I had the pleasure and excitement of shooting the infamous eye that has become the iconic image of this compelling series created by Fox and National Geographic.
This beautiful eye belongs to my lovely wife and project producer, Emily Balay. It's by no means her first television appearance, but this is definitely her closest close-up.
The shot was obtained by rigging a high resolution camera overhead like a microscope’s objective lens with Emily laying comfortably on a massage table. Using a long focal length lens allowed working room for the specific lighting which created maximum 3D relief on the fibrous structures of the iris.
The macro photography setup. A small flashlight is being used to control the size relationship between the iris and the pupil.
This imagery was then incorporated into a 3D model to facilitate the dramatic camera flight around and through the cosmic eye.
