Cross country media day at Pilibos
The Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School sits in the middle of Los Angeles, a few minutes from Hollywood, and its cross country runners got a full media day this season. Same lights, same process, same attention we bring to a varsity basketball team. Distance runners rarely get a real photo day. These ones did.
Balancing the sun with four strobes
We shoot outdoor media days on a Canon R5 with four Westcott FJ400 strobes. Two go behind the runners as rim lights to separate them from the background, and two go up front as the mains. The process starts with the ambient light. We read it off the camera, bring it down about a stop under a normal exposure, and then add the strobes on top. That is how the faces stay soft and even when the sun is high and hard.
We never bring a light meter. The camera meter and an eye for the picture are enough. Lens choice stays simple too, the 70-200 for portraits and the 24-105 for the team and group frames.
Team photo first, then the individuals
The team photo always goes first. Then seniors, then coaches, then we move the lights for individual portraits. Each runner gets a clean headshot for the yearbook and the program. Then we ask for something with movement in it, a stride frozen mid-air or a sprint straight at the lens. The goal is to catch the athlete's personality along with the uniform.
Book your school's media day
We run media days for schools all over Los Angeles, from Hollywood and Glendale to the San Fernando Valley. See how our high school media day works, or browse team and athlete work on the sports portraits page.
