Did you know that a guitar smashed on the side of a brick building sounds like a gunshot?
Well, now I do. Seriously, had a ringing in my ears for 10 minutes.
Okay, for the technical stuff I know people might wonder:
Nikon D3s with SU-800 wireless controller. Bare SB-800 flash around the corner, camera left. Gridded SB-900 camera right, aimed at his chest level. SB-600 in the grass at his feet shooting straight up. All were on manual settings at something in the 1/32 or 1/64 power area to get a quick burst. The SU-800 can keep up even at 9fps, no worries.
There is actually one single edit done: the eyes. This was a three image burst. The first image was a split second before impact. This is the second image. Then, the third was all the pieces shattered everywhere, but the composition was far less tight. Cool, but not quite there. Still, in the second image there was a blink from the shock of the loud noise. I replaced the eyes from the first onto this one. Typically that is a big no-no for me, but I have no “ethical” issue with this considering it is for a promotional poster, promoting an acoustic evening at a local coffee shop.
Otherwise, this photo is actually completely unedited. No levels, no curves, no color alterations or anything.
Conceptually speaking – as I would tell my photo class – this image goes beyond the guitar smashing. The intentional camera tilt is moderately unsettling, but it fits with the “chaos” implied by smashing a guitar. Also, it creates some pretty cool geometry with the angles… and goes to create a good setting for the action.
Oh, and the guitar – if you can’t already tell – was not a full size guitar. And, for that, I’m glad. Had we used a full-size guitar, we might would have made a horrendous mess, the image would have been just FULL of guitar pieces…
…and I might have suffered actual damage to my ear drums.
Alas, smashing a guitar is a loud business.
Stay tuned,
-Noah D.
