Contender: Kevin Ziechmann

Reality and photography collide in this self-portrait

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Copyright © Kevin Ziechmann

Photographer:
Kevin Ziechmann

Where are you based?
Boulder, Colorado

When did you take the photograph?
I took it a few months ago in my home while testing lighting setups.

What equipment did you use?
Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens, Canon Speedlite 580EXII, Cactus V5 remote triggers

Please describe how you got this photo?
Portraiture is not something I have much experience in, so I set up a home studio in a hallway to experiment with lighting setups. I used a PVC background stand with a blue bed sheet and set up a softbox, with a flash on a remote trigger, on a stand high and 45 degrees to the camera's right. After taking a few shots with the self timer, I had the idea to create a sort of window with a 4x6 printout to play on the idea of the portrait versus the subject. I chose to desaturate the background to further emphasize the play between reality and photography.

Did you use any special techniques?
None that I can recall. However, it did take multiple tries to get the photo aligned properly.

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