Basketball media day in a dark gym
Basketball media day is the one we plan the lighting around more than any other. The gym is the set. At Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth that means a big room and a clean floor, and the job is to give the team something better than the flat overhead light they play under on game night.
Killing the gym lights on purpose
Indoors, the first move is to kill the ambient. We drop the exposure until the overhead lights are barely a glow, and that is on purpose. Then we build the picture back from behind the players: two Westcott FJ400 rim lights first, to cut each athlete off the dark background, then two FJ400 mains up front. The result is contrasty and a little cinematic, closer to a broadcast intro than a yearbook page.
All of it runs on a Canon R5 with the 70-200 and the 24-105. No light meter, just the camera and an eye for contrast.
Team, seniors, coaches, then individuals
We shoot the team photo first while everyone is fresh and in uniform. Senior groups come next, then the coaching staff, and then we tear down and re-rig for individuals. Each player gets the standard headshot the program needs for rosters and the yearbook. Then we ask for movement: a crossover at full speed, or a ball pushed out toward the lens. Those are the frames players actually post.
Media day for your program
We photograph high school media days across Los Angeles, from the Valley to Pasadena. See how the high school media day works for schools, or look at more team and athlete work on our sports portraits page.
