During a recent visit to Las Vegas, I photographed three professional poker players who wanted over-the-top self portraits created for use in their homes and to share on their facebook profiles, etc.
The objective was to capture each player’s “poker face” that you would encounter if you sat at the Texas Hold ‘Em tables yourself. Because of their online play as well, their screen names were included. A lightning storm as a background was a client request and the rest was up to me in creating a hard-hitting image. Although the images were purely made for fun, I took the project very seriously because I wanted to create something that far exceeded the guys’ expectations; it was my goal to create 3 unified images that made a lasting impression and could be likened to an evocative and dramatic movie poster.
I photographed the players with my Canon 30D and two speedlights. One light was positioned directly behind the subject, high above, and aimed downward at roughly 30˚ toward the top of the subjects’ shoulders and head. The second light was camera-left and just above the subject’s eye level to create dramatic side-lighting. I added some fill light on the opposite side with white poster paper acting as a bounce.
In post, I retouched skin blemishes, adjusted skin color, brought out color and detail in their eyes, applied a number of layer adjustments to achieve the color balance and desaturation I wanted, dodged and burned areas for more drama, and finally sharpened the image with a combination of unsharp mask and the high pass filter. I created the type treatment and poker suit “jewels” from vector shapes. All elements were composited in a 16″ x 20″ canvas and submitted for final prints to be done by Adorama in New York City.
More work is being created right now for these guys…next up is a 60″x 40″ composited group shot. Check back soon for the image and details!
Copyright © Tyler Kongslie, 2010. All Rights Reserved.
I designed the recently released self-titled album by Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band which is available for purchase at iTunes and CDbaby. It’s a double-sided sleeve and silkscreen CD. The art direction was inspired by existing band photography by Robyn Feeley, which was shot outside Los Angeles at Paramount Ranch–the very famous old film set that was used for Westerns in the 50′s. The Los Angeles-based band is comprised of Craig Ferguson, Devitt Feeley and Lydia Veilleux. Special guest, Matt Bruer plays Banjo on the album.
Michael Bartlett, the writer and director of the Portland indie film,