On Location Photography: Edgy, Athletic Portrait

Step Six

Here are my two favorite photos from the shoot. In the end, I used seven strobes, six Rangers, and one Quadra. I hear you: This is a lot of lights! But, to get the precise edges of light where I wanted, I needed individually controlled and powered light sources. The edges of light had to be bright (overexposed) and perfectly positioned, which is very hard to do with reflectors. 

To bring out more grit in the final shot, I used Topaz Adjust 5, an inexpensive plug-in that does wonders for both landscape and portrait images. For my final shots, I used the Bold action (in the Vibrant folder), reducing the transparency to about 50% for a more subtle effect. This action does add some texture and shadows to the skin, but I wanted a gritty look to match the super-edge lighting of the final shot.

Tom Bol

Tom Bol

Tom Bol

Now if it only would stop snowing, I could go out and shoot some skiing!