Don’t worry, I’m not honestly suggesting that you go out and plagiarise someone else’s work or ideas. As creatives, it’s almost certain that the idea fills you with revulsion in any case. However, a certain amount of duplication can be entirely healthy when attempting to learn new skills, or to push yourself just a little bit further than normal.

Take the above picture of Ade, you might recognise it as the full version of the one that I’ve used as his avatar photo at the very top of the page… It actually came about as a discussion on an online photography forum. A bunch of people were discussing the influence of films on photographs, at which point someone else chimed in wondering how to get a “Sin City” effect on their photo’s.

A long discussion followed, most of which dealing with the processing after the the image had actually been taken. Hardly anybody, other than myself, made any mention of the lighting involved. In order to give myself a bit of a challenge (and also, I admit, to make a point) I set about taking a photo to see if I could replicate the style. I used this poster from the film as my starting point.

By dissecting the lighting used, we can see that Hartigan (played by Bruce Willis) is lit from behind and from either side, creating two strips of light down either cheek and backlighting the hair, but leaving the majority of the front of the face in shadow. I replicated this by using two speedlights 45 degrees to Ade’s back and above him. Another speedlight on-camera provided some fill to keep detail in the face and give catchlights in the eyes.

The resulting image was then processed to black & white, with a slight red tone added to maintain the feel of the film production.

So there’s today’s challenge: Find yourself a film poster or another image that you like (or find inspirational). As part of your ongoing photographic education, attempt to determine the lighting used and then go off and attempt to replicate it in a shot of your own. If you have the time, leave us a comment with a link to the original, and a link to your take on it.

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