Imagine It, Then Capture It: Creating on the Spot with the Z 9
A low-hanging chandelier invited Jerry to pose his subject standing amidst the fixture’s glass. “I almost wanted her to wear it,” he says. An Ice Light—the portable, dimmable LED light he designed—provided the main illumination; the rest of the effect is color reflections from the room’s lights. Z 9, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/250 second, f/2.2, ISO 2500, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
Z 9 BTS - The remarkably accomplished photographer Jerry Ghionis takes you behind the scenes of one of the best weeks of his photographic life. It seems it has something to do with a certain flagship mirrorless camera. In a word, it’s an adventure.
It was obvious from the start that the Z 9, our 45.7-megapixel flagship mirrorless camera, would not only keep up with Jerry Ghionis’s imagination and ability to create on the spot, it could also challenge him to extend his reach.
Here’s the proof: Early on, in the behind-the-scenes video, in the clocktower set, after the tricky silhouette maneuver, Jerry says of the camera, “It grabbed focus, it grabbed the contrast. It actually knew what we were doing.”
We didn’t just keep up, we jumped ahead, and for Jerry and countless other photographers, it’s likely we’re now fueling ideas and providing capabilities that existed only in their imaginations, enabling creativity and confidence for and beyond their assignments.
A theatrical, costume-driven photo. “I loved the hallway location, so we dimmed the lights, and when I saw a frame nearby, I thought, Let’s present her as the work of art. Then I got her to turn her face to create the repeat shadow effect. The fall-off at f/1.2 is exquisite.” Z 9, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S, 1/250 second, ISO 1250, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
On the Job
Jerry’s assignment was a great one: Here’s the Z 9, now do what you do. Push the camera. Let’s see what you can dream up that’ll challenge its capabilities.
Jerry was testing and discovering not only for us, but for himself. He’s a pragmatic shooter who wants to stay in control of the process, and he is not interested in technology for its own sake. "The camera makes many things possible,” he says, “but you still need a good driver.” He’s concerned with what works for his endeavors, which include weddings, portraits, fashion, performance and, lately, creating and directing music videos.
Z 9 - Music videos have become part of Jerry Ghionis’s photographic repertoire in the last year and a half. Locked Up on You is the fourth he’s directed with singer, performer and entertainer Ashlie Amber, and the first shot with the amazing Z 9, Nikon’s flagship mirrorless camera.
“One of my mantras is, if the magic is there, I capture it; if it's not there, I create it,” he says. “People have referred to me as the MacGyver of photography, in the sense that I walk into a room and see things and possibilities that other people don't see.” Observation, decision, control.
That suited us just fine, and it worked out well for him, too. His sense of discovery is obvious in the behind-the-scenes video. “Oh, we can do this now?” is unsaid, but the realization is prevalent: lightning speed of AF and reliability of tracking; high ISO performance; high-speed shooting at mind-blowing frame rates; dead-on Eye AF under conditions that once would have seemed impossible.
It was one rabbit after another out of the hat.
“Wassa is a designer and former Cirque du Soleil Zumanity performer, and I’ve worked with her before. Everything in her designs is African inspired and celebrates her heritage.” Z 9, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/250 second, f/2, ISO 1000, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
The Z 9 has opened the door to more freedom, more fun, more efficiency and more confidence.
The Confidence Curve
If you sense, while watching the behind-the-scenes video, that Jerry has moments of “I can’t believe what this camera is doing,” it’s not your imagination. “I’m not used to allowing the camera to do the heavy lifting,” he says. “I’m used to focusing, recomposing and shooting—selecting a single focus point—but as I’ve been photographing performers, it was, all right, let’s see how I can make the AF features work for capturing peak performance."
It wasn’t long before he had the confidence to turn the lifting over to the Z 9. Then he pushed further, going out of his way to create deliberate challenges. “I wanted to see what its limits were, so I didn’t play it safe for any test.” He came up with situations and scenes to push the AF system, frame advance and Eye AF. Setting up situations to deliberately pass tests would defeat not only our purpose, but his. He wanted to know if he could depend on the camera to consistently perform its magic. The lifting had to be not only heavy, it had to be imaginative and practical, all at the same time. And time after time, it was all of that and more—more “Oh, we can do this now?”
“I used a strobe, a beauty dish and a reflector for this image. Color right out of Nikon cameras has always been exceptional.” Z 9, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/200 second, f/2.5, ISO 400, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
“I was a good candidate for the assignment,” Jerry says, “because I’ve never really totally relied on a camera for all its features. To go from what I normally do to what this camera is capable of was a huge step. Basically the Z 9 has opened the door to more freedom, more fun, more efficiency and probably most important, more confidence.”
“Some subjects I can pretty much direct, but all I knew was that Lukas Galante was one of the best break dancers in the world, if not the best, so I didn’t want to stifle him. I set the Z 9 for a burst of images at 120 frames per second, gave myself room to breathe with my composition, asked him for his most impressive moves and then trusted the camera to get them. What I got was shallow depth of field plus perfectly sharp and decisive moments.” Z 9, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S, 1/1000 second, f/2.2, ISO 1600, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
“I’d worked with Marina Nicole Pegado before, so I knew what she could do. I gave her some cues and fired off a burst of shots at 20 fps.” Z 9, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S, 1/1000 second, f/2.2, ISO 2500, manual exposure, Matrix metering.
