"The Chosen One"

budrowilson has added a photo to the pool:

Tonight I felt like shooting a macro. However, inspiration was lacking. I first tried shooting a candy bar. Then I tried bubble gum eggs that my mother had given me for Easter. Looking at the shots, I just wasn't feeling it. However, out of tradition, my mom had given me something else for Easter. In my Easter basket there was, as always, a small set of Legos. This year's happened to contain a Harry Potter themed set. So, with Harry in hand, I went to work.

Originally, I set him up using the white(ish) wall as a background. The shots were technically "ok," but they weren't all that special. Then Noelle suggested something--"Why don't you use a darker background? Something more brooding?"

First off, I added two rim lights to separate Harry from whatever dark backdrop I could find. Then I combed the house for something black and with little reflectivity. I tried the garbage bag taped to the wall, but it was way to reflective to be dark (so close to the lights, at least). Then I ruffled through my winter drawer and pulled out a tri-colored charcoal scarf. As I didn't have anything to use to pin it up on the wall, I actually had to hold it in place (in front of the garbage bag) and use my other hand to press the shutter button on the camera. It was a bit awkward, but it worked. ;-)

strobist: 1 White Lightning Ultrazap 1600, camera right, diffused by a 20" white reflector. 1 White Lightning Ultrazap 1600, camera left, reflected into a white umbrella (fill). 2 Quantaray flashes, full power, left and right (behind subject), bare, zoomed to 80mm. 1 monolight triggered via Cybersyncs; rest of the lights triggered via built-in optical slave. 3 Kenko extension tubes and a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter were used with my 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS Mk I. Setup shot here.