This was 2.5 day shoot that I assisted photographer Colin Page. It was a hi end portrait shoot of individuals and group shots for the Production Companies new season of shows. It was a big photography production involving, many assistants, hair & makeup, choreographers, wardrobe stylists, producers and more. It was photographed at Decent Exposure in a large cyclorama.

Colin is a lighting genius and spends lots of time perfecting the light. Every set up was major and required tweaking/adjusting to light our subjects perfectly. The lighting setup gives  us a hi detail, glamorous, show look.

We used Bowens gear, about 7 flash heads and 4-5 packs. Having the large cyclorama (cyc) was great giving use plenty of room. We blacked out much of the white to give us edges on our subject. We used medium format digi to give us large files destined for large format printing (billboards).

Final Art Work 1

Main Ligting setup:

KEY: Black Poly (polystyrene) aka foam board  - used as large white/black walls, to cut ligth out or reflect it in;

detailed lighting setup from Colin Page

Behind the scenes:

Behind Colin - hear you can see all the black cutters. Top: Can you see the leg stripe lights? To our right we can see a stand with a cutter to prevent flare in lens. Bottom: We can see the head spot lights

Behind subject. Here we can see the ceiling light - bounce flash.

More Final artwork works:

Final art work 2

Final art work 3

ASSISTING on a project like this is an amazing opportunity. It teaches you many things. The energy involved on the shoot is hi and requires an assistant to be on there feet for 10 + hours a day. Always be ready for instruction from your photographer, try think ahead and use initiative. Have your assistant kit handy (bag of goodies: gaffer, pins etc) Pay total attention to client needs, regularly check if you can do anything for them: coffee, food, phone, parking etc. They need to be comfortable.

Be ready: to change lens for your photographer. Make sure they are clean ; be ready with cutters; have a pen and tape to measure tripod if need be, check that camera batteries are fully charged, pre check that comp-camera tethering is working good.

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