Tech Specs: the gear behind EXAMEN

Coming into this round of shoots, we had some different resources that provided additional flexibility. As a photographer, you’re generally limited not by creative vision - but by resources, time, and flexibility. We executed these shoots over 5-6 months, a week at a time as we’re based in LA. Since time was the most structured asset we had, we needed make sure we had the resources and the flexibility to get the job done.

First thing’s first - I am a Phase One shooter. I had an older 645df body mated to a IQ140 back, which was awesome - but with the way I shoot (tending to prefer shallower depth-of-field), it was a huge upgrade to get to the IQ160 back. Going from a medium format crop sensor to full frame was huge - and let me shoot at more reasonable apertures - f/4, f/5.6, etc and gave me some more room to shoot in full daylight without sacrificing depth-of-field.

In terms of resources, we had to commit to a certain budget to ensure quality work, since we didn’t have access to our owned gear in LA. With that in mind, we used Profoto Pro-10 packs and B1’s for the location shoots. Knowing we had that on hand, I came up with the following to light our three studio sets.

Headshot:
Key: Mola Setti
Fill: Medium Chimera Box, on floor in front of camera
Light Modifiers: Cutters on both sides of the face to bring out more contour

Painterly Table Portrait:
Key: 7in reflector
Fill: 7ft Octa
Light Modifiers: Cutter to cut the key from spilling into the sideburns/hair

Seated Full-Body Portrait
Key: Elinchrom Deep Octa
Fill: Medium Chimera

We arranged the setups to be right next to each other, in a highly utilized common space in the Jesuit community - then set up a series of V-Flats to afford our subjects some privacy, primarily during lunch and dinnertime!

From there, we scheduled everyone to come in during fixed periods to ensure that we gave everyone the same time for us to get the best images we could for them, and for me to build a relationship with all the guys (as this would be my first time meeting all of them).

Having a grip on those three elements is crucial in ensuring a shoot of this size and scale can go to plan. In two weeks, I’ll be back to talk more specifically about the painterly table portrait - one that really needed dialing in.