Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Recent work

[Charles L Webster]

I was recently able to photograph a 1934 National "El Trovador" resonator guitar. You can read more about the experience on my blog at http://www.charlesLwebster.com/blog

This picture is my favorite from the sessions with this remarkable instrument. The picture does not say "resonator guitar", but has a more sensual quality, not usually equated with these bright, loud instruments.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I was recently able to photograph a 1934 National "El Trovador" resonator guitar. You can read more about the experience on my blog at http://www.charlesLwebster.com/blog

This picture is my favorite from the sessions with this remarkable instrument. The picture does not say "resonator guitar", but has a more sensual quality, not usually equated with these bright, loud instruments.

About time, Charles!

I've been missing your curvaceous string instruments. This is particularly well lit. Might you share how you approached this and the way your minimalist lighting has evolved?

Asher

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

This picture is my favorite from the sessions with this remarkable instrument. The picture does not say "resonator guitar", but has a more sensual quality, not usually equated with these bright, loud instruments.

Hi Chas,

Congratulations on a very nice image. As you said, it has a sensual quality to it.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Charles L Webster]

Minimalist lighting

Asher,

The lighting here is indeed minimalist, with a single strobe with a 10deg honeycomb grid above and slightly behind the instrument.

The trick to getting the strings barely lit is to feather the light off the front of the guitar until just the strings are lit, and all else is in shadow. To get the total lack of detail on the front of the instrument, I just had to make sure nothing in front reflected light back onto the guitar.

As you can see in the setup photos in the blog article, the guitar hangs from the ceiling with monofilament fish line so there is nothing close to create an unwanted reflection.

I approach lighting these projects from one light. I put up the instrument and point one light at the part of the instrument I want to show/see/emphasize. When I'm happy with one light on the subject, I look to see if there are parts of the subject that need more light, and add either a reflector or another light. I learned studio light from one light up, so tend to start simply and add complication only if necessary.

Here's another, also lit with only one light, this time a 2 X 3 softbox directly in front of the instrument, beside the camera. Here the flat light reduces the instrument to shape and texture, with only the strings showing any depth.

 

[Asher Kelman]

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Charles,

Of course you have thought about the vanishing string. So what has gone though your mind in the decision tree?

Asher

 

[Charles L Webster]

Charles,

Of course you have thought about the vanishing string. So what has gone though your mind in the decision tree?

Asher

As I moved the light, I could see the strings come and go as the shadow of the bass string hid them. I liked the effect of the 2nd string reappearing from the shadow and decided on that position.
I felt that the effect was "softer" than having all 6 strings visible.

I wasn't completely happy with the invisibility of the resonator cover (one of the defining characteristics of this guitar), but attempts to provide just enough visibility make the whole image less impactful, so I decided that the effect here was worth not seeing it.

 

[Rachel Foster]

I absolutely love this. I'm going to see what I can do with that idea.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Charles, an absolutely brilliant capture. While I hardly know anything about lighting ( or musical instruments for that matter ), I can appreciate beauty when I see it.

Best.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I was recently able to photograph a 1934 National "El Trovador" resonator guitar. You can read more about the experience on my blog at http://www.charlesLwebster.com/blog

This picture is my favorite from the sessions with this remarkable instrument. The picture does not say "resonator guitar", but has a more sensual quality, not usually equated with these bright, loud instruments.

Charles,

I saw the movie Crazy Heart last night. It's the story of a brilliant song writer-country singer in his late 50's ,(acted by Jeff Bridges) playing in a string of rinky dink locations despite being drunk most of the time with his ever long devotion to American Whiskey. In the in between quiet times, lying back on a sofa, or stretched out minimally sober on a motel bed, he composed with his beautiful guitar.

There's three love stories. "Bad" and his Guitar, "Bad" and his whiskey and "Bad" and a divorcee with a cute 4 year old boy, "Bud".

This is a brilliant character study but most of all it's country music around the splendid well lit guitar. This is one movie you should not miss, even just for the way the guitar is lit.

Asher,

My son worked as an assistant sound engineer on the project.

 

[Michael Fontana]

Chad, I like the abstraction you draw from that guitar, no volumes, but lines only.

Re. resonator cover:
That might disturb the clear lines of the composition and would have stopped that °moving° and soundlike wave.

Best, Michael

 

[Charles L Webster]

Michael, yes the presence of the resonator cover disturbed both aspects; it changed the "line and form, no volume" aspect, and it changed how the "moving" strings appeared.

I may post a version with some fill, just for comparison.

<Chas>