Shooting a fitness instructor

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pablob

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Paul
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Hola,

I have potentially struck a deal to shoot the guy who is currently whipping me into shape in exchange for his training time! Having never shot a bloke before I'm just wondering what the lighting set ups used should be to bring out all his muscle definition! The guys called Jay Benedetti so google images and you'll see the type of physique I would have to make look the best! He' going freelance so needs some pics for his website that's currently under development!

Any ideas welcome :)

Cheers

Paul
 
A couple of examples, diagrams and tips here - http://glyndewisblog.com/2010/08/20/photoshoot-and-technique-male-physique-posing-tips/

I've never shot anything like this, but basically you need to create highlight and shadow, shadow especially, between and around the muscles. This will emphasise form/shape etc.. That means hard(ish) light coming in from the sides or above rather than straight on from the front. If you can't see shadows then the muscles will be less distinct.

Actually, think of shots of the moon. When you have a full moon and there are no visible shadows it looks flat, featureless and almost soft. You can't see the craters at all. When you have a half lit moon, or anything less than full moon, you start to see shadows appear in and around the craters at he boundary between light and shadow, bringing them to life and making the shape plainly evident. In the fully lit, flat lit part you can't see squat. The craters are still there - you just can't see them. It's the same with muscles, texture, shapes in general.

20090812_003105_1552_LR.jpg
 
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sidelight, like Tim says, if you hit up an online fitness mag and find a few good shots then you can deconstruct the lighting in those.

afaik McNally shot some cool stuff that would suit your purpose with 2 big scrims either side and nailing a few speedlights into each with a ring? or just general front light set on a much lower power to control the shadow depth, skim his blog to find it if you like.
 
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