Hi,





I was wondering: how does Dan Winters manage to create such small spotlights on people yet manage to keep it so very very soft. I know he works on films so he could (in the case of the Ledger photograph) shoot and underexpose a bit and tweak in the darkroom (Leibowitz uses the technique as well sometimes). But in the case of DiCaprio's portrait: the light source is very small yet very soft. Stunning. Like an oil painting from the 16th century almost. I know some people do this with light skimming but really, can it be done that way? I doubt this is skimmed light, or am I wrong?

(And if it is skimmed: I suppose I cannot do that with two monoheads with just an umbrella then? I would need soft boxes right?)





PS: If you are Dan Winters fans, like I am, his very first book was just published! It's great!! It's called Periodical Photographs.





EDIT How stupid am I? The portrait is in the book. He uses a soft box to the right and a slight fill ring (you can see it in detail in the catch lights, duh! WHy didn't I think of this before I opened the topic).





Then the question remains: Could I do this with two umbrellas? One to the right one on axis with the cam as a slight fill?