Triathlete Shoot Part 2| davem photography

I love doing athletic shoots and when you see this series, you'll understand why.  Zack Arias does the white seamless and knocks it out of the park. I do the black seamless and I think I knocked it out of the park (a small park maybe or at least a double). Shooting on a black background requires less light and gear, so it's a bit easier.

This time I moved around lights to get different looks and was able to nail some killer shots.

I normally shoot outdoors, but Joshua had seen some self portraits over black I had done a couple months ago and wanted a similar look. I'm glad we did. Setup was pretty simple. I used a roll of 9 ft. black paper on a background stand. Set it up in my front living room, which is about 10'x10' with 9' ceilings. I'm hoping to show some BTS video in my next post.

We started off with basic standing shots and poses. Once I set up the lights, there was very little adjustments. One of the benefits of working in a controlled environment, is that once your lights, shutter speed & aperture are dialed in, there's nothing left to adjust. All your time is devoted to working with your subject and working on angles to create the best possible images.

I struggled with the goggles shots. I had already done a portfolio review with Zack Arias (details in a previous post.) Basically he warned me about the reflection in the goggles as it's something that had been done before. I still like the look, but I need to try and figure out something different. I've got a couple ideas, but they involve either shooting in a pool, lake or ocean. When I finally get around to executing that idea, I'm going to need some way of protecting my camera from the water, because it involves me being actually in the water either at waist level or camera just inches from the water. Trust me I'm already doing research on waterproof bags and cases. Expect something in the spring when temps are warmer.

Next I moved to the bike. Started off with basic standing shots with the bike that was similar to the previous shoot.

Then I started playing around with the position of lights to get some lens flares and light bursts for a different look & feel.

I think the previous shot is my favorite. I really like bringing in the lights into frame. I did take it into Photoshop and remove the light stands and do some burning to make sure the background was black and some dodging to bring out the white in the bike. BTW, I shot everything vertical and made some horizontal versions. It's easy to do since the background is a solid color. The negative space makes a great place to layout text or add logos.

Next setup would be Joshua on the bike. I set the bike on the trainer since he couldn't actually ride (same setup as a previous post).

Once again the last 2 images are the same. I took the vertical shot and made it into a horizontal version and cropped tighter.

We did a final wardrobe change to get a running look. The yellow singlet really pops off the  background.

This was another awesome shoot and I couldn't wait to get some of the images into my portfolio. I'm going to have to make another print for my office. Going to be difficult to decide which one.

I already have some interest from other members in the club, so expect another triathlon shoot next spring. I've got some ideas to really step it up a notch or two.

As I already mentioned, I'm going to work on a BTS (behind the scenes) video for the next post, so it might take me a bit longer.



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