If someone's been bugging you lately, behaving childishly, using dirty words just to see if you'll get upset, let this guy do the yelling for you... he's a professional. Just write your own caption!

A promo for Richard the Third that I made recently. Man, could this guy emote!... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), October 18, 2000

Answers

uh-oh what can I say... Good models make it easier, don4t they :) The combination of the suit and crown is great. The light emphasizes his facial expression.

Actually you offer me a much needed opportunity to say a few words to a landscape zerox machine who had the kindness to inform me that I know nothing about photography and that I4m a joke (but he wasn4t laughing) because I don4t go oooh aaaah over his zerox copies. ok here4s the caption: "If mediocrity of mind, spirit and photographic vision is your lifes ambition, look no further, because you have surely reached fulfillment in a way most people can only dream about." Aaaaaaaaaah that was good :)

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 18, 2000.

Why does it seem like it should have been a King Crimson album cover shot? The follow-up to the one with the face.

Lots of expression here, and the lighting is, as would be expected, perfect. Kinda like to see a Polaroid of this, like your other ones. Would really suit the subject.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), October 18, 2000.

Actually, I think this bears some similarity to Steve v.'s image in this thread. Both subjects are acting, and both are given away by a lack of body tension. The similarity ends there though.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), October 18, 2000.

One wierd thing about this session, was that the actors would look like they were screaming at each other, but they were not actually saying anything, the loudest sounds were of their clothing moving, their footsteps on the stage, or the sound of their breathing. They were physically expressing emotions and feelings in a very intense physical manner that they actually did not possess. Another similarity, yes?... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), October 18, 2000.

I expect that's why they're called actors :-)

We have a school for the deaf here. It can be highly disconcerting to end up between two groups of animated teenagers enthusiastically lobbing comments at each other from opposite ends of the bus, and all you can hear is road noise and the driver humming along to his favourite tape.

Can you tell us what you used for lighting? I like to steal from the best.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), October 18, 2000.

aw shucks...

I was continuing your comparison of those disparate subjects and their few similarities.

As for the light setup, it's cumbersome but it works... A Dynalight strobe (2000mx power pack with 2020 head) in a 3x4 ft softbox (main) that I wish was a Chimera, but isn't, a diffused grid spot (seems contradictory, huh?) on the background, and a 42x72" light panel with a silver reflector way off to the left (these theatrical guys like histrionic light, "dramadramadrama give me more drama!"). The background is a painted muslin stretched as flat as I could get it (stored stuffed in a bag to keep it irregular). Enough? Oh, an 85mm F1.8 Nikkor on Provia 100... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), October 18, 2000.

"AHH!! Which of you bastards replaced my Preparation H with toothpaste!?!!?"

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), October 18, 2000.

Thanks for the details. Further comparisons would be odorous.

It's the look you give to people's skin I envy most. Flattering, but not to the point where character is erased. I would guess it's mostly the soft light (and in this case at least, makeup), but also the choice of skin-tone contrast in the printing/scanning.

Mind you, I've never understood brown backgrounds. This is better than those heap-o-turds jobs used by school photographers, but still a bit plush - another hint of the boudoir should you really want one.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), October 18, 2000.

No make up at all on this guy... The trick with these backgrounds is to be sure they are well out of focus. In fact, the cheaper the painted muslin, the further out of focus they need to be. The problem with my studio is it's pretty short so I use a nice muslin and stretch it flat to keep deep folds from exhibiting too much contrast. It's a problem I also have with the parties I like to photograph, there's never enough depth to the set... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), October 18, 2000.

This is really one of the best portraits I've seen! Absolutely hilarious. What an actor this fellow is. And whatever it is he looks like he's yelling but not, he's the perfect person to portray the part. And if I were ever to be sold on the concept of "color portraiture," this would be the straw. Excellent work, Tom!

*ahem* I really can't resist this, so for you Windows lovers, please forgive me:

"NOT THAT BLASTED BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH AGAIN!!!!

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), October 18, 2000.