copyright, David Lindsey Wade.

Check out a hi-res image here.

This action-packed image is from David’s personal series depicting a drug bust gone bloody. It was created with 5 lights and the sun.

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark II with 28mm lens, set on a tripod 8 feet back. Shot at 1/125, f16, ISO 100.

Lighting: The key light on our hero shotgunner is a silver beauty dish at f16, positioned high and six feet to camera right. Another white beauty dish at f11 (-1 stop) is high and out of frame to camera left. This provides fill on the shotgunner and helps light the background characters. A standard reflector shot through a 6×6 silk at f16 is outside the window to camera left. Another standard reflector at f32 (+2 stops) is behind the wall in the kitchen to camera right and aimed toward the table. This provides the hot hair and arm highlights on the guys by the table. A Profoto giant, parabolic reflector at f4 1/2 (-3 1/2 stops) is behind camera for general fill. A separate plate of the bare room was shot at 1 second without lights to capture the lamp light, as well as the blown-out highlights from the sun in the back window. These elements were composited together in post.

Comments: David’s producer somehow swung it so they were shooting with real money and drugs. Since there was over $1 million in recovered, small bills and $200K in uncut cocaine, the real law enforcement was on set keeping tabs. All of the models were required to wear ankle monitors and take a drug test after the production wrapped.