On location with a fighter in his Gym

[cpw]

Hi guys

I have a photo shoot in Central London on Wednesday with a fighter in his Gym.

I'm going with hard light (3 speedlights) and all fired wirelessly to suit his look.
I'm pretty much going into this kind of shoot blind as it's a first for me.

Just need some tips perhaps.....anybody shot in a similar environment???

Should I be looking to balance the ambient light with the flash for best results??

Any images, port folios or advice much appreciated

Thanks for reading

 

[London Headshots]

Ambient light will be way different to the flash, and you'll have major colour balance headaches afterwards.

Begin with a single light, and don't add another until you're confident the first cannot be improved.

Hard to give you advice, there's no information about your system.

Are you literally just using bare speedlights? That's probably going to produce a very unpleasant light.

 

[cpw]

Well I'm using a canon 20d (getting 5d mkii next month).
I was thinking of adding 2 bare lights from either side of subject for rim lighting and then one light up high and to one side (now through a white umbrella).
I was told at my camera club last night that it wasn't wise to put a bare flash on the subject even if you want raw and gritty shots.

I'm now taking 2 umbrellas 3 flashes, 2 cameras, light stands, CTO gels and the usual backup things like batteries etc.

 

[London Headshots]

Yeah, bare flash is ****, unless you know exactly what you're doing.

You probably won't want the CTO gels, as you're indoors, but they would be decent outdoors if it's dark, because you can use them to rim light, and then when you colour balance, the sky and surrounding will go to an intense blue.

I'd be tempted to use a single flash for a rim on the opposite side of the umbrella, and then use the remaining flash on very low power from high above pointing down to create a spotlight on his feet. Keeping the rest of the area underexposed by two stops or so.

Or you can use the bare flash from above and use the umbrella from below to fill the shadows in and create extra detail in his muscles.

 

[cpw]

Hi guys

Just an update to my discussion on photographing in a gym. This is my first image so far. I have tried to combine off camera flash and ambient and then create quite a hard gritty effect.

Does this work for you guys??

what would you do in post processing to make it better??

any comments most welcome
thanks


fighter by Chrisly2011, on Flickr

 

[specialman]

You've done a decent job. There's atmosphere and a good definition in his body shape. There's obviously a fair bit of fall-off as you get down to his feet, hence the difference in exposure between legs and torso... not a major issue but something to bare in mind I suppose.

I take it this is cropped? i.e. the hand going out of frame on the left makes the image look a little awkward because he's not entirely in the shot.

RE: bare flash - it's not a sin to use bare flash (as you've proven with that shot of the muscley guy in your photo stream), but it does create more intense specular highlights, especially on oily/sweaty skin... how did you do the fill on the front of the subject? Bare flash? Shoot through brolly? There are highlights present on his forehead, the end of his nose and mostly in the centre of his chest between the pecs but they're not so horrid that they ruin the image.

You just need to remember that bare flash will always look harder than something like a medium-sized softbox, but with diffusion you end up pushing speedlights more to their max power because of the loss of power through diffusion.

For me I'd hide the rear rim flash - it detracts too much and creates a focal point other than the subject. That should also cure the bit of flare you have on his left leg and also improve contrast. I'd also move it forward, more into the centre of the ring and lower to the matt so there's less background exposed, gibing that rim light more prominence. I don't mind the exposed background but by getting that flash into the middle of the ring you'll create more of a light pool.

 

[cpw]

Really appreciate the extensive review of my image. Lots to think about and very interesting. I used a speedlight through an umbrella to light him from the front. I got last minute advice on this forum that it wasn't wise to use bare bulbs if you can help it. You backed this comment up too.
It's all about trying these things and learning from it. I will put some other shots from the shoot just to show you the direction I took throughout the shoot.
Very nice to hear from you! Thanks