Why the Fujifilm GFX100 II Was the Only Camera Trusted for King Charles’ Portrait
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I have this little habit: whenever I’m tidying up the chaos my two kids leave behind in the apartment, I put on a podcast.
Today, I came across one that I found particularly fascinating and wanted to share with you.
In the Double Exposure Podcast, Hugo Burnand talks about creating his portrait of King Charles—covering everything from location scouting and preparations, to the actual shoot, the lighting setup, his interactions with the king, the post-processing, and more.
Interestingly, Hugo drew inspiration from a painting of Prince Philip by Ralph Heymans. The painting depicted the Prince in the very same corridor where Hugo would later photograph King Charles.
The catch? That corridor is notoriously dark, making it a real challenge for Hugo and his team.
For this challenge, he chose just one camera: the Fujifilm GFX100 II—the camera he always turns to when he needs to capture a truly important image.
You can watch the video to see the clever techniques and setups his team used to overcome the challenges. The result is a portrait with a striking, almost painterly quality.
Of course Huge credits his team for the amazing results, but at some point he says:
full praise to my team […] because I think it looks like natural daylight thourghout and it also has a painterly feel to the photography.
While I give my team an enormous praise… actually the camera was really important, the medium format Fujifilm GFX 100 II.
Now, I warmly invite you to listen to the full podcast. But since I know many of you are particularly interested in what Hugo had to say about the Fujifilm GFX100 II in this context, I’ve extracted the key points below:
- painterly feel in the image
- fantastic dynamic range
- great tonal gradation
- if he’d have taken the image on a phone, it would be quite contrasty and harsher
- it’s not about reproducing the image in big prints that he needs GFX, because even when reproduced small it has a greater quality intensity
- the image was shot at ISO 3200
- in a regular Canon he might risk shooting at ISO 800, and then he starts losing comfort
- the Fujifilm GFX is amazing in low light
- you can see the details of the king’s eyelashes in the image, even at ISO 3200
(Quick pause: some “smart” commenters will argue he used the wrong ISO and should have gone lower with flashes. I strongly suggest they actually watch the video before making that judgment)
- the image looked like a painting by someone like Velázquez
(personal note: I never thought I’d stand mesmerized in front of a painting for 15 minutes, but it happened to me in Madrid with Las Meninas of Velazquez… what a masterpiece) - And when Hugo saw the finished portrait of King Charles, he admitted that, for the first time, he felt intensely proud of his own work
(Another pause for the quick critics: some might say there is too much space above the king’s head. That’s intentional. There’s actually a rule in royal portraiture: you must leave enough room above the head to fit a crown.)
Editing?
- no photoshop
- Hugo explained that his adjustments were no different than what could have been done in the darkroom on a wet print
Finally, if you’d like to see this portrait (and others), Hugo has set up a dedicated website: crownportraits.co.uk.