Robert Benson CEO Shoot

This is the kind of thing I would love to see much more of -- nice walk-thru POV videos from portrait assignments.

Photographers are visual people. And you can learn an awful lot, very quickly when other photographers are generous enough to have their assistants shoot these kinds of vignettes.

It's only a couple of minutes long. Take a look and think about what you get out of it. My thoughts after the jump.
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It's nice to see the lighting, which in this case is a quick, simple two-light setup that could be done just about anywhere. But the real value for me in this video is the look into Robert's subject interaction.

Even in this short clip you can get a good look at his bedside manner -- how he jokes around and keeps the CEO at ease even while shooting in the midst of her doing other activities. The hair flip was her quick way of getting ready, but Robert coaxed a few more out of her to try for a moment or layer to the photo that would not have been there before. That kind of reacting to the moment is important.

And even while he is being fun and going with the flow, he is clearly in control of the couple of minutes they will spend on this look. That is a bot of an art form -- especially when working with people like CEOs, who are used to being in control of others all of the time.

You can't draw up a simple back-of-the-napkin diagram for this kind of stuff -- you pretty much have to see it happen. Which is why this info is relatively hard to come by, compared to lighting.

Many thanks to San Diego photog Rob Benson for this one. And if you haven't already checked out his very RSS-worthy blog, head on over.
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Oh, and if you are shooting BTS vids on your assignments, give us a heads-up in the comments. We'll make sure the best ones get seen!