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Creating the Photograph

Creating the Photograph: Nathan Hostetter’s “Mirror Mirror”

Chris Gampat
No Comments
08/17/2016
3 Mins read
FINAL

Creating the Photograph is an original series where photographers teach you about how they concepted an image, shot it, and edited it. The series has a heavy emphasis on teaching readers how to light. Want to be featured? Email chrisgampat[at]thephoblographer[dot]com

Photographer Nathan Hostetter usually works with natural lighting and tries to emulate some sort of film look to his images. His photos can be characterized as having some sort of elegance to them while also finding a way to show off the humanity in his subjects. So when Nathan showed us a few of his portraits, we were quite impressed with one he shot of Naomi.

But what you’ll also be amazed by is how simple his lighting is–and that’s what makes the images!

Here’s Nathan’s story!

The Concept

For this shoot I wanted to do something with a vintage/vogue look. The model, Naomi Pacheco, is a friend of mine, and we shoot together from time to time. The entire shoot unfolded fairly quickly. She called me a day or two before we shot to let me know she had a great venue for us. The location is a small lounge called Seventy7, in Studio City, CA. The bar already has a cool, vintage vibe, so we ran with that. The idea for this shot came to us organically on the shoot. We were between poses, she had just changed into her dress, and was leaning into the mirror applying lipstick. I stopped reviewing the shots and snapped a few picks of her next to the mirror and the idea to use the mirror in the shot came to me.

The Gear

The Shoot

NATHANH_LIGHTING

I won’t spend too much time on philosophy, my shoots are typically pretty simple. Natural light, film look, not much retouching, these are all typical characteristics of my work. This was the first shoot I ever used a flash on, and I think for the vibe we wanted it was necessary.

BTS

We had the venue all to ourselves, and the place even had a powder room for the model to change and get her hair and makeup done. This particular shot ended up being the final shot of the set. We shot around the bar, on different couches, and played with several different looks. I honestly don’t always have a method to my madness, I just like taking pictures and working with other creatives. After Naomi changed into the green dress, we set up a few shots on the couch.

IMG_9786

I stopped midway to have her fix her lipstick, and as she leaned into the mirror to apply it, I loved the way it looked. We tried it with and without flash, but just couldn’t get the look and exposure we wanted without the flash. The flash was set up on a stand off camera, and I used the soft box adapter on my Rogue Flashbender (which I love by the way). I played with the angle a little to avoid getting too much bleed in the mirror, and tried a few posed with her looking at me verses the mirror. After reviewing everything together, we decided we liked this look the best.

IMG_9795

Post Production

LIGHTROOM

I’m not big on retouching. I know its part of the process and most models want super smooth, air brushed versions of themselves, but I am not a fan. Yes I correct color and do small touch ups, but I want people to look like people. Naomi did a great job with her hair and makeup, so there wasn’t much to touch up on her. I wanted to keep a dark and moody vibe. I kept the ceiling lamps pretty warm, and adjusted the blacks and shadows up. Mst adjustments were pretty minor, I like to adjust color with until I like what I see, without getting caught up on the numbers.

Before/After

Original
Original
Final
Final
canon film flash naomi Nathan Hostetter portrait
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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