Talk to the hand

I don't think I'll even try to explain what went trough my mind when I thought up this picture (in truth: probably nothing). Suffice it to say that I've drawn heads like these in my notebooks for years now, and the time had come to bring them to life photographically as well.

Anyway, a few words on the lighting and technical stuff here.

Lighting: Camera set to manual exposure 1/200 f/8.0 using av 50mm lens. Three flashes involved: One Speedlight 430 behind me to create the hint of rim light (manual 1/4), a Speedlight 550 at camera right, approx 1,30 meters from me (manual 1/1). I had to use full power and ISO 250 for the 550 because it was placed behind a 100cm Calumet semi-transparent reflector to soften the light.

An on camera 550 controlled the two others. The on camera 550 was set to produce no output whatsoever.

Composite of two photos; camera on tripod to ensure that the table, background, etc, stayed fixed; lighting, focus, exposure etc also identical between shots. One shot of the head, the other of the hand. Merged in Photoshop Elements.