Behind The Scenes

Behind The Scenes 

By William Lulow

Here was an interesting assignment that called for a little extra know-how! I was asked to shoot some portraits of executives of a company offering luxury jet plane travel to places overseas. I had to photograph the executives in and around a couple of private jet aircraft at the Westchester County Airport. I knew I was going to have to use some extra lighting because airplane hangers are rather large and the lighting had to be just right. So, I was prepared to “light up the place” if I had to.

Here is what the shoot looked like from behind the scenes:

I have often said that when lighting a large space, you have to make sure that the background is lit separately from the subject. Light tends to fall off very quickly, especially from electronic flash bulbs. So, you need to have plenty of light on the background. For this shot, I even had to light the rear of the plane with a single flash head without an umbrella.

Here are some of the final images:

You always have to have more lights and equipment than you might imagine using. There have been few shots that I have done that required almost every light I had in the studio. But it has happened. So I have gotten used to packing extra lights, extension cords and light stands just in case. If I dont use them, fine! But if I do need them, they are there.