BTS: Wired Cover Shoot
Wired Magazine has posted a series of photos from their shoot of Bill Gates and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg for this month's cover. It was shot by photographer Carlos Serrao, seen above looking pensive.
Gear-wise, it's a mix of Broncolor and Profoto, which may have just been what was available from local rental. A Para is used as a key light, and a Profoto umbrella through a large scrim as fill.
An umbrella and a gridded dish as rims round out what seemed like an unusual setup to me. (But then, I prolly woulda shot Gates with a cardboard snoot.)
The full set of pics is here. And definitely take a look at some of Serrao's other work, too.
UPDATE: There is now a full walk-thru on the photos, here.
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Thanks to Nathan for the tip via Twitter.
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Posted at 9:26 AM.
25 Comments:
Is he previewing live shots on the iMac? if so, what software is he using?
Is he previewing live shots on the iMac? if so what software is he using?
Pretty neat posing chair. Know the brand name of it anyone?
Nice article, Thx David
Debbi
I went to Carlos' web page and found the best shot of Will Ferrell ever. http://www.carlosserrao.com/#/images/57_will_ferrell/
I love how they look so much like a bad school portrait but it is a bit off. Check out the catch lights in Will's glasses on the double exposure. Awesome!
That *is* a really interesting setup...
BTW, Debbi, the stool looks like the LEM Piston Stool from DWR: http://www.dwr.com/product/designers/a-c/shin-tomoko-azumi/lem-piston-stool-leather-seat.do
@Brett Since he's using a digital medium format, it's a safe bet the software and probably the camera are from PhaseOne.
I have a sincere question. I know this is going to sound like I'm being a smart-aleck or a pain in the *ss, but I am being sincere. My question is:
What were we supposed to get out of that post or the pictures? There just didn't seem to be any worthwhile content in either. I assume there is something in those pictures that I'm just not getting. To me it just seemed like a random statement that "Hey, we just shot some pictures of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Isn't that cool?", coupled with a couple of boring and random shots from the shoot to prove that yes, indeed, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were there.
Signed,
Confused
Good post. Good photographer. As a separate issue what do you think about the photographer showing up dressed like he is? Even though Gates and Zuckerberg are not particularly formal I'd be self conscious working on a shoot like this that dressed down.
@Adam-
It would be a lot easier for me to be sarcastic and pissy at your comment if you didn't preface it like that. So I answered in a post.
@Craig-
I'm with the photographer on this one. A suit would have been weirdly deferential, IMO. I love Web/Tech folks for their aversion to corporate dress more than just about anything, BTW.
Yeah. A suit would be totally out of place but I thought he could have bumped it up just a little so it didn't look like he just got done cleaning out his garage or something before he showed up for the shoot. Could be just me. After all. I even get a little annoyed when music acts in the local bar dress like they don't give a shit.
I guess I just don't get it here. The photographer probably doesn't care what he wears since he can pull in the big name clients and presumably get paid big bucks. This also means he can use, and charge, whatever equipment he wants but what did the para do for the lighting as opposed to another modifier. The screen shots look hot to me. I found this an informative post - gear does matter for some people.
@ Bret (& Jeremy) The camera is a Hasselblad and the software is called Phocus (Hasselblad's own).
anyone notice the light placed in the drop tile ceiling? dope.
@Dave -
Glad I could shed some light on this link. There is a whole interweb out there - hard for just "one" Strobist to cover.
@Adam -
Great to see you had questions. When I first got into Strobist I couldn't see the point of BTS shots. Now when I see them, I'm like a school-boy with a cheesecake poster :)
Cheers,
Nathan Rodger. I'm also onTwitter - /twitter.com/nathanrodger.
On the web designer side of things, what's with the jumping back to the top of the page when you change to the next photo? I got tired of scrolling back down and didn't even finish looking at all of the photos!
This from a techy mag site?
@Angles & Edges -
The gallery is normally displayed one image at a time - however I supplied the "View-all" link with all images displayed at once :)
First image in the BTS gallery acting normallyhere.
Sorry, am I really the only one that finds it ironic that he's shooting tethered to an mac, while shooting photos of the man who created windows?
Dear David, I keep looking at the Wired cover magazine and I don't see anything special with the lighting and the shot in general, in this business I thing is who you know, I can assure you that I am capable of doing better lighting than that, but I just don't have the contacts to get a gig like that,I've seen far better shots, sorry but the only interesting thing in this cover shot is Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, other than that, the lighting to me has nothing to look up to.
I just don't see why he had to use such big expensive lights for a basic grey backdrop shot. Is all of that really neccesary? Maybe I'm just stuck in my EX 580 and Alien Bees brain though...
