The wonderfully expressive eyes of a young actor. Canon EOS 7D EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/2.8 1/80 ISO 800
She sits on a bench in front of a window and out of the darkness a spot light hits her. This is the beginning, the very opening moments, the audiences seems to draw in its breath with her… and she sings. The notes are soft and delicate but with an undercurrent of strength that allows them to drift out over the people and pull them in. They lean towards her to be just a little closer, to hear just a little more. The music pulses and rises and her voice hits them with a power that pushes them back in their seats and they smile and nod and wait to hear her again.
One of the actors that I had taught in high school came to me recently looking for a headshot. She has such beautiful and expressive eyes so I wanted a photo that emphasized that. I was using two flashes mounted in shoot-through umbrellas and I placed them so that one was directly below the other right in front of her. My camera was poking out between the two umbrellas. Effectively the two umbrellas became one giant light source. I put her quite close and over-exposed a bit to get a high key look. I liked the way that the catch-lights in the eyes have a fairly natural look.
-Russell Berg