Inspiring

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150965748043765&set=a.98210128764.108719.13732078764&type=1&theater

I saw this photograph on the Pittsburgh Penguins facebook pages and thought wow, I'd love to be able to get a photograph like that, it has so much atmosphere, looking at it you know something special is about to happen, there is a tension to it.  Unfortunately the teams I photograph don't make much of an effort to make it a special event and don't make a grand entrance so not likely to get opportunity to get something similar anytime soon.


The studio that I hire for my portrait work has recently purchased a smoke machine so if I am fortunate enough to get the opportunity to do the team photographs next season I would like to take this photograph as a starting point.  My thought would be to take the portraits against a black background, have smoke coming from behind to the left, blowing forward and up.  For lighting would like to try lighting the players with a soft light from above and one side so the light is is coming across the players face more lit one side and more shadows the other.  Also to add another dimension a light low to the front same side as the smoke machine, pointing upwards with a blue gel to highlight and add colour to the smoke.

As quite a lot of the players have been part of the team for several years, I like to try and do something different each year to make the portraits different each time and striving to make them better and better each year.  I have never used a smoke machine or gels before so it will also be a good learning experience for me - will book a lesson with the studio owner first to get the basics down and practice on a friend.

Pushing myself to do new things and try new techniques is what makes me feel that I am still moving forward and allows me to offer more to my clients which can only be a good thing.