Saturday, November 13, 2010

iStockalypse Tokyo #4




Probably my favorite shot from the whole trip, there was a 30-minute process to get this picture and required five people to put it together.  We had an afternoon at a park but one of our on-assignment photographers got priority (extra time) because this was his assignment.  That left the rest of us to fill in split the remaining time.  Being the clear amateur I volunteered to go last, which ended up producing the crux (vanishing light) to this image idea.  The on-assignment photographer (Nuno) helped me out with this as his shooting was over.  I brought him down to the area to show him my idea - the girl jumping between blocks - then he flipped it backwards to include the fall-colored tree and mud puddle reflection.  He described this is a potential Vetta shot, which is a reference to iStock's high-end (for "peak creative talent") collection, which sells for higher prices and thus higher royalties.


The girl was quite cold, but a real sport for the shoot.  She hadn't brought pants, but between jumps (maybe 25 of them total?) and during the setup of lights all the adults bundled her up in 4 jackets.  We had a light behind her on the left for rim lighting and another behind me on the right for fill.  It took awhile to get those settings right then I had to manually focus my camera right where I wanted her positioned (because my auto-focus couldn't keep up) then time my shutter release when she was in the air.


It was a really fun shoot and I am very pleased with the results.  It won't sell as well as most of my other pictures, but it was a good learning experience and also fun to concentrate so many resources on just one capture.  Also, I got her mother's email address so I can send this photo along to her.



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