Planning

A shoot like this requires access to a top athlete – both for the move itself¹ and the physique, so my first problem was to find one that was willing to participate. After searching the Internet for a while I discovered that one of France’s leading gymnasts – Yann Cucherat – trains just an hour away from me in Lyon, so I contacted him, pointed him to my work and asked if he’d be interested. He was kind enough to say yes.

Yann’s training schedule was very busy so my time with him was going to be short. My assistant and I made sure that we were well in advance for our photo session, and this allowed us to prepare and test the equipment before Yann’s arrival.

Lighting and troubles

With my flashes I wanted to achieve two things: to simulate sun light and to freeze the gymnast’s motion. This would normally be a simple task, nevertheless in practice lighting the shot proved to be problematic. The issues involved are certainly worth examining in detail. Let’s look at the constraints one by one…

Constraint 1 – flash was the only option

I needed control over the light – not only was the ambient light was flat and boring but I needed a hard light source to simulate the sun for the final composition. A flash was therefore essential.

Constraint 2 – overpower the ambient light

Despite its size the gymnasium was actually very well lit thanks to copious amounts of overhead lighting and a number of skylights that were allowing plenty of daylight into the room.

Since there were other gymnasts in training there was no possibility to turn off the center’s overhead lighting. To avoid the motion blur introduced by the ambient light falling onto the subject my flash would have to deliver enough light to completely overpower the ambient light.

Constraint 3 – shutter speed

In order to minimise the contribution of the ambient light (constraint 2) the use of a fast shutter speed is a move in the right direction, however I couldn’t go any faster than my camera’s sync speed – a measly 1/200th of a second for the Canon 5D Mk II. Fortunately I was using a PocketWizard MiniTT1 to fire my flashes, so this allowed me to fire slightly over the sync speed – 1/250th – using their incredible HyperSync feature.

Constraint 4 – lowest possible flash power to reduce flash duration

To freeze motion I would need a fast flash duration. The Profoto AcuteB flash packs that I use provide their fastest flash duration at lower power levels (by switching out the capacitors), therefore the lower the flash power the better my chances of freezing the gymnast.

Constraint 5 – the aperture

The choice of aperture was being pushed in all directions by a number of variables.

• To reduce the ambient light (constrain 2) I needed a small aperture.
• To reduce the flash power (constraint 4) I needed a big aperture.
• To produce a convincing composite image the aperture would need to be similar to that used in the background shot. For example it would be odd to have a very shallow depth of field on the gymnast and a pin sharp background.

I decided to compromise with f/5.6.

Constraint 6 – the ISO

The choice of ISO was being hustled by the same constraints as the aperture.

• To reduce the ambient (constraint 2) I needed to reduce the ISO.
• To reduce flash power (constraint 4) I needed to increase the ISO.

The ambient light was really very strong. Given my 1/250 sec at f/5.6 the ambient light at ISO 200 was still introducing motion blur. I decided to move to ISO 100.

The compromise

With the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speed all fixed, the only remaining variable in terms of exposure control was the flash power, and I needed to keep that at a minimum (constraint 4).

Prior to buying my portable studio flashes I spent a long time examining the options that were available to me, and I detailed the results on this blog. I stated the following:

“Another excellent starting point would be to buy 2 AcuteBs, one with the bi-tube (Twin) head. This set up offers a great deal of flexibility – the two heads are totally independant for complete control and less cable routing problems. When portability is paramount one pack is very light to carry about. When more power, quicker recycling times or shorter flash durations are needed then the two packs can be used to drive the Twin head.”

This is actually the route that I took. By using two AcuteB battery packs with one Twin head I was able to further reduce the flash duration for the amount of power that I would need.

The shot of Yann used for the composition.

Was it enough to freeze the gymnast? No!

Despite my best efforts there was still a touch of motion blur. It’s was mostly visible on the feet and legs which were having to move faster than the torso. The face was sharp though, and that was critical. All the variables had been exhausted. I had two choices – either to call it a day or to accept the motion blur as a creative effect in final image. I took the latter.

