I wanted to create a commercial photography look with this challenge with an edgy and gritty lighting. I used the same lighting technique that I used in my image below except for the reflector. Instead I just laid a large round one on the floor to fill in the shadows just a tiny bit. The lights hitting her from the strip banks were just about at full power and the light coming out of the beauty dish served as the fill light at low power. The spot lights that you see in the image are actually the strip-banks themselves that I decided to include in the image to give it a bit more edge. She is in fact a damn good basketball player and an overall great athlete.
If you have ever worked with strip banks you know that it is simply impossible to light an athlete during a game like this. Lighting with strip banks is a game of fraction of inches and that is why they do these types of commercial shots in the studio or under controlled lighting and then drop the subject in a background that was shot separately. The action was that she was dribbling the ball while maintaining a fierce look and interesting pose until we were able to freeze her with a pose that we were both happy with.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 57 Avg (all users): 7.6711 Avg (commenters): 8.1579 Avg (participants): 6.8788 Avg (non-participants): 7.8908 Views since voting: 5111 Views during voting: 398 Votes: 152 Comments: 54 Favorites: 7 (view)
What I love about this photo (besides the excellent lighting) is the color palette. It's a dream of mine to be able to light a shot to this degree of perfection.
I can't help but comment again. . .this has got to be one of my favorite sports shots of all time, which is incredible as I am not a basketball fan. Love it.
I could tell from the thumbnail this was yours :-) Great result and score. The only criticism I had (and it got you a 9 rather than 10) was that her eyes were shadowed which I thought made her look tired.
I could see this image on bilboards advertising sports stores. It's superb. Sell it to nike! :-)
You have a 2 for that? Oh for the love of.... freaks!
Very nice photo and lighting :)
My thoughts exactly! I finished in 10th and only have one vote below 5, this is an incredible image and was my pick for the blue and my highest scoring image in the challenge.
I like the idea and image overall. But do find the lighting style on her face, a little off. I'm not sure if it's processing or lighting, But It just has an unnatural, dirty look to it. Giving her a bit of a zombie look.
Still though an excellent concept and image. opportunity
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