The Jet City Rollergirls are just one of the lots of regional roller derby leagues that I have the enjoyment of photographing regularly. I was thrilled when the organization asked me to photo new portraits for the Bombing planes, their all-star team. As high as I delight in photographing the activity on the track, I particularly enjoy with the creative and technological challenges that come with skater pictures.
The only demand I was provided was the pictures needed to be on a simple history for use on profile pages and spell programs. The rest was totally approximately me.
One of the challenges of shooting numerous pictures in a solitary session is finding a lights arrangement that I can set-and-forget which is flattering for every person. My usual go-to is one large soft source of light up high (generally a 60 Softlighter) and afterwards a couple of lights on the history.
I wished to transform points up and to maintain it simpler this moment around. I really did not intend to fuss with stabilizing the subject light versus the background light and after that maintaining light from spilling onto the topic. I likewise wanted to arrangement and damage down my equipment as rapidly as possible.
The Configuration
My lighting configuration was extremely easy. It was basically a traditional clamshell lighting setup that is flattering for just about everyone.
The crucial light was a Cactus RF 60 in a 43 shoot-through umbrella positioned up high on the electronic camera axis and angled down concerning 45 degrees. Relatively basic essential light setting.
The fill light was a second Cactus RF 60 additionally in a 43 shoot-through umbrella established just below electronic camera elevation and on the cam axis. The fill light had to do with 2– 1/ 2 stops below the trick to fill the shadows simply sufficient so they really did not check out as completely black.
All lights were approximately 10 away from the background. I put the skaters about half-way between the lights and the history to keep the lights soft and still cast some darkness.
I set the general direct exposure to maintain the brightest component of the backdrop at about 85 % intensity. With the crucial brighten high and a low fill light, I had the ability to get great smooth gradation from top-down on the background.
The important things I suched as regarding this configuration was that it was easy to adjust on the fly. I can shift the essential light to either side to find better angles on the skaters’ faces. I could promptly adjust the height for taller or shorter people. I could move the skater closer or even more from the background to obtain better darkness. This is certainly an advantage of capturing with little flashes and small modifiers.
The Electronic camera Things
In terms of camera gear, I fired every little thing with my Fujifilm X 100 T and the TCL-X 100 tele-converter lens. 33 mm (50 mm FF equivalent) was the ideal focal size for tool portraits. Wide sufficient to get mid-body pictures at close range. Enough time to not have any type of insane distortions.
Exposure was f/ 4, 1/ 200, ISO 500 At those setups, everything in the framework was totally black without my flashes, which allowed me to adjust the flash ratios without stressing over ambient light. I purposefully bumped up the ISO, so my flashes would not have to function as tough (i.e. faster recycle times, much less battery drain).
I actually didn’t spend much time with the lighting setup. It took me possibly 15 mins to configuration whatever and do my lights tests. I took 5– 10 shots per skater to ensure I had an excellent variety of severe and smiley faces. I could not invest excessive time with each skater, because the whole shoot happened throughout a practice. The skaters had more important points to do– such as planning for playoffs– than get their images taken.
Blog post Production
Retouching and toning was all carried out in Lightroom CC. Nothing awfully complex below. Cropping, white balance improvement, photo modifications for contrast, color toning for individual preference.
You can see from the pictures over that the SOOC picture left wing isn’t poor at all. It’s just a little also blue. The image in the middle with the dealt with white equilibrium would have been completely useful for profile photos and programs, however it was also neutral and level for my tastes. I desired much more punch and contrast, so I proceeded editing to get the outcome you see on the ideal side.
Because I shot every little thing with the exact same illumination configuration and direct exposure settings, I can retouch a number of vital photos and afterwards copy-paste the setups throughout all photos. I then fine-tuned slightly per image. For example, I needed to do some brush modifications to restore highlights in dark hair as well as soften highlights on faces.
Wrap Up
On the whole, this was a relatively simple and uncomplicated shoot. A basic lights arrangement enabled me to establish my gear and do lighting examinations extremely quickly. That very same straightforward arrangement gave me the versatility fine-tune my vital light placement as well as fine-tune my fill light.
Considering that I really did not need to fuss with the lights too much, I had the ability to concentrate on photographing the skaters and catching their characters. Familiarity and an excellent connection certainly helped maintain the shoot loosened and not-very-serious. Most notably, we all had a great deal of fun.
You can see the remainder of the photos from the session on my site: http://photography.dannyngan.com/jcrg-bombers- 2016
The Bombing planes are heading to Wichita, KS, throughout mid-August to compete in the WFTDA D 2 Playoff Tournament to figure out which groups will most likely to champs in November. Have a look at the online streams to see them in action!