David Ford At The Marsh Theater

  
I made this photograph at about 9:15am in a small community theater in the Mission district. I am usually wary about photographing in unfamiliar locations, especially in the Big City, so I purposely brought the minimum amount of equipment in case I was forced to park some distance away. It turns out that I was able to park by the theater's front door, a pleasant surprise. 

After chatting with Mr. Ford for a bit, we toured the two available stages where the photo might be made. In this theater there was a strong spotlight accentuating the center stage, along with some small lights I planned on using for atmosphere. I asked for a stool to give my subject something to sit on, and positioned it in the middle of the spotlight's beam. You can also see the EXIT sign in the background, something I wanted to include in the composition.

You can see the slight shadow cast at the edge of the stool. The key light was a speedlight with two magnetic grids plus a CTO (warming gel) mounted on a six-foot light stand. Theater lighting is often a mixture from several colored spotlights, and I felt the extra warmth would help minimize any cooling effects they might have on the subject. The lightstand was located a few feet to my left, and the flash angled up slightly to prevent light from overexposing the legs. 

This test shot shows the EXIT sign floating is space. I needed to put some additional light on the wall to help the viewer better understand the setting.

I also positioned my second (and last) speedlight on the floor to add some light into the corner. I did this so that the word EXIT wouldn't be levitating in space in the back of the frame. I had a second speedlight, so I started looking for some place to put.

As soon as Mr. Ford was placed on  his mark, I rotated his position slightly to eliminate the shine that appeared on the left side of his nose. The highlight on his left cheek was fine just where it was..He naturally dropped is right leg so his foot touched the floor, and I now had a way to conceal that second flash.

Since I had already established my shooting position, I placed the camera on the floor and walked past Mr. Ford and positioned the speedlight along an imaginary line starting from the camera and passing "through" Mr. Ford's leg. This completely hid the flash from the camera, and the light it provided gave me the visual context I needed.

Here's the final version. The accent light, placed behind Mr. Ford's right leg, remains completely hidden from the camera. Looking back, I can't help but wonder what I would/could have done if I carried a third flash. I certainly would have tried to brighten up the right side of the frame.Even a very small flash, like the FlashQ unit I carry on my morning walks, could have been set on the bar to provide a random spot of light. But sometimes there isn't enough time to improvise, and your efforts must be confined to staying wit the basics.