Long enough to not have any crazy distortions.Įxposure was f/4, 1/200, ISO 500. Wide enough to get mid-body photos at close range. 33mm (50mm FF equivalent) was the perfect focal length for medium portraits. In terms of camera gear, I shot everything with my Fujifilm X100T and the TCL-X100 tele-converter lens. Whoa Nellie!, The Mexorcist, Killer Tofu, Shock Stopher. This is definitely a benefit of shooting with small flashes and small modifiers. I could move the skater closer or further from the background to get nicer shadows. I could quickly adjust the height for taller or shorter people. I could shift the key light to either side to find better angles on the skaters’ faces. The thing I liked about this setup was that it was easy to adjust on the fly. With the key light up high and a low fill light, I was able to get nice smooth gradation from top-down on the background. I set the overall exposure to keep the brightest part of the backdrop at approximately 85% intensity. I placed the skaters about half-way between the lights and the background to keep the lights soft and still cast some shadow. The fill light was about 2–1/2 stops below the key to fill the shadows just enough so they didn’t read as completely black.Īll lights were roughly 10' away from the backdrop. The fill light was a second Cactus RF60 also in a 43" shoot-through umbrella set just below camera height and on the camera axis. The key light was a Cactus RF60 in a 43" shoot-through umbrella situated up high on the camera axis and angled down about 45 degrees. It was essentially a traditional clamshell lighting configuration that is flattering for just about everyone. Lighting setup for the Bombers portraits in the middle of the lobby at Skate Deck. I also wanted to setup and break down my gear as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to fuss with balancing the subject light versus the background light and then keeping light from spilling onto the subject. I wanted to change things up and to keep it simpler this time around. My usual go-to is one giant soft light source up high (usually a 60" Softlighter) and then a couple of lights on the background. One of the challenges of shooting multiple portraits in a single session is finding a lighting setup that I can set-and-forget and that is flattering for everyone. The only requirement I was given was the photos needed to be on a plain background for use on profile pages and bout programs. As much as I enjoy photographing the action on the track, I especially have fun with the creative and technical challenges that come with skater portraits. I was excited when the league asked me to photograph new portraits for the Bombers, their all-star team. The Jet City Rollergirls are one of the many local roller derby leagues that I have the pleasure of photographing on a regular basis. Nasty Nikki Nightsticks, Cia Woodnwanna-Bia, Beethoven’s Fist, I’llah Smashya.
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