Phone Bouncer

I call this self-portrait the "phone bouncer".  The idea is that if someone picks up my phone, they have to go through this tough guy to get inside, and they better be on the guest list :-)



Going for a tough look, I decided for a dark background, and dark shadows.

The lighting set up was really simple for this - one soft-box'ed light very close to the left side, pointing straight at my face.

The close distance makes the light go from bright to dark very quickly (read why here - under positioning the light). Notice the amount of light on my left arm versus the light on the right arm.

The direction of the light was such that:

• The right side of my face is not lit at all.
• The background is getting very little light - just enough so that you can see the shape of my head, but still dark overall.  I was about 6 feet or so in front of a white wall.

The lighting makes the photo dark and scary, and a bit sinister looking.

Actually, my friends usually burst out laughing when they see this - I guess I'm usually smiling, so this is a new look.

The finishing touches are crossing my arms, and scowling - sort of like putting sad lyrics over a blues riff.