This is a question I find myself having to answer a whole lot lately. I never have this issue with a Moose photo, nobody thinks of a Moose as sexy so bringing out its sex appeal for an ad is never in question. But you have a rather expensive aircraft and that all changes. Sex appeal has to ooz out of the ad so the person viewing it can picture themselves sitting in that expensive aircraft, in this case a TBM 700. In the perfect world, all the elements come together in one click and the client is mucho happy. In the ever and speedingly changing environment of an air to air, that magical moment might last 2sec at best. So what I am constantly asking myself which to case, sexy light or sexy background?
Having that answer doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll get when you go out. It will at best simply give you a direction when you see things heading to that sex appeal outcome. Now in these two examples we have two very strong background colors, red and green. Both are powerful and have lots working for you. The top image has the very dramatic light on the TBM700. It’s hard to beat the dramatic light. Very Hard! But the bottom photo doesn’t have the dramatic light but has a romantic light and…and the background has the romantic light. But the top photo has the more romantic background while the bottom much more recognizable. The only constant is the subject, the TBM 700. Like I said, I don’t have the answer but I do have the question and I feel with that question, I will at some point find the answer that will help my photography move in the right direction and grow.
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VRII w/TC-17e