looks like a mix of speedlight with either bounce or window light. And given the lighting I'm seeing, I suspect the "white BG" was largely created in post?
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Close. Very close.

There was a large french doors (all glass) camera right and another large window just next to him / a bit behind. There were fixed curtains behind and to the right, which I could not move away. All light is natural light. No speedlight. He was sitting quite close to the window / doors, maybe 3-4 feet away, hence the hard light fall off. The background, as you suspected, was created in post, but most of it was (close to) blown anyway as the exposure was set for his face (or at least the side of the face that was lit - so lighter than shaded side, but not as bright as the window / doors itself which was part of the background). Therefore it was quite easy to cut him out and place on a all-white background. Hopefully my "explanation" makes sense :)
 
It printed nicely on Platinium Pro paper. It is quite an interesting print / effect. Depending on the level of brightness when viewing, it can look like almost silhouette when the conditions are a bit darker or proper portrait when lighter.

This is just a phone snap of the print

zwTndbY.jpg
 
Have been reading, but not following the thread, and missed the Image. Would like to have seen it.
Any chance you can put it back up? :)
 
Nionyn said:
Late to the party again, due to work (boo), sorry.
Saw your photo before it became unavailable. Nice! Not what I'd expected either but I liked it - hope your trumpet-playing relative did too. :)
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Well, people keep saying "it's not what I expected" and I am not sure is that a good thing or not (probably not) :D but anyway. I opted to send him a printed version instead of digital file. I wanted him to see a finished product, rather than some 1s and 0s. Also when I was there, I noticed that he has an old laptop with quite a bad screen and pictures don't really look that good on it. I have posted it a few days ago, so it is probably still in post. I have not heard anything back from him (I have not informed him, that I have sent anything, so he is not expecting it).

Bobsyeruncle said:
Have been reading, but not following the thread, and missed the Image. Would like to have seen it.
Any chance you can put it back up? :)
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Oops. I thought nobody is interested in the thread any more, so I've taken it down. Here it is again

6Ab2fk5.jpg
 
Leave the image up if you can Adrian (y) It's always disappointing to stumble across interesting threads and find the photos missing.

I'd just make one non-technical comment - the facial expression doesn't look like he's actually playing it! Nice work though :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Leave the image up if you can Adrian (y) It's always disappointing to stumble across interesting threads and find the photos missing.

I'd just make one non-technical comment - the facial expression doesn't look like he's actually playing it! Nice work though :)
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Thanks Richard :) His expression looks like he isn't actually playing because he wasn't at that point :D Well spotted. As I said earlier, this was beginning and he was only warming up and posing. Later, when he was properly playing his expression was much much better and you can see the passion. Sadly, at that point I was faffing around with the speedlight trying to kill the ambient as much as possible and most of those shots are crap :( You live and learn :)

I will leave the photo up for a while, but I am not sure he would be thrilled if he knew his photo is on the internet. So I might take it down later at some point. The thread doesn't attract much attention anyway, and I suspect most regulars have already seen it.

I just had a look at that photo on my mobile for the first time and it does look very dark, almost like silhouette. Original photo and printed versions are not that dark. Right eye is visible on them.
 
I have asked them repeatedly not to, but they insisted and hung it in a gallery ;)

fds35l4.jpg
 
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