copyright, Philip Toledano

This is a portrait of Steve from Mr. Toledano’s recent series “a new kind of beauty” (profiling people obsessed with plastic surgery). I’m guessing 3 lights were used to capture this haunting and strangely beautiful image.

Camera: Contax 645 with 80mm lens and a Phase One P25 back. On tripod 8 feet from the subject. Shot at 1/125, f11, ISO 100.

Lighting: Key light is a Profoto, white beauty dish with a sock at f8.5 positioned 6 feet camera left. There is no fill light, but a white bounce card has been positioned to the right of the model. A small soft box is boomed directly overhead the model at f5.6 to keep the hair from going black. A head with normal reflector is about 6 feet behind the model and camera right at f8.5 to create the shoulder and neck highlights.

Comments: Phil shot this topless and let Steve keep the towel afterwards. Neko Case and Blind Melon alternated on the iPod.