Pirate Character Portraits For a Film Prop
When life gives you pirates in the studio you make character portraits! Film director Marc Price needed to create a prop for a feature film he was making… Mia and the Dragun Princess, which is currently in post-production and due out later this year.
The prop in question is a painting of pirates in battle on the deck of a sailing ship. The painting hangs in one of the main locations for the film.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth
So, when a film director arrives in your studio with a bunch of actors, some great costumes and very real-looking swords, daggers and pistols props… You take some pictures of them and sod the money side of things. I quickly set up a backdrop near the studio shutter door and took some simple character portraits of actors when they weren’t being photographed on the white set. This was to prove a good investment, as of the back of these photos I got hired a few months later to take character portraits of the main actors on the film set.

The light by the main door into my studio is wonderful on either sunny or cloudy days. I also finally I got to use a painted backdrop I’d bought. The brown rustic texture fitted perfectly with the costumes. A simple reflector bounced light up into their faces. Sometimes studio photography doesn’t have to be complicated!