Dave

Day 15 of an Unknown Number

"Dave"

 

I call this portrait "Dave", because that is his name. I've known Dave for most of my life, but we only recently reconnected via social media. He now lives ten minutes away. When we were kids, we used to pick and stomp grapes in Napa Valley. Not as child laborers. Our families would help with the second picking of a nice little vineyard, and in exchange, we would take a few grapes home with us. I still have a few bottles of "Red Monk", circa 1985. It is probably swill. We called it "Red Monk" because I was wearing my Stanford sweater at the time. So, I had been experimenting earlier today with a lighting set up for a male portrait. When I heard Dave would be stopping by, I thought he might be game for posing for a few minutes. Dave was game. Our key light is a strobe with a silver dish and a grid. I just wanted to light the side of his face, and maybe get a touch of light into his camera-right eye. Our second light is a snooted speedlight directly behind Dave. It supplies the hair light, and just separates him from the background. I didn't want his hair to vanish into the darkness. He has a great head of hair, and no man our age wants to lose it in the shadows. Lastly, there is a bare speedlight at camera-right. It is aimed into the white wall and just delivers a pinch of light on the camera-right side of his face. I wanted it dark over there, but I want to viewer to look at that side of the frame. A rim light could have been cool, but I wanted something a little more subtle. We took about eight exposures, and this was my favorite. In the last one, he's smiling and looking into the light. I'm sure some people would prefer that image, but this one spoke to me. Thank for stopping in!!

 

#portrait #man #studioportrait #dave #blackandwhite #fourstarlife #canon580exII #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #beard

Done