May The 4th Be With You

Posted to Flickr on 04 May 2013. Part of the Stormtroopers series.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Stormtroopers: the Empire’s finest.

Origin

This photo was taken in honor of Star Wars Day. Star Wars Day is a holiday created by Star Wars fans and is a pun of “May the force be with you.” It is my attempt at a double pun, because in this photo Han Solo is the fourth person in line. “May the fourth person in line be with you.”

Setup

My kitchen serves as my photography studio.

Setup

The figures are standing on a sheet of clear acrylic which was placed on the old black shelf that I frequently use as the base of my photo setups. The shelf is elevated by a couple of boxes from the pantry.

My camera is mounted on a Gorillapod. The macro lens is too heavy for the Gorillapod, so the lens is propped up by two clear plastic cups.

Above it all is a large circular diffuser that I often use for my tabletop photography. The light is provided by the ambient light in the kitchen. No additional lighting was needed.

I draped a piece of black fabric on the left side of the scene in order to block sunlight from coming through the kitchen window.

Additional setup

The figures are arranged in a row on top of the acrylic sheet to provide a reflection. In the process of arranging them, I knocked them over more than once in domino rally fashion.

In the background is an old broken computer monitor that I often use for stormtrooper background shots.

Alternate

At first I considered using only four figures for this photo.

Alternate

However on reflection I though the photo would look more balanced with six figures. Also, conceptually, I like having Han Solo as the fourth of six figures because he first appeared in the fourth of six movies (depending on how you count them, of course).

Elsewhere

Han and the stormtroopers have also been spotted here:

Have you seen this photo somewhere else? Or are you using it yourself? I would love to hear from you! It's always fun to learn where my photos turn up.

Flickr Facts

This photo was posted to Flickr on 04 May 2013. The last time I checked, it had 24,272 views on Flickr.

The media type of this image is "photo." The original file type was "jpg." The photo's dimensions are 1024 x 680, giving it landscape orientation.

Unless otherwise noted, the image was created by me, JD Hancock.

Selected imagery background information.

Han Solo

Han Solo is a smuggler-turned-freedom fighter in the Star Wars universe. Along with his Wookiee companion Chewbacca he trades and smuggles cargo in his spaceship the Millennium Falcon. He was first portrayed by actor Harrison Ford in the original Star Wars film trilogy Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), also known as Episodes IV, V, and VI. Over the course the original trilogy Solo befriends Luke Skywalker, falls in love with Princess Leia, and becomes a leader of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire.

Stormtroopers

The stormtrooper is the elite soldier of the Imperial forces in the Star Wars universe. They typically wear white armor and helmets and are armed with blasters. Imperial stormtroopers were first depicted in the film Star Wars (1977). As shown in the Star Wars prequels Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), the stormtroopers were preceeded by the clone troopers, an army of soldiers cloned from the bounty hunter Jango Fett and loyal to Emperor Palpatine. In many ways stormtroopers are an iconic symbol of the Galactic Empire.

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