interview lighting @ 大景堂

When your pop is Patrick Demarchelier, you’ve got some photo juju at your disposal. After assisting his dad for a bit, young Victor went out on his own in 2009 to shoot mostly models of the fashion variety. And if you’re up on your models, you know Ms. Jablonski is pretty big. Which may explain (or not) the 50-gallon hat she’s styled in for this September 2012 Harper’s Bazaar Australia cover. Vincent lit this image with 2 lights and a hat wrangler.

*Thanks to Dennis Zeitz for sending me this image.

Camera: Medium format, digital, with 100mm lens. Set on a tripod 10 feet back. Shot at 1/125, f11, ISO 50.

Lighting: To achieve this extremely flattering, soft light, Vincent pulled a page from his dad’s playbook. The Key light is a medium octabank at f11, just above head height and 6 feet to camera right. You can see that the light is not very high since it Constance’s hat doesn’t cast much of a shadow on her face. A 7-inch grid reflector with 30 degree grid at f8 (-1 stop) is low and behind Connie to camera right. It’s aimed up at the center of the seamless to create the slight glow behind her. A black v-flat is just to camera left of Constance to create a strong shadow on that side.

Comments: Unbeknownst to many, Constance is quite the card. She arrived on set speaking not with her native French accent, but with a full-on Aussie one. She proceeded to teach the entire crew how to speak Australian and told Victor that she almost “chucked a sickie” because she was “chundering” all morning after a “cobber” fed her a few “icy poles” made with Vodka.