Sam Smith

[DanOstergren]

Again Dan, your lighting on this is simply superb. It's very painterly, sculpting the body and creating a real sense of depth. The processing is flawless. A real soft touch that strikes a great balance with detail that is real and tangeble but shows the subject in a great light.

I do think that his biceps, particularly the veins are very prominent (but not in the rest of his body) and it draws my eye so much it competes with the face, but at the same time I'd hate to see them cloned out or smoothed over. I do think the pose and look is top class, lighting is to die for. I appreciate the triangles you've created here, is really is composed very well and the simplicity of this shot that is excellently exicuted belies a complexity underneath.

Thank you so much.
I noticed the prominence of the biceps and veins as well, and also questioned if they were too prominent. TBH I think my attraction to men might have influenced a little bit of bias as to why I like the shot so much and looked past those features competing with his face.

 

[DanOstergren]

This is terrific! Beautiful lighting, as usual.

Part of the fun of shooting these actors must be that they know how to get "a look." This guy has one, and it's fabulous!

Thanks. Most of the time they seem to be able to bring out some strong characteristic for a portrait, which is definitely something that I love about working with actors. Other times they're so used to being in front of a video camera that they end up not knowing what to do for a still camera, but it just takes some work to get them comfortable.