Portrait of a Pianist
Had an editorial shoot recently where I was asked to photograph a music student, at a piano. Nothing remarkable in the shoot, except it took me 3 lights to get the effect I wanted, and I’m not sure what I wanted was what the publication wanted, because the article didn’t run in the end! Oh well, my vision for portraits doesn’t always coincide with the poorly-lit cheesy-grin portraits that seem to be used in abundance.
We had access to the CIT Cork School of Music, where they have a large quantity of Steinway pianos (so many in fact, they have a Steinway engineer permanently on site to ensure they are tuned to perfection). A Steinway is a work of art in itself and I wanted to capture some of the beauty of it in the portrait.
Here is my first test shot with a one-light set-up. I was quite surprised at the result, mainly as I had forgotten that the previous day I was shooting in Monochrome mode!
In all honesty, if it was my publication I would probably have used that image. However, it’s not my publication, so…
Here’s the same thing when I switched back to colour:
It’s alright, but because of the position of the one-light and the obstruction of the piano lid, the light is too much from one side. I added a second fill light from the left (didn’t keep a copy of that test, DUH) and that was better, but the inside workings of the piano weren’t visible, so added a third with a snoot, just to light up the inside.
Here’s one of the resultant images, which I like because of the subject’s reflection on the piano lid:
and here’s a second that shows more of the lit piano interior, but less reflection:
Can’t make up my mind which I prefer. What’s your preference?
Either way, I got to listen to some fabulous piano solos while I was working 
TTFN
