The Photographic “Set”

The Photographic “Set”

by William Lulow

I haven’t written about this idea for a while, so I thought I would delve into the mindset of how I make photographs, generally. Because of my extensive training in making photographs for various catalogues and print media, I became aware of exactly what would be included in my final images, whatever the scene was. There always seemed to be more that the camera recorded on film, but only a part of it was actually reproduced in an ad or printed piece. We often made exposures on one half of an 8×10 sheet of film thereby saving money on film & processing. There were times when I would shoot someone or something, with the knowledge that certain elements would be cropped out, sized or retouched. This may sound like something everyone knows, but it has changed, in many instances, the way I actually “see” a subject. I often make shots with interesting lighting or scenes where I know while I am shooting, how I will crop out extraneous pieces or how I might even improve a composition or exposure in the final version. So thinking about photographing a “set” has changed my mental process of SEEING. I regard every scene whether it’s a portrait, scenic or product shot, as a SET, kind of me looking through a frame that has elements that I know will not be seen in the final version. It’s a kind of “behind the scenes” view which is also kind of “placing” your subject(s) where you want them to be in your mind.  Here is an example I like to use showing an actual “set”:

You can see the actual set elements complete with flats used to shade the lens. It was images like this that trained my eye to recognize what would obviously NOT be included in the final shot. Here is another image I like to use that shows the image I saw versus the image I knew I could produce:

Here’s a scene that my camera “saw”:

This is what I envisioned as the “set”:

So every time I think about making an image, I am aware of what the “set” is. In my mind, I know what I can do for my studio setup and in post-production, so I often make exposures that I will edit later. 

Here are some more examples:

This is the set for some portraits for a website. This is one of the examples produced here:

The “set” becomes a window or a frame through which you can view your subjects. It helps to visualize and keep in your mind, what you want your pictures to become. It’s a step like PREVISUALIZING each image. Ansel Adams spoke about this often especially in terms of the ZONE SYSTEM of exposure. One of his contemporaries, Minor White, wrote a book about it. In those days (the book Zone System Manual, was published in 1968), it was a way photographers could decide what they wanted their images to look like before they actually made the exposures. I can always remember the photographers I worked for before I opened my own business admonishing me to look beyond the actual place in which you are shooting, to the final image you will make. It obviously has a great deal to do with composition and exposure, but it’s more than that. It actually becomes a way of seeing. It is akin to what the old film directors used to do when they held up their hands creating a “frame” through which they could view a scene. 

This was a product shot where you don’t see the wire going through the background to illuminate the LED lights on the machine. I knew this is how it would look. All you see is the final version:

You are photographing what you want your viewers to see. That’s the reason for a “set.” It becomes the actual, physical spot where your subjects will be placed. You can then edit it and change it to make it look like what was in your mind’s eye. 

So thinking about your photographs in this way, as a kind of “set” trains your eye to be more cognizant of what, exactly, you want them to show and how you wish to show it. 

By the way, I wanted to add a note about a relatively new addition to Photoshop’s arsenal, the REMOVE TOOL. If there is an item within the “set” that you think you would like remove, you can now simply paint over that item and Photoshop will replace the pixels in the image with what it thinks (using AI) is behind it. It takes some experimenting to get it right in most circumstances, but I found that it works extremely well. I sometimes have to use it a few times, depending on the complexity of the object I wish to remove. A flower, say, may require a couple of tries before everything not wanted is removed, but it works remarkably well. Another item that you can use this tool on is extraneous hair in a portrait or headshot. I have used it successfully on portraits as well.

This kind of expands the notion of a “set” because even if there are elements you would rather not have in there, you can remove them! Amazing.