How was this famous Marine Corp photo shot?

[steve_l]

<p>I want to take a similar photo and was wondering if anybody could give me some advice on how they think this was shot. </p>

<p>There will be 5 people in my photo<br>

Any lighting advice would be greatly appreciated.<br>

I am not sure if everybody was shot individually.</p><div></div>

[luis_g]

<p> PN rules don't allow you to put pictures not taken by you up, though you can put up links to pictures taken by others.</p>

[john_a5]

<p>I don't think this was shot individually and then put together nor was it really well lit to be honest. You can see a bright guy down near the end and the black soldier is way too dark behind the gun. Just looking at the way the light falls on each face and the quality of the light, I am guessing that a large softbox was set up somewhere near the middle of the line. This accounts for the lack of light on the camera side of the closest guy and the lack of light on the black soldiers face behind the gun. It may also account for the really bright guy towards the end of the line. Then, of course, there is a kicker light behind them, light up their backsides--set at a much lower intensity. (From what I see, there is something pretty wierd about the back of the head of the third guy from the front-an odd straight line down his neck--maybe it was a composite of some sort!?!)</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>John, I agree. Think I would have moved the black marine so more highlight on his face. If sbx is angled towards camera, would have feathered it off marine at back and more forward where fall off might have helped even the intensity. Perhaps pull it back a bit to help with light dof. Then consider a reflector on front 2 if needed. Intent of maker may have been to pull eyes from darker front marine into the frame to brightest rear most. Maybe a camera angle that revealed faces, although maker may have wanted most faces anonymous. Gotta love photoing those uniforms and bayonets. Semper fi. </p>

[pge]

<p>Luis, I don't think they will mind reprinting a promotional photo, relax.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Photo.net policy is clear on uploading photos not created by the person uploading the image. We don't get involved in issues regarding creative commons or whether the owner of an image "won't mind":</p>

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[terry thomas photos]

<p>If I were going to create a similar image I certainly would photograph each person individually. Then I would assign each image to a layer in Photoshop. If the client wanted it in one shot I would use one of my large format cameras so I could swing the lens to get more depth of field.<br>

Back to how I would photograph each person: I would put a mark on the floor, turn the camera on it's side for a vertical composition and have the same basic lighting for each person. Then I would modify the shadows or reflections as needed with reflectors or gobos. In this manner the lighting would be exactly the same for each person, only the highlights or shadows would be modified.<br>

By photographing one person at a time all the people will be in focus and I would avoid issues like the second Marine with very dark skin having almost no detail. For him I could bring in a gold-toned reflector right next to his right shoulder (masking the reflector's light from his uniform).<br>

Note: gold reflectors work wonders with dark skin like his, experiment. White or silver reflectors make dark skin look cold, IMHO.<br>

Terry Thomas...<br />the photographer<br />Atlanta, Georgia USA</p>