star trek movie promo portrait

[yev]

Hi Guys,

Sorry if this has been covered before, but im pretty curious as to the lighting in this portrait.

http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/un...kirkposter.jpg

Im guessing there are 2 lights behind the model on either side directed at a 45 degree angle to create the rim lighting. But im confused as to the lighting on the face - it seems to be coming from a bottom angle?

Also does anyone know the name of the photographer who took these shots?

Thanks

[Kraellin]

the one coming in on the right is the primary light source and yes, it is coming from the side and slightly in back of the subject. the one coming in on the left is a secondary light, possibily reflected and isnt meant to draw you too much and it seems to be set even deeper in back of the subject. the main point of both these lights is to create drama in the shot, specifically along the chin to cheek line. notice the heavy shadows along those lines on both side. high contrast.

the third is as you say, from below and to the front. we used to call this a 'flashlight' light after those goofy shots of someone in the dark holding a light pointing straight up into the face from under the chin. this one isnt quite that severe, so the light is further forward of the subject, but yes, from below. notice his head is tipped slightly forward also. this is done to 'cut' the eyes, again for drama's sake and to place the shadows on the face, also for drama. the light in front could also be reflected and even diffused. you dont want a very strong light there so as to ruin the strong shadows from the side lights. you only want to add a touch more drama. i would even speculate that the front lighting could have been photoshopped, if not in whole then perhaps here and there a tiny bit.

i dont know who the photographer was.

[oneredpanther]

Jill Greenberg did most of the Star Trek promotional material, but I cannot find any evidence that she did these. Since they match her famous style though (L and R strips with on-axis key) I believe she may have shot them, and then they were retouched secondarily by the studio for the poster requirements.

[Tareq]

I can't open and view the shot from that link, what's wrong?

[Donamai]

Hello Yev!

(This post is about learning and sharing about movie film poster photography)


I have to say that I haven't checked retouchpro for the longest though I'm finding that every time I do check it's because I get a challenge I find on retouching or because my mind consciously and subconsciously makes me stop to look at images and question how they did what they did to get to the final product.

A couple of times in the past, I have tried and tried to look for certain looks I see on posters and your question regarding lighting made me think of this again.

I hope the info the other members gave you help you understand how the lighting was achieved. (I'm just writing this in a somewhat question or information format. )

In my case I keep questioning the "how" of the technique to enhance the skin, which parts of the face and how to enhance the little touches of light and the finally what makes the image feel like a movie poster rather than just a photograph for processing.

But in this case, since you are asking about lighting I can only ask the following:

What programs were used to make the picture look like it was a shot taken from the actual "filming" of the movie?

What was the original image shot with and in what color format?

How the original image looked compared to the final image? (Perhaps there you can /could tell what approach was better suited to achieve the final image; perhaps on previous looks, as in is the case with art, to get to change during the process till the end)

Here some more images as you posted:

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content...ero-poster.jpg

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content...ura-poster.jpg

[eraanexact]

I did a little research and found this agency that handled the production of the star trek movie posters:

http://www.bltomato.com/

They do a ton of promotional materials for theatrical and television.