STORY BEHIND THE SHOOT
My husband, Justin, met and became friends with Jason David Frank in 2012. We were living in Houston at the time and we ended up doing some video and photography work with him and became good friends from that point on. We were so excited to hear about a new character for BOOM! comics being released, named “Lord Drakkon,” under Saban’s Power Ranger universe. In short, “Lord Drakkon” is an evil Power Ranger who controls the Black Dragon and battles Power Rangers. He is an evil, and older, version of “Tommy Oliver” from an alternate reality that rules his Earth. Jason, playing an evil/alternate version of the character “Tommy” that he made famous in the 90’s, is really something special to be a part of. We were asked to photograph dramatic portraits of Jason in costume on the throne that was built for the film set.
HOW TO: GET THE COVER SHOT
We have used Paul C Buff, Inc. AlienBees™ for years and there wasn’t a doubt in our mind that this project wouldn’t be any different! We had a very limited time line on shooting day in Los Angeles so we set up two AlienBees™ B800’s (one with the Foldable Octabox and the other with the LiteMod™ Snoot and a green gel for hair light). We kept our gear on standby so that in between filming we could bring everything out to shoot. The primary goal of the trip was to get a classic but dramatic single image that would be used to reveal the character to the world as a comic cover. We mirrored the pose of an illustration from previously released artwork so that fans would instantly recognize who and what this was. Once we had Jason posed, we had minutes to get our lighting power and position lined up before the next set needed to be built out. We were able to power up our main light, power down our green hair light, turn off the hair light, and show all of these options to the head of marketing within seconds from the palm of our hand.
We are used to working with tight deadlines, but the final image had to be edited and sent off for printing in less than 24 hours from when the shutter was clicked. Knowing time was of the essence meant we needed reliable equipment that worked with us and not against! The team loved the final results, we made our deadline, and most importantly, had so much fun on set! We can’t thank the staff at Paul C. Buff, Inc. enough for creating such dependable triggers, and gear, that aides us in making the work that we love and share with the world.
About Justin and Kirby Betancourt
Mike was born and raised in the Midwest with a passion for sports. His specialized sports and composite photography comes from years of playing sports and collecting football cards. Based in Kansas City, KS, his career in photography started in 2014 and has developed into a passion for high quality imagery. He loves his craft and thanks Jesus for His grace, wife, and child.
FOLLOW JUSTIN and KIRBY BETANCOURT: Justin’s Instagram | Kirby’s Instagram
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