Creating a dramatic portrait can be a very simple task when you use the right tools. In many cases shooting a portrait with drama can be much easier than a traditional portrait. First off, generally you use less light to create a dramatic feeling in a portrait, and when shooting this type of shot the subject tends to give you more to work with. These types of portraits tend to be more expressive, and may have to tell more of a story in a single image. This very true when you shoot for a record company; the cover art on the CD is the eye catching element that the marketing folks rely on to help sell the music.

For this lesson we will create a mock portrait to be used on a CD cover, with the emotion and the feeling of the music apparent in the art we use on the cover.

(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.)

Choosing a Background

To get started we set up our 2322 LiteStands as our background supports and placed the A clamps upside down on top of these stands. We slid the background pole through the PVC tube we have our canvas drop stored on, and then placed the drop in the "V" of the upside down A clamps. We unrolled the canvas drop out and raised up the stands to about ten feet. We then pulled out the balance of the canvas to form a sweep on the studio floor.

We chose this background for several reasons. We wanted a warm overall feeling and a monochromatic look to the shot. This means that the background, the props, and the skin tones are all close in color and tonal value.

With the background in place we are ready to start the lighting solution. Our first placement was the key or main light. For this we chose the OctoDome nxt Kit. Once we had assembled the kit, we placed it to camera right at about 45 degrees, raised it up to about three and a half feet from the floor and tipped it down toward the subject. (Figure 1 & 2)

With our key/main light in place we can bring in the camera and set our exposure. Once the camera was placed on the tripod and secured, we pulled out the meter and took a few readings. Because we want to create as much drama as we can, we will choose a relatively open or low aperture settings to help control our depth of field. The meter readings we got told us to set the camera exposure to 1/200 @ f 3.5, this setting will give enough speed to help stop any action we may chose to have and will give us a very short depth of focus on the shot.

Our result shot shows the quality of light from the OctoDome to be just what we were looking for. We have a wrapping feel to the light and see all the detail we need, but it's not over done. We also see the effects of our focus and exposure settings are where we wish them to be.

Our next action was to add some fill to control the contrast. To accomplish this we brought in the LitePanel Kit. Once we had the reflector kit assembled with the white cover installed, we set to camera left and about four feet back from the subject. (Figure 4 & 5)

Our result shot shows better detail on both the subject and the chrome parts of the guitar, but we still have the drama we want in the overall feel of the shot.

The "split" light

The next step in building our lighting solution was to add the "split" light. This is a light that comes from just behind and lights the edge of the subject. To accomplish this we set up a Small HalfDome with a Starlite head and a 500 watt lamp placed on a 2214 Litestand. Once we had assembled this, we placed it to camera left behind the LitePanel and about five feet from the floor. We then aimed the HalfDome down toward the subject. (Figure 7 & 8)

Our results show better separation of the subject from the background and more depth to the lighting pattern. We could stop here and have a great lighting set up to work with from this point to create a CD cover or PR photos of our rock star.

To go to the next step, we will add some background lighting to futher separate the subject from the background and add even more depth. To make this happen we set up a Medium HalfDome with a Starlite head and a 1000 watt lamp then placed this assembly onto a 2218 LiteStand. We placed this light on the set to camera right, set the height to six feet, and aimed it at the background. (Figures 10 & 11)

Our result shot shows more depth to our image without effecting the drama of the shot. We are getting a better feeling of separation of the subject off the background and more interest to the shot with the addition of the background light.

When we had everything in place, we were ready to really start the shoot. The following shots are selections of the final photo session. In these shots we played with different focal lengths of our zoom lens to add more drama to the final look. (Figures 13- 18)

In these results we see the effects both the camera angle and the focal length have on the look of the shot. We can add more power to the subject with the low camera and the wide lens or diminish the power and add an innocence by raising the camera and going with a longer lens. All we can say now is go for it and have fun!

© Copyright Web Photo School 1995-.