Having loitered around the Strobist blog for well over a year now had lulled me into a comforting complacency regarding my photographic skills. I was living a fairly satisfied existence, occasionally uploading a DIY-soft-box lit image of a frog here, and a bare 285HV backlit portrait of a grasshopper there. Accolades from such varied and credible sources as ‘Flickr Rose Awards – Post 1 Comment 8‘ and ‘You Are My Flickr Star – No Invites Required‘ helped perpetuate the illusion that I’d arrived. Also, the fact that David H. talks about lighting the same way I would may be  talk about making coffee didn’t really help infuse any realism into the situation. Photography is simple; don’t know what the big fuss is about, I’d tell myself as I clicked through pages and reverse-engineered another upload from Chase Jarvis.

Boot Camp Two, Assignment One was posted sometime earlier this month. The brief was simple: a headshot. Use all the learnings that you’ve been spoon-fed here, here and here. Even an idiot couldn’t get that wrong. I mean, headshots are to photography what nuclear tests are to North Korea – they should happen naturally, no? So, as with all previous assignments, I decided to do the exercise mentally. I’d prop in a light here, and a reflector there, the subject would be X ft away from the background, which would in turn be lit with a snooted strobe, gelled to a warm orange hue. The 5th strobe to the left would provide the rim light. Voila! A dazzling headshot of a corporate looking middle-aged guy gazing into the middle-distance shone through. But just as I was about to file another successful session into my extensive imaginary portfolio, an old nagging feeling made me pause. Somewhere inside of me was a kid that still felt a little less cuddled; it still yearned for the elusive pat on the back, or the nod of acknowledgement from the Gurus 1 & 2 themselves! So, I decided to give it a go. For real. What did I have to lose, after all?

Subject: K2. A friend from MBA days, who quit his job in an MNC to start off a microbrewery (the first in India). Looking at his track-record, it was unlikely that his risk appetite would be a factor in his agreeing to pose for me. Besides, he badly needed some decent shots to be circulated in the print media to accompany all the articles they were suddenly featuring him in. Done.

Location: This was a bit tricky, since I was spoilt for choice. I could do the shoot in Corner A, B, C or D of the living room. But the Pro that I am, I choice point E, which happened to be bang in the middle of the living room. The wall (background) was about 4 feet away from the subject, and gave me enough freedom to more or less do anything with it. Inverse Square Law, et. al.

Shoot: K2 was asked to sit on a chair. I would have preferred him standing, but he’s inconveniently tall, and shooting him standing up would mean the support beam on the ceiling of the living room would creep into the frame. I could have Photoshop’ed it out later, but since I am a Pro and all, I wanted to post this as is. Besides, it helps to have your subject seated and comfortable when his confidence in you is evaporating with each passing second. The original thought was that K2 would be holding a pint of his beer, and just benevolently beaming into the camera. But K2 and beer do not a model subject make. So, just a dignified look into the camera would have to suffice. As for lighting, I had two 285HVs, and my subject’s sparkling white teeth. I decided to place one of the 285s inside a DIY softbox that had mysteriously appeared in our house about the same time the missus had lost a sari, some earrings, a curtain, some cardboard that used to cover the hole that was left after the old AC was disposed off, and random pieces of furniture. This would be the soft light that would gradually fall of K2′s face from frame right to left. As for the background, there would be the other snooted 285 that would create a pleasant halo, which would perhaps match K2′s light blue t-shirt.

Surprisingly, doing an actual shoot adds various unforeseen dimensions to one’s thought-process. The simple case of the 285HV on the BG, for example. In real life, it just wouldn’t conveniently hang in the air, behind the subject. Similarly, the reflector would keep sliding down the chair just as I clicked, occasionally taking the 285 down with it. Nor do I remember having to answer the door for the milkman, the newspaper guy, the grocery salesman and the postman every time I thought I had the perfect f-stop figured. And, do any of you recall the strobist site ever mentioning anything about subjects that insist on calling up every person on his address book just as the shot is ready? I couldn’t help feel frustrated, not unlike the time I went around the city unsuccessfully looking for something called VALs in every photography store in Mumbai.

Anyway, back to the shoot. Things, as you can well imagine, weren’t looking up. My subject was getting increasingly restless and talkative, my lights were falling apart and my ego was taking a stroll out on the street waiting for the next SUV. But I wasn’t going to give up. Being the super-resourceful strobist that I am, I decided to give it one last try. Here’s the rather complicated lighting diagram for your reference.

One of the tougher decisions I had to make(apart from deciding between the postman and the newspaper guy) was to zero in on the number of light sources I wanted. I’ve noticed that if I go into a shot without having a definite idea of the desired output, I very often find myself unnecessarily adding light all over, till my subject begins to resemble the Eiffel Tower. If I have 4 strobes, for example, I somehow find a way of fitting them all into the setup, regardless of what the marginal utility is. It helps to have a tight brief in mind.

On a more sober note, THANK YOU David Hobby for giving us this!.

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