goodsell amplifiers #3

This shot was conceived because this type of amp is known as a bedroom amp due to its low voltage. I had a few ideas trying to tie the concept of playing in the bedroom with the amplifier. After talking through them with Richard, we decided that we would use the feathers from an earlier shot to create a bed of sorts for the girls to lay in. Getting the proper perspective proved challenging and I am happy with the results. We experimented with some adjustments in Photoshop to improve the perspective even further but they didn't look believable to me so we left the shot as is.

We got to this setup at the end of the day. In fact, we had only about 30 minutes to get it set up, shoot it, and clean up before the studio was going to be used that night. My desired process of shooting, reviewing and reshooting as necessary had been abandoned much earlier in the day, so I was hopeful we could wing it for this shot. This second shot gives you an idea of how we set up the lighting. The actual shots I took from this position were not the ones we used. Being down at their feet created too much distance from toe to amp (and as you can see the amp is the focal point!!!). With respect to lighting, we had a strobe up very high directly over the girls. There was also another strobe on the other side (in the shot we used the strobe was down by their feet). We also handheld a strobe to provide some light on the amps.

Having gotten the lighting and perspective right the rest of the shot was pretty easy. I just let the girls get comfortable laying down in a bed of feathers. I did direct them a bit to get their heads together and to get the right emotion from them. A couple suggestions and they knew exactly what I was looking for. This shot was not my favorite of the series but Richard liked it. He used it for a poster at a recent trade show and I understand it was a hit.