Photographing female body builders

10/08/2005 01:28:07 AM · #1

The other day I was asking in this thread about how to go about photographing body builders. Well, we had our photo shoot last night. These images are processed from raw, with some "automated tweaking" that I basically applied to all of the images (meaning I have not done any 'special' editing on any of these images yet).

The main thing I wanted to point out here is the lighting I used. I did the shoot exactly the way I had envisioned it, and I think it turned out great.

Basically, I used 3 Canon flashes ... a 550EX on camera, a 420EX shooting thru an umbrella positioned in front of the girls and off to their right, and another bare 420EX positioned in back of the girls on their left.

The idea was ... use the on-camera 550EX as the master, to determine exposure, but set the ratio down low so that it is not providing very much of the light. Then use the umbrella+420EX slave in front of the girls to light them up. Positioning on the side so that we see form and features. And finally, the bare 420EX slave behind them to add both a hair light and to highlight the profiled edges of their bodies.

I think it turned out great. The Canon flashes were perfect! I didn't have to carry my big strobes out into the park (which would not have had electricity anyway) and yet I still controlled the light exactly the way I wanted.

Anyway, here are just a few samples. See what you think:

Makka

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

10/08/2005 01:34:55 AM · #2

I really like the result you have got here! The 3 flashes seemed to work out ok. I like the photos but I don't like the crop on the last photo as you can't see her arm which I think would of been one of the main features of her pose! I'm sure when you touch these up the first one you'll need just to clean the back of her legs up a little as the flash has highlighted blemishes there and around the inside of her right thigh! Well done! Good job!

10/08/2005 01:45:25 AM · #3

Originally posted by Makka:

I like the photos but I don't like the crop on the last photo as you can't see her arm which I think would of been one of the main features of her pose!

I agree. I have lots of pictures to choose from, but picked that one in particular to show in this forum mainly because the close cropping allows you to really see the effect of the positions of the lights.

Originally posted by Makka:

I'm sure when you touch these up the first one you'll need just to clean the back of her legs up a little as the flash has highlighted blemishes there and around the inside of her right thigh!

Yup, yup. I posted all of the pics as "proofs" for the girls and told them to pick the poses they liked the best and that I would then spend a little extra time touching up the images that they pick before we print them.

Originally posted by Makka:

Well done! Good job!

Thanks, I appreciate it! :)

zerocusa

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

10/08/2005 01:50:12 AM · #4

nice setup! CLS heheee.

but why did u choose that BG?

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

10/08/2005 01:54:03 AM · #5

Originally posted by zerocusa:

but why did u choose that BG?

It wasn't my choice, exactly. She insisted on a "nature shot". We were originally going to go up into the canyons ... had even picked out the site a week ago ... but the weather got a bit chilly these past few days and her schedule got tight. So she picked a park about 10 minutes from where I live. And while she picked the park ... I picked the tree. There were others that were still green (less interesting) and still others that were much "busier" backgrounds. We had only 30 minutes to shoot before the sun disappeared so we used just the one spot and shot all our pictures there.

rjkstesch

Nikon D700

10/08/2005 01:54:19 AM · #6

David, the lighting on these shots are really nice. You've brought out the form and really highlighted the musculatur.

Where were these taken? The leaf color is great, but, man it was cold out last night!

Becky

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Leica

10/08/2005 01:57:45 AM · #7

Originally posted by rjkstesch:

David, the lighting on these shots are really nice. You've brought out the form and really highlighted the musculatur.

Thanks!

Originally posted by rjkstesch:

Where were these taken? The leaf color is great, but, man it was cold out last night!

You know where Smiths on 40th West and 90th South is, right? There is a little park just south of there. And yes, it was a bit chilly. We arrived at the park a little after 6:00 and spent about 5 minutes setting up. Then we had 30 minutes to shoot before the sun disappeared. When we were done, they both had goosebumps on top of goosebumps! :-)

hanae

Leica CL

10/08/2005 02:03:02 AM · #8

WOW they have good body, nice photos too.

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

10/08/2005 08:37:00 AM · #9

*bumpity bump* :-)

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

10/08/2005 08:41:42 AM · #10

very, very nice. thanks for sharing.

GolferDDS

Canon EOS R5

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

10/08/2005 08:47:54 AM · #11

Nicely done. One thing that catches my eye is that especially on the first picture the lighting seems a little harsh from the right side. I would soften it up a bit. Good job though.

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

10/08/2005 09:44:38 AM · #12

Nice job, David. Not sure I would have posed them directly in front of the tree as you risk that "something growing out of my head" look. but overall your shots look fantastic. You picked the right time of day, the light is perfect. Since they already know their poses, you didn't have to stress over that and could just enjoy the shoot, which it appears you did.

