The Concept: Game of Thrones’ Brave Couple
Models Ursus and Valeriya portray a brave couple in this cinematic portrait. This work is part of a photo session inspired by the TV series Game of Thrones. The session was organized by Megan Alter‘s workshop series. The photo session took place at the Neogothic Posthoornkerk (Post Horn Church), a basilica built in 1863 in Amsterdam. As part of Megan’s team of instructors I was responsible for teaching photographic lighting concepts to the participants. Besides participating as an instructor I also developed my own work as a photographer.
Scene and Lighting
Creating this portrait was a challenge because I didn’t have complete control on the lighting conditions. The ambient light was provided by the Basilica’s windows. This light was not strong enough to light the scene and provide the contrast I wanted. So, I had to find a way to enhance the ambient light with artificial light. My only option for this were two, rather small continous fluorescent lights. However, my intention was to create soft shadows in the subjects’ faces. In order to do this I diffused the fluorescent lights using the translucent part of two 5-in-1 round reflectors.
Because my intention was to focus the attention on the brave couple I composes the image as a headshot. This allowed me to remove any distracting elementfrom the scene. I asked both models to pretend they were in a dangerous, threatening situation and act with bravery.
Models: Valeriya Maleyeva, Ursus Metten
Other images in the series include: A Medieval Times Portrait and a portrait of a Portrait of Queen Cersei Lannister.