Lots of news lately about the roiled CBS-Viacom media empire, with longtime top dog Sumner Redstone exiting his chairmanship for reasons of failing health. Photographed Mr. Redstone for a Forbes cover years ago, and he was quite the character, as he is often depicted in the news.
I knew I wanted this scene, with late afternoon descending on NYC, but where to put the light? Beam on and in the seam of the corner, was my best guess, moving quickly. This is where a C-stand and a mini-boom, and a small softbox, with an egg crate, saves your butt. The mini-boom gives you reach. The egg crate baffles highlights and spill. Now, that combo doesn’t produce the most elegant, sumptuous light ever, but it keeps it up high and out of the reflection line of the glass. It’s efficient, and when you’re dealing with a CEO type, efficiency and speed at the camera is highly prized.
Use your subject as a gobo for you at camera, and you’ve got a fighting chance of shooting this without seeing the light and yourself. Which would be bad. This is a 6×7 chrome, BTW, seen on the light table, below. The chrome, being Fuji, is pretty contrasty, with a lot of color pop. Rendered as a digital scan, above, it has a slightly more muted quality. Dunno which rendering I like better.
Simple, one light pic of a mogul at the peak of his power. What I have always liked about the shot is the cat-that-ate-the-mouse smile, which is actually more of a smirk, playing about his lips. I imagine it must have been quite daunting to sit across the table from him and do a deal. Now, stand across from him and shoot a picture, that was a piece of cake.
More tk….
Joe as always, GREAT WORK. I’m always looking at what you do and learn to improve on what I do. What light did you use, Speedilight or larger Profoto? My primary question is with all of your access to the latest and greatest toys, what makes you choose the Speedlights or larger Profoto’s?
Great shot Joe. Did you use a CTO filter to warm up the subject?
And every judge at every camera club I ever saw would pounce on the window frame growing our of his head and totally miss the nuance of a great shot Joe.
This was a big flash shot, portable, Profoto 7B, which was one of the older units I used for many years. The boundary bet. speedlights and big flash is an ever shifting one. Depends on the job, the client, the size of group, the need for power and recycle time vs. speed and portability. No set answer, really. Joe
Little bit of warmth, yes. Not full, most likely and eighth or a quarter CTO….
Almost everyone I know likes Mexican food. I don’t. But that’s okay.
I just don’t like this shot. The blinds are REALLY distracting. I don’t think there was any reason to put the window frame behind him so I wouldn’t have. And, maybe you couldn’t avoid it due to the difficulties of the set but the light falloff was too abrupt.
Joe, You are ever kind and helpful to us who love and admire your work. BEing generous with your lighting details and the insight behind it is nourishing food for those of us who love light and use it to craft images. Seeing your images here reminds me when I was a kid and the next issue of LIFE was on the hall table and I would grab a glass of milk and Oreos (not saying how many, come on I was just a kid) and I would settle in for the next hour looking at the photos and captions. Thanks you for this, man! ~TEU
Hi Joe! The the light from the shoulder to the head is brighter than the rest. Was that intentional?
absolutely….and it’s also the byproduct of using a small controlled source. So, good thing it was my intention, cuz it’s kind of unavoidable…..
Hi Joe, another cool shot. I’m a tad bit confused why you shot medium format film. What made you decide to shoot this with film? Client request? Or was this from days gone by? Just curious. Thanks. : )
Days gone by….digital wasn’t even a gleam in anyone’s eye when I made this.
Oh man, when I saw this image it brought back memories of when I used to go up in that office back when I was working for Viacom doing technical support. I always thought it was cool that he has this modest office (even though it’s a million dollar view corner office, it’s quite small and there’s nothing flashy about the decor). Anyway great execution and tips for keeping the reflections of the light from bouncing all around the glass – And you did that in the film days!
I think the blinds add an interesting effect to the picture. Kind of draw you to the middle– the subject. Thanks for the tip
Tim
Hahaha. Excellent work! Would not have thought this was doable with a single light source.