The Last Ship BTS
Sometimes the perfect location is the last one anyone would expect. Such was the case on a recent editorial shoot for Sting’s THE LAST SHIP, which launched its national tour at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles last month.
Before arriving I’d had the chance to talk through some location options, sight unseen and concluded the loading dock sounded just about perfect. When I arrived for the actual shoot, the crew had taken the time to clean up and clear what they assumed I meant: a nice corner of the stage that connected to the loading dock through a garage door. It was a clean area that looked slick and precise.
“I’m actually looking to shoot on the other side of this door?,” I said. “In the dirty loading dock?!” they asked as they watched my interest pique. Through the door we went and out into the dusty loading dock, a garage covered with remnants of past productions. I knew with a little haze and some lighting that illuminated just the right details we could accomplish a shot that would look almost like a film set for the shipyard locations referenced in the show; it was sure to contain far more visual interest than the clean silver lines of backstage.
In came one of my absolute favorite modifiers, the Paul C Buff Octabox with a grid to control light spill and keep the light soft but directional. For backlight we gelled a light with a full CTO to create variation to the tones and fired it through a shoot through umbrella for a little more spread of the light. I kept my camera settings at ISO 400, f/4.5 and 1/100th of a second to let in just the right amount of ambient light from the overhead fixtures.
Each cast member was photographed during brief breaks in the tech rehearsal, so for most we had about 10 minutes. For Sting we had even less, but had mapped out small angle changes that would allow us to get at least 3 different looks without moving more than 10 feet.
Shot on Canon 5D Mark IV. Click the photos below for a larger look.
