Softball media day at Sierra Canyon
Sierra Canyon softball was part of our spring media day run at the school in Chatsworth. Softball players tend to bring real personality to a media day, and personality is what the stylized portraits are built to catch.
Handling the sun first
The kit is the same one we use for every outdoor media day. Four Westcott FJ400 strobes, a Canon R5, and the 70-200 and 24-105 lenses. Two strobes go behind the players as rim lights and two go in front as mains.
The sun sets the terms. We read the ambient light off the camera, pull it down about a stop under a normal exposure, and then bring the strobes up to light the faces. Visors and helmets stop throwing hard shadows, and the light across each player stays soft and even. We do not carry a light meter. The camera and a practiced eye do that work, and the lights get re-angled as the sun moves.
Team first, then every player
We start with the team photo, then seniors, then coaches. After that the lights get re-rigged for individual portraits.
Every player gets the straight-on portrait the program needs. Then we go for real softball movement, a bat whipping through the zone or a pitcher at the top of her windmill. The stylized frames are where personality shows, and that is what we are there to photograph.
Media day for your program
If you coach softball or run athletics for a school in the Valley or anywhere in Los Angeles, see how our high school media day works, or look through more athlete work on the sports portraits page.