The right moment

The 5D’s frame rate is very limiting for this sort of work, so catching Yann at the right moment in time was a matter of good timing. Yann was great to work with – he managed to repeat the move enough times for me to get the shot I wanted.

Compositing

With the photo of the gymnast completed I entered into the final stage of the creation of this image – the post processing.

I had a photo from New York that lent itself perfectly to the concept that I had in my head, and so I used this for the background. I had positioned the flash so as to provide exactly the same angle of light as the sunlight in this photo – this is vitally important when creating compositions.

To extract Yann from the gymnasium I used Photoshop CS5′s new Refine Edge improvements. Adobe have really done a fantastic job with the refine edge tool now.

The effect of perspective on an object is governed uniquely by the distance of the object from the lens (focal length is irrelevant), so to create a convincing composition the gymnast was placed such that he appeared to be approximately the same distance from the viewer as he was from me when I actually took the photo. In a photo like this there’s a little leeway before the eye really starts to notice something strange going on, so I made him a touch large than he would probably have been in reality. Note that this is different from the tennis player composition in which the perspective effect was so strong that the positioning was critical.

Finally there was a fair amount of tonal work involved to make the two images feel like they were a single whole.

1. If anyone can tell me what this move is called I’d appreciate it!

Fact 2: One of the frustrating things about photography is that that there are so many types of photography to explore.  It can be quite overwhelming for those coming into our world.

For those contemplating professional photography as a career then the good news is that somewhere in this gargantuan gulf of photographic endeavours there’ll certainly be something that’s right for you.  Whether you’re introvert or extrovert, a recluse or a team player, an image taker or an image maker, an artist or a technician, there’ll be a branch of photography which will suit your personality.

For example, as a professional fine-art wildlife photographer you’ll be spending hours waiting patiently for that perfect moment and then selling your images as pieces of art, whereas a traditional wedding photographer may need to deal with difficult mother-in-laws and control crowds of slightly merry people while managing the technicalities of his or her flash.

The vital thing is that you choose a form of photography that’s right for you.

I’m commercial/advertising photographer specialising in active lifestyle images, very often sports or outdoor oriented imagery, and I love my work. Commercial photography imposes its own requirements on the type of personality that’s best suited to this career, so  I thought I’d present my own reasons for choosing this path – it may well help some of you to go in either the same direction, or else strike it off your list and look at the many other options available to you.

Create, not take

I love to create images – to put all the pieces together to form a compelling photo that will provoke a response in the viewer.  I enjoy composing the image, placing the talent and perfecting the lighting.

Carrying my camera around at all times in case I see something enticing just isn’t my thing – I know this through experience.  I’m also uncomfortable taking images of people who haven’t chosen to be in front of the camera.  So travel photography, journalism and other such pursuits simply aren’t well suited to my personality.

A creative outlet

Creating images is great fun, but being creative gives the greatest rush.

Commercial photography offers plenty of room to express yourself as a photographer; most shoots offer opportunities to be creative.  Sometimes the client involves the photographer in the early stages of a concept, other times the brief is specific but there’ll be opportunities to express yourself on location once the required images are in the bag.

And of course you can do anything you like when creating images for self-promotion….

Personal interaction

Comercial photography requires a lot of interaction with a large variety of people – clients, art directors, models, make-up artists, stylists, assistants, etc.  It isn’t a job for the introverted, (although you certainly don’t need to be an extrovert to succeed), but you need to enjoy the human contact.

Variation

My job is incredibly variable.  My activities include self-marketing and prospection, client meetings, brain-storming sessions, production and logistics, photography, post-processing and retouching, accountancy, paper work, chasing up clients, maintaining my web site, keeping up to date with the latest technology and techniques, updating this blog, etc etc.

I really enjoy variation in my life, but I appreciate that this constant juggling act isn’t for everyone.  In particular you should know that actually taking pictures is but a small proportion of all the above.

The technical stuff

All forms or photography require a certain degree of technical competency. Commercial photography requires a particularly high level of understanding if you wish to avoid being limited in your ability to create images.

The geek in me loves this stuff.

