Footballer (new image added)

gibtheo

gibtheo

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Name
Steven
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I normally shy away from photographing people, except when they're playing sport, so this was going out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty happy with the result of this shoot though and it's encouraged me to try to get out of that comfort zone more often! The subject is a young pro footballer who is rising through the Brisbane Roar ranks at the moment, I shoot games the odd weekend and when he approached asking about getting some photos for his profiles I came up with this idea. Comments very welcome...



View attachment 40443
 
Not sure I like the top of his head being cut off, but thats subjective of course

Lighting and clarity are spot on

Les
 
Hi Steven, I like the pose, but the strips are too hot for me. It's never a good idea to blow the highlights - especially in portraiture.
 
To be honest the blown highlights don't bother me at all. Especially for this kind of dramatic portrait.

I'm not 100% on the head crop, but overall I think you've done really well.
 
You can create the drama without blowing the highlights.
 
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UaeExile said:
You can also create a good image without giving two hoots about blown highlights.
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Fair enough. They bother me, they don't bother you. It's not that important - we're both just sharing our opinion. :)
 
I like this, the crop nor the highlights bother me. It screams to have a background compsited in Joel Grimes style. Nice work :)

What was your lighting setup out of interest?
 
doublemint76 said:
I like this, the crop nor the highlights bother me. It screams to have a background compsited in Joel Grimes style. Nice work :)

What was your lighting setup out of interest?
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Yup - the only let down is the boring background. I'd love to see it as a composite, but I wouldn't have the skill for that :)
 
Thanks for the comments guys. The highlights aren't an issue to me, I like the contrast between the light and dark, that's what this was about for me.

The crop is obviously subjective but I went for this one as it really focuses your view in on the player I think. Like its a bit more imposing. Just my personal view.

I know what you mean about the background, it was a shot done for a profile pic so it's going to be viewed pretty small, I thought it better not to clutter the space up too much. I did think about putting something into the background, I was playing around with a smoke effect, and thinking about dropping a football pitch kind of thing in. In the end I just left it bare but I'd be interested in what anyone else would put into the shot? I'll have a go if I like any suggestion.

Lighting set up for those interested...

2 lights from behind with tin hats on, high up and angled down to create the side highlights.
1 light from just in front of the guy, to the right angled almost straight down. Tin hat.
1 light fill from just next to camera, soft box.

I'm looking to do another one of these as I have another player interested, he's a goalkeeper so should be a good one. I did consider putting a light behind the model shooting straight back towards camera but I'm not sure if it would just confuse the shot more than anything?
 
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Like this a lot. Highlights don't bother me at all but oddly the head crop does (I personally love cropping heads in portraits). IMHO I think seeing all of his head would have made it stronger. Not a deal breaker at all though and still an excellent portrait!
 
Hi again everyone,

Finally got round to doing another one of these. I think I improved the set up, hopefully you can see the changes to the background etc. This guy is a friend of mine, he's a goal keeper and we shot this with his sponsor in mind (Asics).

Any comments would be welcomed...



JAMIEs.jpg
 
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He's a big bloke and it looks a bit cramped cropped like this. Go wider. Put the top of his head in shot and include the bottom of the ball.
 
Not sure why you're cropping the head... I love a good head crop and it can really change the look and feel of an image, but with the style you're going for here, and this is only my opinion, it doesn't work. Nor does cutting off the football. Head cropping tends to work better in a more 'emotive' type of portrait.
Love the central composition, love the hard lighting, love the whole idea of it... but your cropping is letting it down. But that's only one woman's opinion. :)

Edit: and I LOVE the second one best!
 
Thanks guys. I understand what you're saying, I shot it with full ball and head so I could change the crop.

To explain my original crop, I was trying to go for the imposing kind of look, maybe I didn't get the right look out of the model, or maybe I didn't get the crop right.

Let me put up a fuller crop up and see what you think. I have only retouched it in this crop though so bare in mind the extra bits won't be the same!

PS. Thank you for the comments. I really am out of my comfort zone here so appreciate and comments.
 
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I disagree with the catch lights in the orange player shot… horrible but I agree more with
those in the goalie shot though not perfect.
Lez325 said:
Not sure I like the top of his head being cut off…
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Me neither. This decision belongs not to the photographer but to the AD!
The23rdman said:
: the strips are too hot for me. It's never a good idea to blow the highlights - especially in portraiture.
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Indeed, that is the fine art of controlling specular surfaces and lighting.
The23rdman said:
You can create the drama without blowing the highlights.
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Of course, as highlights are a nightmare in the industry for enlarger thech, printers, and ADs.
Morbid said:
Much better crop, thanks for taking the time to post it.
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minnnt said:
Full version is much better. :clap:
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Yes, much better! …but those highlights… ggrrrr!

In any case, this is a highly valuable effort, but needs the final polish in understanding
that it is not about your picture but more what the industry can do with it.
 
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Now i'm on the PC i can see the new uncropped version has some rather crude PP. Assuming this is not the finished edit and was just posted to shut people up? The BG needs work but the subject is pretty schweeet. There are a few blown highlights, but it doesn't really bother me tbh. I see published shots with blown highlights everyday... Ironically, on a billboard for example, i could see this shot with a cropped head. :D

Practice makes perfect mate. You're not far off it imo.
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment. Having done the new crop, I agree with you all! I much prefer it.

As I mentioned earlier, I just cobbled the extra parts on to show everyone the fuller crop. I'll go back and put them in properly now. I took a lot of confidence from the process of shooting these and I'm really happy with the results. I find shooting people very nerve wracking but very rewarding, so hopefully I'll be in this section more often!

Thanks!
 
Really like your final shot, the hard lighting creates so much impact
 
These are great Steven. I agree with all the advice and pointers in the replies and you've executed them well in the final image. The hard lighting works really well in this image but the sidelights are still a bit too hot in my opinion. I don't really mind them being blown, but I think the image can be better tweaked in post if they aren't blown to begin with.

The light to camera right obviously lifts the exposure more on that side, but the sidelights are well positioned and balanced, giving an even strip on each side of his face.

Love the hard edge lighting which separates him really well from the background. Would be well worth attempting a composite with this shot!

You're going to get some awesome images once you've refined this setup! Not that these aren't awesome, but the others will be better than these, I can almost guarantee it ;)
 
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