BUILDING UP
THE GROUP
I slowly brought people in,
two to three at a time, to
pose each of them. A quick
lighting test was also done
to see where my light is at
and if I had to make any
adjustments.
FINAL COMPOSITION
Once the entire group was
in place, I made any final
adjustments to their posing.
Then I just focused on the
group and had fun shooting.
THE RIGHT LIGHT
This shot (above) honors the
best student athletes that
attended my alma mater,
Washington High School in
Fremont, California.
I used harsh, direct and
gridded light as back light
and as rim lights to cre-
ate separation between
the subjects and the dark
background. What that also
does is creates shadows
going toward the camera on
the ground, making leading
lines to the group. The harsh
light was opposite very soft
light that was lighting the
group in front. Two large
softboxes and one Octobox
was used to light the group
softly from the front.
NOTE: To create extra impact, I had assistants stand
behind the group with four
bottles filled with water
spraying mist. I hid them as
much as possible behind the
group and cloned them out
in post. The back light makes
the mist stand out.
GEAR & SETTINGS:
Hasselblad 503CW | CFV- 39 Digital Back | Hasselblad
40mm f/4 CFE IF Zeiss Distagon Lens | ISO 100 | f/22
1/30 of a sec