Finally, the challenge…

Many good amateur photographers have told me that they couldn’t become professional because they like to take their own images rather than being “dictated” to by a client, to which I’ll quickly retort that it’s perfectly possible to take and sell your own images professionally – fine art or stock photographers do this all the time.

That said, in my case I adore the challenge of accepting a client’s brief and exceeding his or her expectations.

Of course I do get plenty of opportunities to create my own imagery for self-promotion.  It’s the best of both worlds.

Concept

The concept was a simple one – the guy who’s so passionate about his sport that he even skates to his day job.

The shot that I really wanted in the bag was very straight forwards – the skateboarder would be skating very casually through the town, perhaps dealing with a client on his mobile phone.   The concept dictated that the control of the skate board had to be completely second nature – as if this is the character’s main form of transport.

Planning

Although this shoot is considerably simpler than the tennis player composition that I detailed previously, it still required planning and forethought.

The first problem was to find a model in the right age range who was willing and able to skate through the town wearing a suit.  This would obviously draw attention from onlookers so the talent would need to be at lease a little extravert.

I found a specialist skateboarding shop and explained my project to the owner; he immediately thought of an ideal candidate and offered to pass on my business card and explain my request. Within half an hour my model had called me back, willing and able!  The cherry on the cake is that the model was an ex-salesmen so he already had a suit that would fit.  If only it was always this easy…

Using competent sportsmen and women is essential for my work.  The fact that they are often not professional models doesn’t tend to be an issue since they’ll be concentrating so much on what they’ll be doing that they’ll look natural on camera.  This is very different from asking a non-professional to take a static pose.

We set a date for the shoot and I crossed my fingers that that weather would hold out.  Since this is my home town location scouting was a fairly painless process.  With the help of my assistant, Matt, we chose a couple of interesting locations.  I knew that I wanted to shoot with a wide angle lens to get the context of the town into the photo, so the major considerations were the position of the sun, the look of the backdrop and a smooth surface for the skateboard.

The “cool dude” shot

This is the shot that I wanted in the bag.  I shot with a fisheye from low down, pre-focussing at the point at which I wanted to take the shot.  The fisheye would allow me to have the skater take a predominate position in the frame – thanks to his close position – while still allowing me to capture the surrounding context.  I chose to use a fisheye for aesthetic reasons, I don’t like the way the edges of the frame look disproportionally large when shooting with a  rectilinear lens under these types of conditions.  In post I would remove just some of the fisheye look.

I then asked the model to pass in front of the camera lots of times, varying the poses – hands free, in pockets, using phone, etc.

The sun was back lighting the subject so Matt provided fill using a Sunbounce Pro.  The entire spectacle drew attention from the people in the café for a few minutes, but they soon got bored and started to ignore us.

The “jump” shot

Once I was happy that I had a keeper we moved onto the second location.  The model was keen to try something more dynamic and by this point I was more than happy to start expanding the limits that I had originally defined.

This time he would be skating into the sun – a compromise forced on us by the fact that he needed to put his right foot forwards.

The key technical difficulty was the focussing – even with a very wide angle lens with a small aperture the photos were totally unacceptable if the focus point wasn’t near enough to the model’s head at the moment that I took the shot.  Since the jump was never in exactly the same spot each time this reduced the number of keepers significantly.

During the whole shoot my model was just great.  He was incredibly enthusiastic and tirelessly devoted to getting the best image.  He would even offer his discerning eye over the results, explaining what was right and wrong about a shot from a skateboarder’s perspective.

Post processing

Back at the studio I made my selects using Lightroom and then processed the images using a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop.  The post-processing phase is really the point at which I get to express my personal style.  You can see the before and after shots for the jump here.

"Out of the camera"

The final version

I organised the shoot with a fairly local professional model; there were no hard and fast plans, we simply headed for the Alps with the intention of getting some mountain lifestyle shots.

Although there were no specific requirements I never undertake a shoot without having quite a few planned shots, so I’d spent the previous week sketching image ideas as they came to me.  For an easy-going shoot like this I’m not obsessional about actually getting all the shots that I’ve noted, but they do give me a starting point once on location, and from there I allow the shoot to evolve.

