How I photographed professional athlete Victoria Hudson
How I Photographed Professional Athlete Victoria Hudson
I had the amazing opportunity to work with Victoria Hudson for her sponsoring portfolio. She is a professional javelin thrower from Austria, double national champion and a really cool person too. In this article I'll run down my techniques for this shoot and the kind of planning and preparation that went with it.
Research and Preparation
In order for her to be able to create an appealing portfolio, it was essential that we captured a great variety of different shots. We decided on three different themes which we planned to shoot: environmental portraits using mostly natural light, studio portraits and some fashion inspired portraits. As a location we chose her training facility, as it gave us plenty of interesting backgrounds to work with.
This meant however, that a large part of the shoot would depend on natural light. In order for the pictures to work, we would need the sun. Therefore, I used my Sun Seeker app to determine the direction of the sunlight on location and monitored the weather forecast closely.
Moreover, I did some research and looked for professional images of other javelin throwers to get some inspiration and a feel for the aesthetics of the sport. I also asked Vicky if she had some images of other athletes (or in general) she particularly liked. With that in mind, I compiled a series of shots that set the looks of our shoot. I usually do that before a shoot in order to make sure that all the people involved are on the same page and to make sure that I can precisely meet a client's expectations.
Whenever I shoot outdoors, I research what lightning conditions to expect at a given time of the day with my Sun Seeker app and plan the shoot accordingly.
The weather is also essential when planning a shoot on location. While some shoots require certain types of weather conditions to work, others are more flexible.
The Shoot
On location, we started of with some full body shots, using natural light only. The sun was still relatively high and I positioned her so that the light would hit her from behind at an angle of about 45 degrees. In this setup, the sun acted as a rim light while I exposed for the shadow areas in her face. By doing so, we I was able to create some nice texture on her body. To create some separation from the background, I used my Nikon 70-200mm at f/2.8, shot at around 180mm.
In order to get some separation from the background, I used my Nikon 70-200mm lens. ISO 100, 180mm f/2.8 1/1000 sec.
As the sun set further, the shadow areas were becoming increasingly darker in relation to the areas where the sun hit directly, so I brought in my 150 cm reflector. I used the white side to open up the shadow areas and switched to my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G for some medium shots and my Nikon 85mm f/1.8 G for some portraits. Again I decided to shoot wide open to blur out distracting elements in the background. With the 50mm, I had to correct the lens' heavy vignette in post and I max out my Nikon D750's shutter speed at 1/4000 sec.
Shot with the Nikon 85mm 1.8 G, vignetting corrected.
ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/3200 sec.
Shot on my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G wide open to blur out distracting elements in the background, however I had to correct the lens' heavy vignette in post. ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/4000 sec.
Shot with the Nikon 50mm 1.4 G, vignetting not corrected.
ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/4000 sec.
Another shot with the 50mm, vignetting corrected.
ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/4000 sec.
Shot with the Nikon 85mm 1.8 G, vignetting corrected.
ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/3200 sec.
I was really pleased with the images I got from my 50mm, although vignetting was a bit of an issue. Maybe I'll replace this lens with a 50 or a 35 from Sigma's great Art series, however I really love the small form factor of the Nikon.
For the next set of shots we hijacked the locker room and I set up a small studio setup for some studio portraits. I used two softboxes (one 80x80cm as a man light and one 60x60cm as a rim light) and the white wall as a backdrop. I positioned the lights in a way that would not only cast a nice light on her but also create a slight gradient on the background. I set my ISO, aperture and shutter speed so that is would block out all the natural light in order to avoid whitebalance issues.
Shot on my Nikon 85mm f/1.8 G, using two soft-boxes at moderate power settings.
ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/200 sec.
Shot on my Nikon 505mm f/1.8 G, using two soft-boxes at moderate power settings.
ISO 100, f/4, 1/200 sec.
We also did a series using a dark grey background. For these shots I only used one small soft-box, positioned at an angle of about 45 degrees to the camera left.
ISO 100, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec.
While we were shooting the portraits inside, the light levels outside had dropped enough to allow for some dramatic fashion-inspired portraits. We packed up our things at the training facility and moved to the big stadium. As we had to move quite a bit, I decided to keep it simple and took only one light and one lens with me. I used the 80x80 cm soft-box to create some atmosphere and I switched to my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC. The stands of the Ernst-Happel-Stadium, Austria's national stadium, can fit more than 50.000 spectators but they also made for a unique location for our shooting.
I used one 80 com soft box to the camera left in order to create some atmosphere and I switched to my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC.
ISO 1600, 24mm, f/4, 1/60 sec.
The shooting was quite a success and we were both extremely happy with the shots. We managed to shoot a variety of different looks in a relatively short period of time and worked with the changing light as the sun was setting. This was only possible due to planning ahead and having an idea of what to shoot in advance.