"Ain't Enough Whiskey..." (CC Please)

[78novacaine]

A friend of mine asked me to do a shoot for his demo album that he has coming out, and so I figured now would be a good time to try out an idea I had for a photo setup. The album will be titled the same as this thread. This is a self portrait but I am pretty close to the lighting setup I want to do when he comes over. As always, suggestions/critique are welcome, and I processed it quickly with 2 slightly different themes.

Minor details will be corrected, such as not having a label on the shotglass, the bottle will have some kind of brown liquid in it, I will most likely use a different table, or a black cloth over the one I used, etc.

1)


By davidmsager at 2011-10-06

2)


By davidmsager at 2011-10-06

[78novacaine]

BTW, lighting was one speedlight low camera right with a homemade snoot to highlight the bottle/pen and paper, another speedlight high camera left with another similar homemade modifier for the face/chest/arm, and the guitar was lit with a couple of hotlights since I ran out of flashes, lol

[txBarta]

Is that a buffalo on the shot glass?

[78novacaine]

Originally Posted by txBarta

Is that a buffalo on the shot glass?

Try again think about the fact that it says TEXAS at the bottom and you should be able to figure it out

[txBarta]

Ah had to zoom in to see it haha

[SCone]

Like the mood & lighting. What about shooting him from behind over the shoulder? Maybe where you can see what's written on the paper?

[Fireball]

Great idea, but I think it's too dark on the person. Maybe it's because you're in dark clothing, but it looks like just a face in the dark with no body.

[ChrisTX]

I like it, but the only thing I'd want different is just a slight outline of his shoulder.

[78novacaine]

Originally Posted by SCone

Like the mood & lighting. What about shooting him from behind over the shoulder? Maybe where you can see what's written on the paper?

I thought about that, and the original intent of the photo was to show him (me) writing the song itself, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted what was written on the paper to be unknown, is it the song lyrics? Is it a suicide note? etc, etc

Originally Posted by Fireball

Great idea, but I think it's too dark on the person. Maybe it's because you're in dark clothing, but it looks like just a face in the dark with no body.

Originally Posted by ChrisTX

I like it, but the only thing I'd want different is just a slight outline of his shoulder.

I did actually have a slight outline of my body in the sooc photo, but it did not seem to fit the mood so I wiped it out, I prefer the darkness in this one. But what I am thinking I will do for the actual shoot is to modify my modifier, make it a little bit shorter, or just move the light back a little bit so as to get a little more light spill on the rest of his body vs just the face from that one light.

[Kirk]

I would err on the side of more light and more detail in camera, and selectively darken the appropriate areas in post, or use more lights in camera to control the dark and light areas.

The floating head definitely needs some supporting contrast though. The same with the eerie black hand of doom reaching out of the darkness to grasp the bottle. The wall or whatever next to it doesn't have enough context or contrast to tell what it is. Also, the positioning of the guitar seems unnatural. Even if he weren't writing a song, as a musician myself, I know for a fact that the guitar would be right next to him, within reach. The position here seems like it's out in front of him and propped up on something.

I love the idea, and I think it could definitely be a dark and moody image, but it just needs more detail(light) to tell enough of the story so that it's not confusing or weird, but still tell the story without telling the whole story.

[78novacaine]

Originally Posted by Kirk

I would err on the side of more light and more detail in camera, and selectively darken the appropriate areas in post, or use more lights in camera to control the dark and light areas.

The floating head definitely needs some supporting contrast though. The same with the eerie black hand of doom reaching out of the darkness to grasp the bottle. The wall or whatever next to it doesn't have enough context or contrast to tell what it is. Also, the positioning of the guitar seems unnatural. Even if he weren't writing a song, as a musician myself, I know for a fact that the guitar would be right next to him, within reach. The position here seems like it's out in front of him and propped up on something.

I love the idea, and I think it could definitely be a dark and moody image, but it just needs more detail(light) to tell enough of the story so that it's not confusing or weird, but still tell the story without telling the whole story.

That's funny it does kind of look that way, I still have the setup in my front room, and just checked to be sure, but the guitar is on a stand and within very easy arms reach.

I am sitting on a futon that is layed out flat and the wall you are seeing is about 6 feet behind me. When we do the actual shoot I am going to try and find a black room to use so I don't have to focus so much on keeping light from spilling onto the rest of the image, and I believe it will help the atmosphere as well, along with using an old beat up chair/table combo.

As far as the hand, I was talking to my friend about it once I showed him the concept photo and we are going to make a couple of changes. The bottle will still be there, the shotglass will be broken, and the left hand is going to be reaching for/gripping a handgun.