I worked with a great model.  Since she wanted to use the images for her portfolio she’d also taken the time to think of some ideas before hand, and this allowed us to brainstorm various possibilities and do some scouting to find interesting locations based on our plans.  The best images always come from a collaborative exchange of creative ideas such as this so I’m always thrilled to find myself working with like-minded people.

Organising a shoot like this is fun and rewarding.  Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Have some clear ideas of your objectives before you go.  Even if you don’t follow your original plans they’ll give you a good starting point from which to get your creative juices flowing.
• Allow yourself to deviate.  If your models have ideas then don’t brush them off – collaborate.  You’ll get more from them if you encourage their participatation.
• Think about your models’ comfort.  In this case I bought along some extra snacks and fruit to keep us both going.
• For lifestyle images create a “story” around each picture so that the model can more easily imagine the appropriate poses.
• Think hard about the gear you need to bring with you – both photographic or otherwise.
• Have fun.

I thought it might be interesting for some of you if I explain how this image of a tennis player diving for the ball was created, starting with the concept and working through to the the post-production.

Concept

Once the initial idea for the photo had been conceived (and having the idea is often the biggest challenge) the first step was to determine exactly how to achieve the result.  In this case I clearly couldn’t ask a model to dive onto a real tennis court (that’d hurt I would think…), so the only option left open to me was to produce a composite image.

As with all commercial-style shoots it’s important to pre-visualise the final image since this will guide the choice of location, the model, the clothing, etc. In the case of a composite image this pre-visualisation becomes absolutely critical; if the result is to be successful each of the individual images needs to be taken under similar conditions.  If the perspective of each subject isn’t consistent, the depth of field doesn’t match or the lighting is too different then the final result won’t be convincing.  It’s not feasible to undertake a project of this nature without having a good idea of what the final image will look like.

Planning

I knew that I wanted to use a wide angle lens with the tennis player close to the camera for a more dramatic perspective, and this implied a number of important considerations:

• I would need a very wide chroma key (“green screen”) backdrop.
• I would therefore need a fairly large studio.
• The perspective distortion would be strong, so it would be very important that the photo of the tennis court be taken at the same focal length as the photo of the player so that I could place the player at the correct distance into the image.

Unfortunately I didn’t have access to a green screen as wide as I needed, so I had to improvise.  I ordered a 1.2m x 15m roll of “Fadeless Art Paper”¹ so that I could stick it up on the wall using masking tape.  I didn’t expect this to be ideal (and I was right!) however I was prepared to spend a little more time in post-production to work around any problems.

Other than the backdrop issue there were many other things to think about – even a small scale shoot like this one needs careful planning.  Here’s an non-exhaustive list of the things that I needed to consider or remember to bring along:

• The date and time: the studio, the model and myself all needed to be available at the same time.
• The camera equipment: which lenses and strobes would I need to bring along? I have a very long equipment check list that I use when planning a shoot.
• The model’s comfort: food and drink (I made a quiche), access to toilets, a place to change, etc.  Also, in this case, a mattress to land on!
• Setting up: It’s the simple things that are easy to forget – masking tape, scissors and a step ladder for  putting up the backdrop for example.

The “Dive” Shoot

The "dive"

I planned to give myself an hour of set-up time before the talent arrived, however I was lucky enough to find a great model who wanted to be involved in the whole process.   She arrived early to help me unpack the car and prepare the equipment.  Without her help putting the backdrop in place would have been a horrendous experience – thanks Selma!

I’d bought 2 mattresses and a thick double duvet to use as a landing pad.  I positioned these at the angle that I wished to take the photo and moved them as far away from the “green screen” as I could.  The combination of a wide angle lens, a very wide subject (model horizontally out-stretched with a tennis racket) and close shooting distance meant that I couldn’t get as much separation as I’d have liked, so the green would inevitably “spill” onto the model and increase the post-processing time.  The main light also cast a shadow on the backdrop (although that isn’t too hard to handle later).

