articles/Fashion/rollingwiththebigdog9-page4

Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5

by Damian McGillicuddy Published 01/02/2011

The image was captured at ISO 200 with the camera fitted with Nikon's sumptuous 35mm f2 (for the wide vista) camera settings at 1/40 at f4 handheld, with a touch of dynamic tilt!

Eventually and thankfully after descending just a few more steps, we reached the platform (as was). This was what I'd had in my mind from the outset! I wanted to create a slightly comic-book styled image. I suppose you could say a little like a contemporary 'Penelope Pittstop v the Hooded Claw!' I know, I worry about me too!!!

For this image we brought out the BIG guns. The 'Key' or main light was the NEW multipurpose 36-inch McGillicuddy beauty dish. The deflector was removed and an inner baffle fitted along with a 'strip box' styled outer diffuser to give me maximum control over light placement. You can see from the overview image it was ably held high aloft by delegate and forum member Matt Cain - thanks Matt ;0)

For this image Ian was playing the part of the villainous Claw, intent on capturing the poor Penelope, who was so distraught, chanced crossing the railway line to try to escape his evil clutches!

That's the scene set and the image intention realised...now all that was left was to make it all happen!!!

The key was the simple part in this. The model's accent light was a simple speedlight, fitted with a blue gel placed on the rail aimed to skim down the line and accent parts of the subject. Now a 'BIG' production like this often calls for more lights and I knew we'd need major power from our third light. To achieve this we fitted the 19-inch classic with Elinchrom's Ranger Quadra and turned it right up to maximum. This light was positioned down the dark tunnel I wanted Ian to leap from. It both lit the tunnel, making it look in use, and cast a beam of light across the platform, visually connecting this cool temperature light to the cool blue gelled speedlight's illumination running down the track, method in the madness.

Once more the duty of 'fill' light was taken by the ambient illumination. We used a 1/125s to dramatically darken down the surroundings and give the image the right gritty, contrasty feel. Plus the fact the track was too uneven and loose to safely allow the primary subject freedom of movement, so dragging the shutter for a feeling of movement was out of the question. The 35mm lens used for this capture allowed me to maximise the necessary visual cues of angle, placement and depth within the composition to tell the intended story.

• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 1
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 2
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 3
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 4
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 5
  

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