Record Cover shot with GFX100S
Final Album Cover
GFX100S & GF80mm F1.7 Lens
The Supermarine Music Record Label recently commissioned me to photograph the album cover for legendary Blues musician Roy Poulton and his band.
I chose to pair the GF80mm F1.7 lens with the GFX100S camera. This combination of high resolution and beautiful bokeh makes it ideal for portrait photographers and those seeking to capture fine details with a shallow depth of field.
The GFX100S, with its 102MP medium-format sensor, provides unparalleled detail and dynamic range, while the GF80mm F1.7, one of the fastest lenses available for the GFX system, allows for exceptional artistic control over depth of field.
This lens is known for its sharpness across the frame, even at its maximum aperture of f/1.7. It ensures that images are crisp and clear with a pleasing, soft background blur that enhances subject isolation.
The session was lit with an Apurture 300d Mark II.
Contact Sheet
As you can see below, we tried varous poses and ideas. The brief from Supermarine Records was for a close up portrait that would emphasise the beard and fill the album cover.
Using the GFX100S for this was ideal as it gave me plenty of lattitude to crop closer and edit accordingly.
Contact Sheets
Final Image
The final image was cropped and edited using the Ektachrome True Film preset from my Film Edition 3 Lightroom Pack.
Ektachrome is a brand of colour reversal (slide) film developed by Kodak. It is known for its fine grain, vibrant colours, and sharpness. Introduced in the 1940s, it became popular among professional photographers and enthusiasts for its rich colour reproduction and high contrast. Ektachrome is distinguished by its signature cool colour balance and blue-green tones.
This preset offers a contrasty colour film look, with a subtle grain and increased detail in the shadow areas.
It’s one of my favourite colour profiles to use for portraits.
Selected Photograph of Roy
The Roy Poulton Blues Band
You can get a taste of this amazing album below. The album features a variety of classic blues tracks, including:
With a Little Help from Our Friends
Born Under a Bad Sign
Pride and Joy
Hoochie Coochie Man
Feelin' Good
If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
Who Do You Love?
Thrill is Gone
Hey Joe
Crossroad Blues
The Roy Poulton Blues Band includes Roy Poulton, Jonni Mills, David Gould, Lea Siba, Will Lawton, Lauralei 'Frog' Howlett, Dave Sturdy, and Sally Clayton.
If you want to buy the Album, follow this link.
Other Options Considered
We narrowed the selection down to three possible candidates. I feel the monochrome cover wouldn’t have worked very well given the branding of the album and the style of the music.
I’m very pleased with the result and love the look of the album cover.