The lighting setup was fairly classic.  I used two monobloc flashes to light the backdrop as evenly as possible.  The main light was a Profoto AcuteB with the “New Zoom Reflector”, placed just left of camera and just high enough to put a catch light in the model’s eyes.  I planned to use another AcuteB as a fill light but it wasn’t necessary in the end (the white walls did that for me).  Rather than let it go unused I was able to use both power packs together for the main light (a dual tube Acute “Twin” head) allowing me to reduce the flash duration to better freeze the model in mid-air.  Finally, a Canon 580EX with a C.T.O. gel used as a kicker gave a slight separation.  All the flashes were set off simultaneously using PocketWizard radios.

After an hour’s set-up time we were ready to shoot.  Once again I was lucky to have been blessed with a great and enthusiastic model.  She took a 10 minute jog to get the sweat going a little, and then proceeded to take 70 (yes, seventy.) dives onto the landing pad.

My 5D MKII was tethered to my Macbook Pro, and the images were bought into Lightroom² so that she could see her body position and facial expressions.  This sort of direct feed back really helps to get the talent involved in the shoot, helping them to help you.

At the end of the shoot I took an image of a tennis ball under exactly the same lighting conditions.  This would facilitate the composition later on.

The “Tennis Court” Shoot

The tennis court

The choice of court would have an huge effect on the final image.  Since I wanted a slightly gritty/hard feel to the image I found a court that would suit that look.

The light falling onto the court was very flat – not at all like the hard light falling on the model – but that actually gave me more opportunity to control the image in post-production, and for the look I was after the flat light was more appropriate.  Had I wished for more lighting consistency it would have been crucial that the light was coming from the same direction as the light on the model (and that would have cast my shadow on the ground, complicating things a little).

The only major shooting considerations were therefore the focal length and aperture (which needed to be the same as that used in the studio), the focal point and the angle of view.

Post Production

I personally use Lightroom to catalogue and rate my images, so the very first step was to bring the images into my main catalogue. Once this was done I selected the images that would be used in the composite.

To choose my selects I use an iterative process.  On the first run through I give one star to all the images that have any possibility of being selected (in this case filtering out the ones where there model has already landed or where she wasn’t placed correctly in front of the green screen, etc).

I then filter for only these images and go through again to find the 2-star images – this is possible now that I have a familiarity with all the images in the collection.

In the third iteration I find the best images from the collection and I also check for critical focus.  If necessary a fourth iteration will leave me with just a few images to select from.  For this shoot the body position and facial expression were the two most important criteria.

Once I had my “dive” shot selected I bought it into Photoshop to remove the green screen (and the green spill).  This is a critical step, a badly cut out image will destroy the final effect.  Delivering a well-executed composite image requires a fair amount of post-processing experience and familiarity with your editing application (Photoshop in my case).

The tennis court also received some retouching to remove the fussy background. I wanted a clean image in which there weren’t lots of details fighting for the user’s attention.

The resulting composition is achieved using a fair number of layers in Photoshop.  Good use of layers ensures that the composition is created non-destructively so that it can be tweaked until it’s right.  The three principal images (court, talent and ball) are included as smart objects so that they can be transformed and retouched many times without compromising the image quality.

Here’s a look at the resulting layers palette to give you a feel for the work involved. Bear in mind that some of the work isn’t visible here since it’s inside the smart objects (the green-screen masking, for example).

Note that it’s best to read from the bottom up.

Attention to detail is essential if the composite is to look real to the casual observer. Things such as the subtle colouration of the ball and t-shirt from reflection of the ground help to ensure that the result is as seamless as possible.

Over to you…

I hope that this has been a useful insight into a shoot of this type.   There are many things to consider and to control, but this is what makes photography so interesting!

If you’re interested in learning more about photo realistic composition then you may be interested in the workshop that I’m going to to start offering for 2010.

If you have any questions then please feel free to leave a comment so that others may benefit.

1. This was harder than it should have been since I couldn’t find such a thing in France so I had to order from the UK.
2. Tethered shooting is possible using a combination of EOS Utility and Lightroom

Despite this, all too often the post-processing stage is neglected.  Some photographers even condemn the practice, uttering arguments along the lines of “wishing to capture the scene exactly as is was”, and using this as an excuse for avoiding any post-processing effort.  I’d like to have seen them have this discussion with Ansel Adams!

