How to Photograph a Drummer: Behind the Scenes

Photography Tips

When undertaking a commercial photo shoot on location, more often than not, you have to come equipped with your own lighting setup. In the following video, professional photographer Sasha Leahovcenco explains the rig he used when shooting percussionist Mike Johnston for a Vater drumstick ad and how he was able to incorporate natural lighting into the scene as well. It’s short and sweet, but still very informative as it gives nice visuals of Leahovcenco’s lighting rig:

For the shoot Leahovcenco called on a relatively simple Profoto setup. He used a beauty dish as his main light, which was then supplemented by the addition of a 5-foot octobox for a fill and a softbox set to the side of Johnston as a rim light.

“I used a higher shutter speed, I could crank it up to 1/800 so I decided to use natural light. On the fourth floor we had this big window which was perfect.”