Football media day in Chatsworth
A football roster is the biggest group we photograph all fall, and Sierra Canyon's is no exception. Media day for a program this size is part photo shoot and part logistics. Every player needs a portrait, the team photo has to hold together with a full roster in frame, and the coaching staff wants their own set before the season starts.
We have photographed Sierra Canyon across a lot of sports. Football is the one where the day's schedule matters most.
Strobes against the afternoon sun
The lighting kit is four Westcott FJ400 strobes on a Canon R5. Two rim lights go behind the athletes to cut them off the background, and two mains go in front. Outside, the sun is the problem to solve. We read the ambient with the camera, bring it down about a stop under a normal exposure, and then let the strobes do the rest. That gives soft, even light on faces and helmets instead of hard shadows across the eyes.
Senior portraits moved to a darker set. There the approach flips: we kill most of the ambient light, build the look from the rim lights forward, and add haze so the blue light has something to travel through.
There is no light meter on set. The camera meter and a trained eye handle it. Lenses stay simple: the 70-200 for portraits and the 24-105 for the wide team frames.
The order that keeps a big roster moving
Team photo first, while everyone is in the same uniform and nobody has drifted off. Then the seniors, then the coaches. Then we re-rig the lights for individuals.
Every player gets the straight-on headshot the program needs for the roster and the yearbook. After that it opens up into stylized portraits and action with real movement: a lineman coming out of a stance, a receiver high-pointing a ball. We want the athlete's personality in the frame, not just the number on the jersey.
Media day for your football program
If you run a football program in the San Fernando Valley or anywhere in Los Angeles, see how our high school media day works, or browse team and athlete work on our sports portraits page.
