Sports Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots

62 spoRts photogRaphy: FRom snapshots to gReat shots

tip

If you can’t get access to big strobes, you’ll have to use the ambient light that already

exists. It’s your only other option.

stRobes FoR poRtRaits

The size of a strobe unit doesn’t matter nearly as much for portraits. The key to good

portraiture is controlling the light by shaping it, modifying it, and making it provide

the tone and style you want.

I made the portrait of Danny Woodhead in Figure 4.7 after he broke the NCAA

all-time rushing record at Chadron State University in Chadron, Nebraska. For the

portrait, I wanted to show the small environment he was in, even though he was one

of the best college football players ever.

FIgURe 4.7
I used a large
strobe—an elin-
chrome 1200 watt/
second strobe
with a Chimera
octabox—to illu-
minate the whole
locker room around
Danny.

Canon eOS

1Ds Mark II

ISO 200

1/50 sec

f/7.1

16mm lens