Last month I got the assignment to photograph Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez for the San Francisco Chronicle. Emilio just directed his dad in a movie and they were in town promoting it. We had 30 minutes and the room at the back of the bar for the interview and shoot. I wasn't allowed to shoot during the interview, so I waited until they wrapped up, then had about 3 1/2 minutes to grab quick portraits of them at the end. Those of you that know me know I'm no lighting god, but I have been making a conscious effort to learn more. Good thing, because the room was dark as a tomb. I set up two lights, and had to grab quick shots of them together and separately before they had to run. There wasn't time to vary the lighting, and we were limited as far as where we were allowed to shoot. The good news is, they were both extremely pleasant and professional to work with. The bad news is, I'm still not a lighting master. So, what I learned from this shoot: I need a boom arm. Or an assistant. But probably a boom arm. The wall behind them was so shiny I think the only way to kill the reflection would have been if I could get the light above them more. And, as much as I don't do it normally, I should probably chimp a lot more when I'm working with lighting. In this case Emilio moved after the first couple frames and cast a shadow on his dad. But, here's a couple frames of what I ended up with. The first one is the one the Chronicle ran, and you can read Peter's article here. Feel free to leave comments, and all you lighting gurus, tips are welcome.
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