First off, I'd like to say thanks to David and the Strobist for posting this. He is a excellent teacher and I have to say, a super sleuth! David's breakdown is pretty spot on. And most of you readers asked very intelligent and insightful questions. I'm totally happy to answering any questions your blog readers might have on this assignment.
Unfortunately, there are some questions or comments that seem to come from somewhere else that technical. I am aware that tastes differ, so to those of you that disliked the photos I am sorry. Sometimes an assignment is just an assignment, and we do the best we can under the circumstances and direction. What's important in this case is that the client is pleased with the results.
I was not aware nor did I ask Wired.com to post behind the scenes photos of myself or my crew, and in turned be reposted again. Had I known the manner in which I dress would be scrutinized on the internet, I would have declined being photographed. I am very low key person who doesn't like to call attention to myself, only my work. I keep my photo site free of any personal information, because I would like to be hired for the merit of the work. I can assure you, any contacts I have made have been from persistence promotional material and the photography, not from attending parties or personal contacts.
Cont...
cont from above....as for a few other questions, I thought I can quickly answer directly....
James B: on using less lights- We had very limited time with these subjects, and I can assure you Bill Gates have very little interest or patience in having a photo taken, especially if the main subject of the article is not about his amazing foundation. That being said, with subjects like Mr Gates, I found that you have to have your bases covered with gear, and be ready to improvised if the timing of these two subjects change at the last min (which in this case it did). And also be ready as one of the smarter readers pointed out for little things like popping circuit breakers, digital camera lock ups, etc etc. I'm not so sure why having more gear than what is needed in case something goes down, especially in a shoot that lasts 5 minutes, would be a bad thing for James B. James, I do not own all that gear, it's rented, and then billed back to the client, who wants to make sure that the bases are covered.
gettheshot, Tim: Re safety and sandbags: Gettheshot and Tim, you guys are obviously grip guys with ample knowledge on how everything should be set up. True, not every stand has sandbags, however, for us we find that using a mafer clamp j-hook and hooking the heavy powerpacks to that create a adequate weight for strobes, especially in a windless environment. We find that we have to adapt to each situation as it presents itself. Also as much as I love using broncolor, I had to make sure in this set up I had enough battery powered packs, and the profoto 7b's are a bit more reliable in our experience. Broncolor wins hands down when we are looking for a fast flash duration, but in this case we did not need it. we feel it's okay to mix and match.
Jim: re shooting on MAC for a Bill Gates shoot. I know! I was aware of that going into it. I asked the magazine to ask his people if that was going to be a problem since we don't own or can't rent the hardware or the software to run it on a PC. I assumed that I was maybe going to have to shoot to card, and load the card into the mac in another room. Mr Gate's people assured me it was not a problem. So no problem will Bill, shouldn't be a problem with anyone else I suppose.
Tom Meyer : thanks for your comment. I'm sorry I have offended your artistic sensibilities with average photography. I wasn't aware I was a"gangster" until I read this post.. Also, I wasn't aware that you secretly attended the shoot, knew all the logistics that where involved, and thus would have such amazing insight on how anyone else could do it so much better. Thant being said, I look forward to getting a link to your site to learn how to (a) reduce my amount of gear. (b) dress according for a shoot, no matter the circumstances (c) light and compose (d) deal with unwilling and rushed subjects for cover shoots. Please send link my way!
Joaquin Andrade: I wanted to give you info on how to get the contacts for a gig like this. First, open up the offending Wired magazine you have in your hands to the mast head section. Note the office address and look under Photo Editor. Send that person a promotional mailer or a link to your website. Repeat numerous times until they call your portfolio in for a look. I hope this helps, it worked for me. Also, I wish I had access to your site before hand, not only could I have seen how it's done, but I could have also asked you to point me in the direction of all the other Bill Gates actual sitting portraits out there, because I could not find any recent ones before this shoot to reference. link to Joaquin's flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/joaquin_andrade/. Great work and good luck!
Thanks again Strobist! I wish this site had been up years ago when I was starting out! it's awesome!
Sincerely,
Carlos
Carlos, amazing portfolio love your work, I hadn't visited your site till I read this post, but glad I did. It's bookmarked!.. definitely website find of the year for me.
@Debbie_in_California:
i think i saw the "posing chair" in the recent Design Within Reach catalog. It must be a bar stool/chair.
Cheers Carlos and great replies all round.
Got to love the "I could do better than this, if only I had the ......." crowd.
Keep up the great work and thanks to David for explaining the details.
@Joaquin
I can assure you that you can't do better lighting then that. I can do this because I looked at your work.
The quality of your work and your true talent are also the leading factor in "who you know". A couple years ago I said similar things about how if only I knew the right people I could get more jobs. The realty is as your work gets better you seem to have more relationships with people who want to see you succeed. Your work needs to stand on its own.
Carlos Serrao is one of the best commercial shooters in the industry and to me the most inspiring.
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