Assignment With A Sign - TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

It All Started With A Sign: This was an assignment full of promise: A theater marquee, taken at twilight, the name of the event lit up for all all to see. Beneath the sign, Executive Director Phil Santora and Trustee Julie Kaufman, looking like Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen (Don Lockwood and Lena Lamont) on opening night, just basking in the warmth of devoted fans*. Alas, it was not to be.

Reality set in when I found out that this marquee "photo" was the product of some clever Photoshopping. Now I had less to work with. I was going to be photographing professional administrators who were busy keeping a non-profit organization running really smoothly instead of fictional characters from a 1950s musical.

What a photographer wants and what the subjects are able to provide often don't match. Time would be tight and I had to choose one of two possible time slots: 6:00 pm, and 1:00 - 1:45 pm the following day. There went my twilight sky, since sunset wouldn't occur until 8 pm. There was going to be lots of sunlight when the photo was taken. I took the 6:00 pm appointment, and hoped for the best.

The Fox Theater is on the south side of Broadway street, so I expected that the marquee would be in shadow. When I arrived at 5:30, I found that one face was in shadow, and one face was in full sunlight. If I chose the shaded side, I'd need to extend my light stand to aim an accent flash the log, and hand hold a second flash to illuminate my subjects. If I chose the sunny side, I'd probably have squinty expressions and some off-the-chart overexposure. 

As luck would have it, there were some benches and a convenient shade tree as you can see at the right of the frame. This meant that I wouldn't have to deal with direct sunlight on my subjects and could then light them with flash. Since I was outdoors. I didn't use and umbrella for fear it would be blown over by the wind. If I added weights to hole the lightstand in place, I could technically be required to have a permit to "block pedestrian traffic". So the flash was used "straight" with no light modifier. In some cases, the position of the light is more important than its quality.

Once I established the desired exposure for the theater logo, I could move my subjects until their heads covered the marquee. I would finally adjust my flash output to get proper exposure on my subjects. Unfortunately, positioning the subjects is an "on the fly" thing, and you can't know in advance exactly where the  subjects will be standing. Had I known the exact position, I could have looked up and aligned the flash for best effect. I suspect the flash was aimed too much towards camera right, resulting in some underexposure. Dodge and burn, dodge and burn, I managed to get a reasonable image, but certainly not of the best possible quality. I'm quite sure that by the time the photo is published, the degradation that all newspaper images suffer will conceal all the deficiencies that are currently driving me crazy. Or if I'm lucky, the image will be printed in black and white. Despite its shortcomings, my Editor declared the photo "VERY nice!". High praise indeed.

Depth Of Field Control: One aspect of the shot did merit some additional thinking. I was shooting at F 10.0, which gave me great depth of field. But what if I had installed a 3-stop neutral density filter? The shot could have  been made at approximate F 4.0 which would taken the sharp edge off of the lettering in the background. I've always had access to ND filters, but can remember using one only once for a published photo. If I think of them for depth-control rather than exposure control, I would be tempted to find space in the Big Bag and slip one or two in. I've owned a variety of Cokin filters, and maybe it's about time I started using them.

*Opening scenes from the movie "Singing In The Rain".

LaVar Burton - Fox Theater, Redwood City

 

Image Credit here.

Geordi La Forge: I do not consider myself a Trekkie. When the first Start Trek iteration aired in the late 60s I was probably watching something else. It wasn't until it ran in syndication that I came to appreciate the show. Perhaps my emotional age finally caught up with that of the original target audience. But I digress. HIP (Human Investment Project) Housing was celebrating its 50th year of helping people find safe and stable housing, and LaVar Burton, the blind Lieutenant Commander for Star Trek: The Next Generation, was the guest speaker. His credits also include his breakout portrayal of Kunta Kinte in Roots, and being the longtime host of Reading Rainbow in addition to 13 Emmys, 1 Grammy, and 5 NAACP Awards. And if that wasn't enough, he directed several episodes of Next Generation. Quite a curriculum vitae, or whatever they call it in Klingon.

I discussed my needs with the HIP Event Coordinator, and we agreed that that I should arrive at 4:00 to scout out the location and shoot some available light photos during Mr. La Forge's Burton's on-stage discussion with Kate Comfort Harr. After Geordi's La Var's exit, there would be an auction, followed by a Meet And Greet at 7:00 pm. I had discussed the possibility of making a photo that included the two HIP co-founders, and hoped they could stay around to make this photo with Mr. Kinte Burton. When the speeches ended, the stage was cleared, leaving only the two chairs. A HIP Housing backdrop (not shown) was installed behind the two chairs. Very Red Carpet.

Those who registered for the Meet and Greet would be seated next to Mr. Burton and have a photo taken by a staff photographer. When I learned that the two co-founders had left for the evening. I thought about what I could do next,  If I could find two HIP executives to pose with Mr. Burton, I could still get a meaningful shot. As the M&G proceeded, I decided to use the theater itself as a backdrop. A few quick sketch photographs proved that it was was entirely possible. I decided that I'd use a conventional Daylight White Balance preset, since I wasn't really happy with the colors produced by a CTO gelled flash. By going with Daylight, that one variable was eliminated. The on-camera flash head was turned rearward and aimed at the HIP Housing backdrop which was, luckily for me, reflective and white.

The first sketch shot pointed out some flaws. First, I had to alter my shooting angle to avoid the light bisecting some heads. Secondly, I needed to minimize the sparse look of a theater being cleaned up after the show. And finally, I needed to do something with their hands. As a general rule, one should include the subject's arms in their entirety whenever possible. Legs you can't do much about, but an absence of hands is a little unsettling. Since all the subjects appeared to be in good spirits, I asked if they would do a "Chorus Line" pose where they held hands as though preparing to bow to an audience. They were comfortable with the idea, so the next shots would be posed accordingly.

For the final image, I had my tallest subject take a half-step away from the camera. This brought her perceived height closer to Mr. Burton's. Also, all three heads cleared the lighting fixture in the background. While I liked the final shot, I should have had the two ladies bring their "outside" hands where the camera could see them. This would leave no doubt in the minds of the viewers that my subjects were duos utebatur*. I must say that I think their smiles do all of the heavy lifting in the photograph. The Daylight preset gave the theater a warm appearance, and the tight cropping made the deconstructed seating area all but invisible.

From The Enterprise Bridge: I searched the web for a La Forge quote to use as a closer. I liked this one the best.

"What can I say? To us it's a slime pit, but to them it's home"

Live long and prosper. Oops. Wrong Generation.

*Latin translation for "two handed"