Alright folks, lemme tell you about this crazy photo idea I had. See, I’m a huge FF7 fan, especially the Rebirth vibes, and I wanted to capture that feeling of… well, suffering. Not in a morbid way, but more like that dramatic, “everything’s falling apart” kinda vibe you get from the game.
First, I needed a model. I hit up my buddy, Mark, who’s always game for this kind of weird stuff. I told him, “Dude, think Cloud Strife after Sector 7 falls. Anguish. Despair.” He kinda chuckled, but he was in.
Next up: location, location, location. I didn’t have a Midgar lying around, obviously. So, I scouted this abandoned industrial area near my place. Gritty, rusty, perfect for that post-apocalyptic look. Spent a good hour just walking around, figuring out the best angles and lighting.
The setup was key. I grabbed some old metal scraps, a broken chair, even some ripped-up fabric to scatter around. I wanted it to look like a scene of utter destruction. I even brought a small fan to blow Mark’s hair around for that extra dramatic touch.
Lighting was tricky. I didn’t have fancy studio lights, so I relied on the natural light, which was actually pretty decent that day – overcast, but not too dark. I used a reflector to bounce some light back onto Mark’s face, just to highlight the “suffering.”
Now for the actual shooting! I told Mark to just… feel it. To channel his inner Cloud. He started out a bit stiff, but after a few tries, he really got into it. We did a bunch of different poses: kneeling, looking up at the sky, clutching his head in despair. The works.
Post-processing was where the magic really happened. I loaded the photos into Photoshop and went to town. I desaturated the colors a bit to make everything look more bleak. I added some shadows and highlights to emphasize the texture of the environment. And of course, I tweaked Mark’s face to make him look even more tormented.
The final touch was adding some subtle details. A little bit of smoke in the background, a few stray sparks flying around… just little things to enhance the overall atmosphere of chaos and suffering.
Was it easy? Nah. Did it take a lot of trial and error? Absolutely. But in the end, I think I managed to capture that FF7 Rebirth feeling I was going for. And honestly, it was just a fun, creative way to spend an afternoon with a buddy. Plus, Mark got a free photoshoot out of it, so win-win!
