Green Haze and Gym Lights: Providence Volleyball Media Day
Providence High School in Burbank is one of the programs we look forward to every August. The Pioneers run varsity, JV, and frosh-soph volleyball through media day in a single afternoon, and the gym gives us everything we need for the indoor look: a dark background, a clean court, and enough room to build the lighting exactly the way we want it. This year we photographed the full varsity roster along with the JV and frosh-soph teams, more than 450 finished frames in the final gallery.
The assignment was the same one most of our high school clients ask for: a formal team photo for the program, individual portraits for every player on every level, and a set of stylized shots the school can use on social media all season.
How We Light an Indoor Media Day
Everything you see here was lit with four Westcott FJ400 strobes on a Canon R5, shooting mostly on the 70-200 and 24-105. Indoors, the first job is to kill the ambient light. We bring the exposure down until the overhead gym lights are barely a glow, then build the picture back up from behind: two rim lights first to carve the players off the background, then two main lights up front. No light meter, just the camera and an eye for contrast.
The green glow behind the players is a haze machine and a gel on the rim lights, matched to Providence green. It is a small thing that makes the whole gallery feel like it belongs to this school and not to any team in any gym.
Personality Over Poses (and One Very Good Dog)
We always start a media day with the team photo, then the senior and coaches groups, and then we re-rig the lights for individual portraits. The individuals are where the fun happens. Every player gets the clean, straight-on portrait the yearbook needs, and then we open it up: a serve toss, a set, a ball kicked up off the floor, a pointing shot straight down the lens. Some players want to lie on the court with the ball. One brought her dog, so the dog got a portrait too. Those are the frames that end up on the team's social feed, because they look like the people in them.
The goal on every media day is the same: shoot the athlete, not just the jersey. A stiff yearbook headshot tells you a player's number. A good stylized portrait tells you who she is.
If you run a high school athletic program in Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, or anywhere in the Los Angeles area and want media day photos with this kind of look, take a look at our high school media day page or the team and athlete work on our sports portraits page. Fall media days book fast, so reach out once your season schedule is set.