Congratulations.

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

10/08/2005 11:08:06 AM · #13

I think the lighting is just a bit hard edged. You can especially see this in picture 1 & 4 on the woman's arm and back. Also, I think the hair has a bit too much glow on picture 1. Since you were augmenting natural light with artificial maybe decreasing FEC would have helped this? Or decreasing distance of lights to subject would have done the trick?

10/08/2005 12:10:19 PM · #14

Originally posted by Olyuzi:

I think the lighting is just a bit hard edged. You can especially see this in picture 1 & 4 on the woman's arm and back.

That's the effect I was going for... but perhaps, as you are suggesting, it is a little over the top? It doesn't look like the edges are in the originals blown, so perhaps a slight adjustment with PS's "shadow/highlight" will take care of it. (also, as mentioned, I ran all of these pictures through a single "process" without atttempting to tune the process for any given image ... after they tell me which pictures they like, I'll go back and fine tne things)

Thanks for the feedback!

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Nikon

10/08/2005 12:14:16 PM · #15

Originally posted by idnic:

Not sure I would have posed them directly in front of the tree as you risk that "something growing out of my head" look. but overall your shots look fantastic.

Thanks. I was really counting on shallow DOF (70-200 lens shooting at either f/2.8 or f/3.2) and the back lighting to try to separate them from the background. She really had me worried when she told me she wanted a nature shot instead of something like a black cloth in the background. And so then I didn't dare just move her off to the side of the tree and cut the tree out for fear that she wouldn't be getting the "nature shot" she was hoping for. They turned out better than I had hoped going into it, so I'm pleased. :-)

Apple iPhone

10/08/2005 12:20:21 PM · #16

nice posing..and lighting, but the tree might not have been the best to take photos in front of, as in the third one down I see a tree going straight up and looking as if she's being pushed up by it and the top one has leaves coming out of her posterior. You might want to fix those that go into or out of the bodies in the pics. The top two also needs some fixing of her body body problems from the waist down.

Message edited by author 2005-10-08 12:30:04.

HBunch

HP PhotoSmart 315

10/08/2005 01:43:10 PM · #17

I like the lighting. I think that in some places it does highlight some not so flattering areas, however, my biggest problem is with the first photo and

That. To me, if you're going to wear something like that to a photo shoot, you'd want to make sure you don't have a 5 o clock shadow. So if you're going to be into heavily editing the pics, might want to address that area.

colyla

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM II

10/08/2005 03:33:23 PM · #18

Originally posted by hbunch7187:

I like the lighting. I think that in some places it does highlight some not so flattering areas, however, my biggest problem is with the first photo and
That. To me, if you're going to wear something like that to a photo shoot, you'd want to make sure you don't have a 5 o clock shadow. So if you're going to be into heavily editing the pics, might want to address that area.

ROFLMAO!!!! I was thinking the same thing.....use a SHARP razor every time, dry shave daily, after an initial shower shave(worked for me), or go for the wax...stubble is not attractive in the 'hoohoo' area.

Also on the first photo....the way the light hits her back thigh....looks like she has cottage cheese (aka cellulite) and I have a hard time she had any of that...it could be my monitor...i'm on laptop and it's very bright! (the one here at the house)

Message edited by author 2005-10-08 15:35:33.

Man_Called_Horse

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

10/08/2005 03:53:10 PM · #19

HMMMMMMM.....lighting, muscles, women,....flattering?

doctornick

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

10/08/2005 04:33:12 PM · #20

Originally posted by hbunch7187:

Ewww I did not notice that until you mentionned it...eew eew

overclover

Canon EOS-40D

10/09/2005 09:44:08 AM · #21

OMG... Well there go all my lesbian fantasies out the window ... that is disgusting this is truly one instance where I would get on my knees and hail photoshop :)) too gross. It looks like celulite to me on my monitor too. I'm not even going to mention the hehoochiemamma area LOL *shudders*

MrEd

Sony DSLR-A100

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for Minolta

10/09/2005 10:00:48 AM · #22

Am I wrong or would a darker background make the subject stand out more? IMO, she seems to 'blend' into the background?

10/09/2005 10:18:45 AM · #23

Originally posted by overclover:

Can I make a suggestion?

If ever these ladies were to stumble on this thread ... now they might be horrified. Wouldn't it be better to keep comments and criticisms along the lines of how I, as the photographer, could have done better rather than focus on any imperfections they might have?

I understand what I need to do with photoshop. And as mentioned in the very first message in this thread, none of the images had been uniquely edited yet (just a "mass update" on all of them to sharpen and increase contrast after converting from raw).

In any pictures, from anyone, keep in mind the feelings of the models when posting comments. That's all I'm asking.