The reality of the situation is that no scene is captured “accurately” by a camera. Converting the 3-dimensional scene to a 2-dimensional photo has a dramatic effect all by itself, and this is further exacerbated by the choice of lens (and thus perspective).   Technology’s limits come into play too – both the dynamic range and the colours that can be recorded are determined by either the choice of film or the capacities of the digital camera’s sensors.  At this early stage the captured image is already a severely altered version of reality.

Furthermore, digital camera users who resort to JPEG mode have inadvertently decided to let the camera post-process their images for them,  in accordance with the preferences of the camera’s manufacturer.  The firmware of the camera will apply its own contrast curve, saturation adjustments, noise reduction, sharpening and colour balance to create a rendition of the image that is intended to be “pleasing” to the average user; it’s anything but “accurate”.  This is intentional – the results, aesthetically speaking, are more interesting than trying to reproduce the reality as accurate as possible.  Thus any personal attempt to capture reality has already failed – the camera’s done its best to create an improved version!

Those who prefer a RAW workflow take control of all of these aspects for themselves.  I believe that this is without a doubt the best approach for most serious photographers – I would never dream of letting my camera guess at my intentions when I create an image. Developing a RAW image is the first (and possibly last) step in the post-processing stage.  This is the point at which a photographer imposes his or her personal vision on a photo.

How far should one go with the post-processing?  Photographers will each have their own objectives; a journalist may indeed strive to create a neutral image that reflects the reality of the scene, whereas a fine-art photographer may change many aspects of the image.  The important point is that in all cases the photographer should be making these decisions and understanding his or her actions, rather than believing blindly that setting the camera to JPEG to avoid more work later is the right – or righteous – thing to do¹.

Since I’m a commercial photographer the post-processing phase is of utmost importance – it can make or break an image.  Advertisers don’t wish to convey reality; they wish to suggest something better – something that provokes an emotional response.  In my case the changes are often quite small, but they can make a huge difference to the final result.  The example in this post is from a recent shoot;  I’m loathe to show my out-of-camera originals – but hey, it’s for the greater cause. I’ve displayed the end result again for easier comparison.

Before

After

I’m embarrassed to show you the “before” version – it’s very rare that my original is quite so far removed from the final result, however as an example that demonstrates the importance that post-processing can have, it’s ideal.

Before the shoot I already had the final shot in my head, so I knew what I was aiming for.   This example is particularly appropriate because I couldn’t have captured the image I wanted without post processing.  The final image dictated that I use a wide-angle lens, but it would at the very least need cropping, and cropping is one form of post-processing all by itself².

I asked the model to wear a bright red t-shirt so that it would clash with the surroundings.  This would be easier to select in post-processing later, thus allowing me to make adjustments to the colour palette of the final image based on experimentation.

Although the original photo is well exposed, I decided to over-expose the final image to create the “raw” feeling that comes with high contrast.  Finally, I’ve warmed up the image by changing the white balance, added a little Lightroom clarity and a slight vignette, and I’m finished.

In the original the foot is blurred and the trainer’s dirty, the model has been decapitated and the colours are uninspiring, I don’t like the model’s overall body position or the composition. Nevertheless I was able to see past all this because I had an intention and because I’m willing and able to post-process my images. The actual post-processing work in this example is quite limited, however the result is dramatically different. It corresponds to both my intention and my personal style. I’m very happy to place the result in my portfolio.

1. It may well be the right thing to do for some photographers, such as a journalists who need to record many images and get them to the editor as fast as possible, but they of course understand this…
2. This is a major advantage of a high pixel count camera such as the 5D MkII.

For this first image I attached my camera and flash to the frame of the bicycle and then drove along side at slow speed. The camera was fired remotely using a Pocket Wizard. I waited for the evening light so we had to work fast to get a shot I was happy with.

This next shot is simple yet it really spoke to me. There’s a sense of isolation that’s appealing, and I romanticize the experience further by using a soft colour palette.