Master Any Lighting Setup With The Help Of set.a.light 3D

Step Up All In Behind the scenes of Movie Poster photo shoot with Monte Isom

8/06/2014 ISO 1200 Magazine 3 Comments


New York based photographer Monte Isom (website) explains his last assignment:

When Summit Entertainment tapped me to shoot the Movie Poster for Step Up All In I was super excited. Every time I have worked with dancers in the past they took direction exceptionally well. The phenomenal cast of dancers cast for this movie did not need my direction at all. I simply let them know where their mark was, what mood we were looking for and let them do what they do best as seen in this Behind the Scenes video.

We shot on a standard white seemless dry set and then onto the fun water tank set complete with fountains. The water tank was made by Dean Wadella and Stewart Handley in Vancouver. They worked hard to ensure the water was warm enough for the talent to jump in without freezing. Fortunately the talent never balked and once in we almost couldn’t get them out.

The energy from the dancers was endless. The break dancing Monster was exhaustible. Twitch kept nailing the same move without flaw. Andi and Sean had incredible chemistry that made it so easy for me to photograph sexy images for the key art. The amazing thing is that single image of them used on the movie poster is almost identical to the in camera capture.

The water set proved to be so much fun. It reminded me of being in a water fight as a kid. Here I gave the dancers direction to use dynamic movements that would be accentuated and enhanced by the water spray extension.
Text and video via




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The poster turned out great, but I do have one big concern. I don't know if photoshopping was your job or not, but don't you think changing Briana's body so much was a bit unnecessary and unfair? Not only did she have more photoshopping than her male counterpart, she looked fine already and didn't really need that chunk out of her stomach, thinner legs, or a bigger thigh gap. If this was your job, please do the audience a favor and don't perpetuate unrealistic body expectations like this. If this wasn't your job, sorry to bother you but please pass this along if you can.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anonymous,
The client obviously got what they wanted from the photographer and any edits. Do the world a favor and mind your own business. Besides, few commercial photographers get hired to make images of ugly people. Just something you should keep in mind.

Me said...

I believe there's a huge difference between 'ugly people' and photoshopping too much. Briana on the movie poster looks unrealistic with her extremely thin waist. It was a thing that caught my eye immediately. I think a real photographer should capture the true image of someone without adjusting it this much.