I like films, and I like photography. During one of my classes, I saw a still that I recognized from Hitchcock’s Psycho. It occurred to me that it would be a relatively simple photo to reproduce with a single light, so I gave myself an assignment to go and actually do it.

Here is the original I was working from:

I can’t say that I’m 100% happy with it, but the only way I was going to reach absolute satisfaction is if I was actually Norman Bates, and that’s not good for business.

So I hung a black sheet behind because the walls are white, and light is sure to bounce around. In addition, the back of the board was painted white, so bounce was inevitable. Norman is hiding in a dark room, so light spill is a no no. Held the piece of wood with a hole in it on a music stand from the by-gone-era (see t-bone in back). Fired a Canon 430EX II into a Lumiquest SBIII to give more of a wrap around light source (the light is supposed to be coming from another room, so just a single little strobe head might not give that effect. when placed this close, the light source appears big. Focused as close as possible, then cropped it way down.

triggered with remote switch.

Strobe: 1/64, 24mm, triggered by Cybersync