Hi Folks.
Thought for today I’d post a new composite and a few other sample images, along with some B.T.S. (Behind the Scenes) info, from a recent photo shoot with British Natural Bodybuilding Champion Nigel Saint Lewis…
This particular shoot was to capture Nigel’s incredible physique after all the the hours of sweat and tears he’d put into the gym plus being on a strict diet to get in shape to compete in his first ever Bodybuilding Competition, so naturally we worked on some physique shots but once we’d done that we then moved onto taking shots that were going to be edited a touch more than normal, such as the composite above and one I posted earlier…
Lighting Set Up:
Here’s a B.T.S. (Behind the Scenes) shot to show the lighting set-up that I used throughout the shoot. This is one of my favourite set ups because of the flexibility it offers i.e. The different looks that can be achieved by shooting with all 3 lights through to just using the one is limitless, plus the ‘Octa’ on occasion was swapped out for a beauty dish with honeycomb grid.
Also as I was shooting everything from headshots to full length I used the large soft boxes but positioned the black V-Flats/Gobo’s in such a way to make strip lights; no point spending £££’s on purpose built full length strip boxes when the same result can be achieved by simply positioning kit you already have…aahhh Zack would be proud
…
Composite Before/After
The 2 images below show the Before (Out of Camera) and the After (Final Edit) so you can see the kind of editing that was carried out in Photoshop to make the composite…
Composite Bits & Pieces
Below are the images that were used in the composite in addition to some techniques to create the shooting stars etc:
Same Set-Up, Different Looks
Here’s some samples of what else we got up to by making use of the exact same lighting throughout the shoot all except for swapping the Octabox for the Beauty Dish & Honeycomb Grid in the first two images below…
Post Production for this series of shots was minimal:
- Double Raw Conversion
- Dodging & Burning
- B&W Conversion
- Desaturate
- Sharpening
- Vignette
For those of you who don’t know, there’s a series of rounds involved in competitive Bodybuilding; compulsory poses to show the main muscle groups, a free round where each competitor will go through a choreographed routine to music of their choice to show their physique’s strongest points, symmetry etc and then a comparison round.
I clearly remember from my days as a Competitive Bodybuilder that the ‘posing’ is every bit as hard if not more so than the training that was involved to build the physique in the first place, because of the restricted diet and subsequent lower energy levels.
Anyway the reason for me telling you this is that if you do ever find yourself photographing a Bodybuilder, a good way to start the shoot is to get them to go through their routine which has the benefit of:
- Getting them ‘In the Zone’
- Warmed Up
- Gives you the chance to see and choose poses that would be great to photograph
We finished the shoot with a more relaxed and not so ‘in your face’ series of shots; again with the rim lights and the Octabox on the boom as in the B.T.S. (Behind the Scenes) shots above…
Post Processing for this series of shots was pretty much the same too:
- Double Raw Conversion
- Dodging & Burning
- Black & White Conversion
- Desaturate
- Sharpen
- Vignette
In addition to this though, a little bit of a glow/softening was added as a final touch…
So there you have it…one lighting set up and a whole series of different looks.
As always, if you have any questions about anything in this post be it the photography or editing side, or you just want to leave a comment, then please feel free to make use of the comments section below.
Oh, and incidentally just incase you missed it, with regards to the composite image and how it was put together, on the 4th September at 8pm BST (UK) I’m doing a ‘live’ webinar where you’ll get to see a lot of the compositing and retouching techniques from start to finish; you can find out more at this [Link]
Enjoy
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by Glyn
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