When my son wanted to be a Jedi for Halloween, he told me he could just wear a black shirt and pants and be like Luke Skywalker in Episode VI. I didn’t care to have him wandering at night wearing something that was so hard to see, so we dressed him as a young Obi Wan Kenobi instead. His lightsaber was part of a toy that was broken, but it was great for the costume, as it retracted to fit into a pocket under his belt. We added a plastic spice jar as the handle, covered with duct tape. The glow was added in Photoshop, of course.
I asked our very good friend and Star Wars aficionado if he had a not-too-fancy, mid-range lightsaber we could borrow just for pictures inside. This is what he lent us.
No duct tape necessary. I’ve been wondering what he considers an upscale lightsaber?
The background is a 20 foot black muslin sweeping from the ceiling to the floor.
I have a 2 foot soft box high on the camera left as the key light and a 5 foot brolly box on camera right for the fill light. There is also a light on a background stand right behind the Jedi shining at his back to separate his black hair from the background. The back light is what I think gives the pictures that extra dash of hero flair.
In a later post, I’ll detail an easy way to get the lightsaber glow in Photoshop. Stay tuned . . .
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