How I photographed Al Pacino

• Posted By: Bryan Chan
• Posted On: 12:30 p.m. | March 23, 2015

By Ricardo DeAratanha, Los Angeles Times

When I was assigned to photograph actor Al Pacino I was asked to produce at least three different looks for The Envelope and Calendar sections. The shoot was to take place at the Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills, where I have worked many times before.

When photographing celebrities we’re usually not given much time and this time wouldn’t be any different.

To maximize the production I elected to use an old trick of mine using two backdrops, three strobes, a disc reflector and a blue gel.

For the first shot, I sat Pacino on a stool that was covered with a black fabric in front of a black seamless paper backdrop. A small softbox was to his right, a small striplight as a hair light, a disc reflector to his left and a spot grid with a blue gel on the black seamless paper backdrop.

For the second shot I used the same camera position and lighting setup except for the blue gel, which was removed and the power of the spot grid powered down a little.

On the third shot I moved the camera position 90 degrees to Pacino’s left and shot his extreme profile against the sienna seamless paper backdrop.

By moving the main light around a bit toward camera position and reflecting more of that light onto Pacino’s face, I reduced the contrast of the image, therefore returning to a more conventional lighting. Let’s call it my “3rd ½ look.”

The image I like most is No. 4.

What do you think?

Follow Ricardo DeAratanha on Twitter @rdaphoto63.