How To Shoot A Rapper.
January 25, 2010
(Above) I had a flash @ camera left and another one behind him
so as to separate him front the background which was a door.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting (photographing) an up and coming rap artist from Tanzania who goes by the name of God’s Replikah. Being the first shoot of the year I must say I was a little bit nervous, but the thing that gave me the confidence to do the shoot was my week long preparation. I had done practice shots with a stand in and I had also drawn a couple of backup diagrams for the shoot. I call them JICSH (just in case ship happens) diagrams. There is nothing better than being over prepared and nothing worse than being ill prepared. At least when you over prepare you won’t have to worry about not having given it 101%.
(Above) Here I used a home made ring flash and a bare flash behind him.
Knowing that I had done my part I decided to set all the technical details of lighting aside and just shoot him. By the way, it is really easy to get bogged down with the Variables of Exposure when shooting, but the truth of the matter is this – NOBODY CARES! Well, except you. All the client cares about is you making the images they are paying you to make. At the beginning of the shoot my main concern was to build a rapport with God’s Replikah so that I could make images that did not look like they were shot by my grandma.
The first thing I did after he signed the contract was find out what he wanted. There is nothing worse than storming into a shoot like Rambo and forcing your will and vision on your client. Replikah told me his vision and it was my goal to make it happen.The first thing I did was set up the lights and make sure that the exposure was perfect. I used my hand as a stand in model while my Replikah was getting dressed. I learnt this trick from David Hobby. Why bore the client with your desire to get a good exposure when you could use your hand as a stand in model?
Stand in model.
(Above) I used one flash on this one with a home made Beauty Dish.
Below him was a “reflector” aka car sunshade
that bounced the light back up to light his eye lids.
(Above) Final Shot.
This is a new year with a new approach to lightning. I have moved from shooting with only available light to shooting with any light thats available to me eg off camera flashes. If you want to learn more about lighting with off camera flashes just go to the storbist website. Thanks for reading!
