Rangefinder Magazine
January 2005

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Rf Cookbook by Michael De Pasquale
“Smash”

Studio photography fulfills most of my interests. Transforming an abstract idea into a clearly defined photograph is the goal. A studio gives the photographer the control needed to achieve this.

I used a bass drum as the lighting’s foundation. I converted the drum into a cylindrical softbox.

Removing one of the two drum heads, I exposed the inside of the drum and covered it with paper to prevent color contamination and to redirect the light spill back through the front drum head. For the rim light, I used a round piece of black matte board covered in velour to absorb light from the center of the bulb. This was my background and was positioned on the base drum head’s skin.

For stop motion, I used a Profoto Pro7a because it has relatively short flash duration. I placed the adjustable flash head to a “flood” reflector setting inside the drum.

The next step was to mount the hammer and bulb to ensure consistency from shot to shot. I drilled a hole into the hammer’s handle and implanted a bolt to act as an axis on which the hammer would swing.

A C-stand was used to stabilize the bolt. To fix the light in place, I screwed in a threaded pipe and gripped it with another C-stand.

I built a prototype trigger circuit based on an infrared sensor. When the infrared beam was interrupted, the flash would go off. I placed the emitter behind the handle so when it moved into position, the interruption would occur.

Setting the shutter speed to 1⁄2 second, I turned off the lights. I adjusted the bulb’s exposure with a dimmer, locked the mirror up on my Hasselblad 503, and counted down from three. At that moment, my assistant released the hammer, and I squeezed the cable release. A moment was forever suspended.

Smash!

I was raised in central NY in a small product studio. In 1999 I attended art school in Cazenovia, NY, for two years. I decided some real skills were needed so I moved to CA where I attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. To see more of my work go to: www.photoedwin.com/.

INGREDIENTS
• Camera: Hasselblad 503
• Lens: 80mm, f/2.8
• Extension Tube: 2m Proxar
• Digital Back: Megavision S3
• Lighting: Profoto Pro7a 1200 w/s