How did he do it?

I ran into this photo by Ryan Brenizer:
http://www.flickr.com …s/carpeicthus/6​169408714/

He doesn't divulge how he did the light in the picture. I'm guessing the flash was snooted and the rest of the of photo is underexposed to create silhouettes.

Any ideas?

I'd imagine he exposed for the sky and popped a flash on the groom, likely with a snoot or grid to keep stray light off of the groomsman next to him. Of course, he could have just used the standard reflector, carefully aimed. That shot was done at 24mm so he's actually pretty close, meaning the strobe itself may be just above the photographer out of frame but relatively close to the groom. The more I think about it the more I think it may be a bare reflector.

Another way might be two exposures, silhouette and normal, keeping the majority of the silhouette and blending in the groom from the normal.

I have no idea how exactly he did it, but personally I would do it easy way... expose so you get silhouettes and zoom flash head in, so you have very narrow light beam pointed to guy who should be lit properly. It's really easy to do something like this, and I would assume he didn't bother with other more complicated ways either.

im going to guess, as others have suggested, that he has exposed for the sky and to silhouette the groomsmen, and then a flash (possibly with a 1/4 or 1/2 CTO on it to warm it a little) aimed and zoomed/gridded/snooted to fall on just the groom (its to the right of the camera, reasonably high too)

I think this can be done with 2 exposures. Not even with a snoot because the light size is big enough to light up the groom's hands too, not just the face. I say one shot to capture the silhouettes. The next shot with the flash on. Then, superimpose them in photoshop using layers and masks.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I don't really care for the shot all that much. As for how it was done, there's a number of ways it could have been done, none of which are all that hard.

TooManyShots wrote in post #15893753
I think this can be done with 2 exposures. Not even with a snoot because the light size is big enough to light up the groom's hands too, not just the face. I say one shot to capture the silhouettes. The next shot with the flash on. Then, superimpose them in photoshop using layers and masks.

You are making it to difficult !

30 seconds longer to do it in one frame with flash - or 30 minutes longer blending layers in PS - i know which option i would be taking !

I have done (and frequently continue to) do photos like this, where a frame is fairly dark and a bit is highlighted by flash - zooming a 580ex in (actual zoom level depends on flash-subject distance) will get you a nice beam of light, with a bit of falloff at the edges - the darkness on the hands is probably also due to the flash being up and to the right, and it is falling off across the frame (inverse square law - double the distance = -2stops)

Fairly simple to me.
Flash them all. Down. Flash was down.
Make the rest of the crowd dark in LR, no faces, but guy you need to stay fool_ly exposed- is exposed originally or more added in PP.
Cheers!

elrey2375 wrote in post #15894225
Maybe I'm in the minority but I don't really care for the shot all that much. As for how it was done, there's a number of ways it could have been done, none of which are all that hard.

Elrey, I'm not discussing the uniqueness or originality of the shot, nor I'm asking people to rate it according to their likes and dislikes. I simply asked about a technique, because I wasn't sure how to make this particular photo.
Saying that you've done it before and it's not hard contributes nothing to the answer.

after just recently watching his presentation at BHphoto, i'm guessing its a composite. he said he uses that technique frequently.

take one with flash, one silhouette then put it together.

scroller52 wrote in post #15895880
after just recently watching his presentation at BHphoto, i'm guessing its a composite. he said he uses that technique frequently.

take one with flash, one silhouette then put it together.

Of course he uses the composite method often, haven't you heard of the "Brenizer Method"? I don't think this shot is a composite though. It looks like it'd be pretty straight forward to do with one flash in one exposure.

Aleness wrote in post #15895798
Elrey, I'm not discussing the uniqueness or originality of the shot, nor I'm asking people to rate it according to their likes and dislikes. I simply asked about a technique, because I wasn't sure how to make this particular photo.
Saying that you've done it before and it's not hard contributes nothing to the answer.

You asked how it was done. Obviously you liked the shot. Why would someone ask how to reproduce a shot they don't like? Your response to my post contributed just about as much

elrey2375 wrote in post #15896162
You asked how it was done. Obviously you liked the shot. Why would someone ask how to reproduce a shot they don't like? Your response to my post contributed just about as much

Actually, I can't say that I like this particular shot that much. I was more interested in technique. I like a lot of his other photos.
I'm always looking for ways to expand my toolbox and sometime I can't quite figure out how some photos are done.
I had a few guesses and will probably try to reproduce the shot (in terms of lighting), but wasn't sure, that's why I started the thread.
I generally find this forum is extremely helpful and full of people ready to offer their help, critique or a sarcastic remark (which sometimes works too)