Heady stuff for Portrait Photographers
Ian Robertson is Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and founding Director of the Trinity College of Neuroscience. Previously he was senior scientist at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge.Â
He’s become a household name in Ireland as a frequent guest on morning radio shows, speaking on such subjects as teenage risk-taking, dementia, criminality, ISIS and Vladimir Putin. He’s one of those people who can process complex research into digestible information easily, and has published over 200 articles and books including Mind Sculpture, Opening the Minds Eye and The Winner Effect. Here’s his TEDx Talk on The Perfect City. Ian hails from Scotland but has lived and worked in Ireland since 1999. Its fair to say that he’s done quite a bit of work into the machinations of the human brain. A heady subject for Portrait Photographers
Photography and Lighting.
Lighting for this portrait involved using a large full-length Softbox powered by a Bowens Flash. I also used a light to brighten and smooth the background, while incorporating some overhead daylight via a skylight.
The shoot was commissioned for the college’s Trinity Today magazine and is featured on the October cover.
Visual interest.
A variety of poses were used incorporating the skull as an appropriate prop for a professor of psychology. I also shot some images without the skull for variety which will be used for inside the magazine.
Processing was done in adobe lightroom, using a desat adjustment which was tweaked for the needs of the job. It also adds a slight touch of the macabre that suited the setting. a very apt post for halloween.