Players by Players: Portrait series shot by Athletes

Shooting photo day at a typical college consists of some loosely formed idea of what the designer wants. We get there a couple hours early, setup and wait for the talent to show up.

Typically I shoot players on white backgrounds so they can be cutout and used in a special section previewing the upcoming season. This year was no exception. I was assigned to shoot posed action of the players.

I chose a two light setup using 1 Einstein with a 11" long throw reflector and an Einstien with a 30 degree grid as a rim light.

Alex Poythress, left, and Mychal Mulder pose for photos during photo day.

While gathering equipment at my house I had an idea. What if I made a station where the players could shoot a portrait of each other? I was interested in if they would give their teammates a look or gesture they wouldn't give me.

Some of the upper classmen seem uninterested in the whole yearly routine of having their photo taken by the newspaper, so this would be a way to get them out of their shells.

The setup was pretty simple. I used Canon 600 EX-RT flashes with the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter to fire the strobes. One flash was in a Westcott Rapid box and the other was bare bulb aimed at camera right to serve as the rim light.

I needed to test the light and get the distance set since I wanted them to look as much the same with the expression or gesture being the variable. I tested the light on freshman Skal Labissiere to make sure the light looked good. After that I put a piece of tape down to give a marker for the distance and then from there let the players do the rest.