Spring media day on the diamond
Baseball media day at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth was part of our spring run of media days at the school. Baseball has a lot of built-in looks, like the bat on the shoulder or the stare in from the mound, and a good media day uses them without making every player look the same.
Lighting a baseball team outdoors
We shoot outdoor media days with four Westcott FJ400 strobes and a Canon R5. Two strobes go behind the players as rim lights and two go in front as mains. The 70-200 handles the portraits and the 24-105 handles the team and group frames.
Under a spring sun, a cap brim throws a hard shadow across a player's eyes. So the ambient gets handled first. We read it with the camera, bring it down about a stop, and then the strobes fill in the faces. The result is soft, even light that still looks like an afternoon at the ballpark. No light meter on set. The camera meter and an eye for the picture take care of it.
From team photo to individual portraits
The order holds for every sport. Team photo first, then seniors, then coaches, and then we re-rig the lights for individuals.
Every player gets the classic headshot for the roster. After that, stylized portraits and action with real movement: a swing held through the finish, a pitcher coming set. We are photographing personality, not a uniform, and baseball players tend to have plenty of it.
Media day for your baseball program
If you run a baseball program in the San Fernando Valley or anywhere in Los Angeles, see how our high school media day works, or browse more team and athlete work on our sports portraits page.
