Marshall Trimble Portrait

This portrait of Marshall Trimble was made outside his Paradise Valley home at 2pm in the afternoon. I wanted to create the illusion of a warm sunset with him looking off into beautiful light. This is how I did it.

First, I had to use large scrims overhead to block out the harsh sunlight that was falling on the entrance to his home. The purpose of the scrims is to be in control of the light. Afternoon sunlight in the Valley is way to harsh with extreme contrast. Once I had blocked out the sun, I then moved on to create the light I wanted for the portrait.

I used a Comet 2400 watts power supply with 2 strobe heads. One head was placed behind the wall to illuminate the patio that was in deep shade. I wanted the light to be soft to give it a natural look. I used a medium soft box with a full CTO gel inside the box to warm the light. The second strobe head was the main light source that would illuminate Marshall in the entryway. I used a medium soft box off to the right with a ½ CTO gel inside the box also to warm the light.

The camera was a large format 8 X 10 Deardorff with a 360mm Rodenstock lens. The shutter speed was a 60th of a second with an aperture of f-22. The film was Fuji Provia