Creating the Photograph is an original series where we interview photographers about a photo that they shot and how it was achieved. The results are some knowledge passed on to you. Want to be featured? Email chrisgampat[at]thephoblographer[dot]com
Giovanni Gori is an Italian professional photographer and post producer. His work is about people: portraiture, fashion, glamour, editorial, advertising and modeling test books for agencies. His pictures have been published in various books, magazines, traveling guides and photography blogs. We found this beautiful photo of his on 500px. What we didn’t know though was that this is actually part of a series, but this photo by itself is strong enough to stand on its own.
We talked to Giovanni about how he created it. Here’s his story.
The Concept
I’ve called this series “The legend of the ghost in love”, and it’s based on a story that an old man told me about a beautiful girl’s ghost that seeks for her lost lover. The idea was to reproduce the concept of an haunted house and a believable ghost reproduction.
The Gear
-Camera: Nikon D700
-Lens: Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G
-Manfrotto tripod and statives
-Elinchrom Ranger RX speed 1200w
-Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX
-Elinchrom Octa
-gridded Elinchrom softbox
-snoot
-Nikon SB900
-Nikon SU-800
-Elinchrom Skyport speed transmitter
-lastolite reflecting panel
-Sekonic light meter
The Shoot
The main light is made with Elinchrom Ranger RX speed 1200w with a huge octa to recreate natural light. There is a battery Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX with a regular gridded softbox to give a hint of illumination on the right wall to reveal some details, a Nikon SB900 in a snoot to reveal details on the ceiling in the first room, one silver panel for the rim light on the ghost, one for details on the door, both reflecting the main light. As for triggers I used both Nikon SU-800 (on the hotshoe) and Elinchrom Skyport speed transmitter (on the syncro port) at the same time.
The day after the location scouting all the staff was ready to shoot. While the model was at make up I was composing the background pictures. There is a mixture of natural and artificial light. The final pictures are three, each one with different problems to solve. Basically I wanted to use natural light for a slightly underexposed background and strobes as accent light to add drama, and for the model illumination. The idea was to shoot a picture for the background, one for the model, and combine them together (see example)
With the ghost, the idea was to shoot a picture for the background, one for the model, and combine them together, softly erasing the lower part of the model. But in this picture I forgot it!! So I had to use the clone stamp tool in order to recreate a clear background picture, and then add the model, erasing the lower part.
Post Production
In order to keep high quality in the image, post production must be subtle and minimal, especially when it comes to luminosity levels. So I pay attention to make perfect pictures on camera. Later I just did a quick split tones to adjust the mood: yellow for highlights, blue for shadows. A little dodging and burning, a little cropping, a little sharpening.
Giovanni can be found on, Flickr, On 500px, the Nikon photographer website, his Portfolio, Facebook and Tumblr.
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