All Hail To King Harald

So, with Osku Pienimäki we got our Vikings-serie’s Fanart photoshoot session done 1.3.2020 and now it’s time to dig in to how these photos were built. In each Before and After image I’ll let you know how many flash or led-lights we used to get the right mood for the shot.

#1

Lets begin: The first image we shot was indoors. There we used 2 Fomei led mini rgb 12 lights. One led-light was inside a box where light came straight to the face and the second one was in a fireplace. I planned to put some fire in the fireplace in Photoshop, so that’s why we needed to create some gloving orange light from there. We put one Elinchrom Ranger Quadra HS flash with a 70x100cm stripbox outside to bring some day/night light from the back, and we also got a smokemachine to bring some fill light inside (when the lights hit the smoke, it will spread better all around).

Camera: Canon EOS 5Ds R

Lens: Canon 24-70mm f 2.8

Lights: 2 x Fomei led mini rgb 12 and one Elinchrom Ranger Quadra flash

Camera setup: ISO 800 | f 4.5 | 1/60sec | 35mm

#2

Now our main idea was shot and it was time to move outside for the second one. There we found such a cool bench that we had to use it! With this shot, we brought just one Elinchrom Ranger Quadra light with a 70x100cm stripbox and created classic lighting.

Camera: Canon EOS 5Ds R

Lens: Canon 24-70mm f 2.8

Lights: One Elinchrom Ranger Quadra flash

Camera setup: ISO 320 | f 8 | 1/100sec | 35mm

#3

Next we shot the iconic Björn Ironside photo. This one was shot with the same set as the last one. One Elinchrom Ranger Quadra and a 70x100cm stripbox on it. The flash was standing right in front of the camera, so our lighting was kind of a ”Beautylight”.

Camera: Canon EOS 5Ds R

Lens: Canon 24-70mm f 2.8

Lights: One Elinchrom Ranger Quadra flash

Camera setup was same like last one: ISO 320 | f 8 | 1/100sec | 35mm

#4

For the last image I just wanted to do a basic standing photo. When we shot this last one, I was a little bit tired from posing and figuring out setups, locations etc etc. so this one was done pretty quickly. We decided to not use any flashes or led-lights and only used daylight. When I retouched this image, I thought that it still needed a bit of a boost and I scrolled through Adobe Stocks to find some nice mountains for the background. I found one and I knew right a way that this was it, now I just needed to colorize the image to match the TV serie’s theme.

Camera: Canon EOS 5Ds R

Lens: Canon 24-70mm f 2.8

Lights: Daylight

Camera setup: ISO 320 | f 5 | 1/125sec | 70mm

Thanks to our amazing team!

Costumes: Artistiasu (www.artistiasu.fi)

Hair: Cava Hair & Make-up (www.cava.fi)

Makeup: Niina Pieniluoma

Shooting location: PowerPark (www.powerpark.fi)

Sword: Rautaportti (www.rautaportti.fi)

Photography: Osku Pienimäki

Retouch and edit: Jukka Vähälummukka

More info: vahalummukka.net