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Pre Production – Bringing a concept to life

Photography, Pre-Production Sep 26 , Episode 374

Pre Production

Today we are talking about an upcoming shoot we are planning for a PRO Tutorial. We are going to be creating a gritty stylized sports/athletic photo, and we are very excited.

Moving from an idea to a reality involves pre-production. It is basically all of the steps you need to take before the shoot happens. These steps usually involve

Photographing a background
Location scouting
Model research – Model Mayhem etc.
Lighting diagram & research
Gathering materials

Doing it Together

We are so excited about this shoot because we know that there is so much we can teach you, and we want you to be a big part of it!

Give us your ideas on what you think would make an awesome image and we will make it happen. Can’t wait to see your ideas.

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http://www.facebook.com/neil.kremer.5 Neil Kremer

The white background and lack of focus made me feel like I was watching aljazeera from a cave in Afghanistan.
http://www.brianmaiorinophoto.com/blog Brian Maiorino

how about swimmers racing in a flooded back alley
JJWerline

I think you should do one with an NFL replacement “Ref” stepping out of a FootLocker Store and on to an NFL football field! with a big football player yelling at him for the bad call he just made! and in the back of the Footlocker Store there is Aaron Nace trying on some new kicks!! (But is just in the background and not main focus) this would be soo cool to see!!!
Lorenzo Segovia

Quarterback throwing a chihuahua across a vacant lot. Focus on the Chihuahua and the QBs snarl.
G_w_hancock

boxing impact … spray … debris, dramatic lighting. Impact action is as gritty as it gets
http://twitter.com/EttVenter Ett Venter

Aaron, I hate the new background. I just watched the Phlearn episode where you made the eyes all black and crazy, remember that one? Well I just watched it, and I MUCH prefer how you had your apartment in the background. Felt so much better than the backgrounds you’ve been using lately
http://www.facebook.com/andrea.sini.96 Andrea Sini

is been a while that study this kind of “picture” and I like it very much! I think the key thing is to communicate something whatever the subject or theme.
Now that I saw your video I remember the time before the start of the race, maybe a swim, or athletics …. confusion in the stadium but only silence around athlete, he, the race, the finish line!
Viljami

I wouldn’t use a green screen. It might give a horrible color cast if it is too close. White background isn’t much harder to mask off.
Lauren O’Neal

Hey! You mentioned that you want to find models by looking for some local celebrities – this would be a great idea if you could score one (hehe punny) because of a great point you made in a previous video about working with celebrities + emotion. The audience already has a connection with that celebrity in their minds, so the image would have more impact. Not to mention, as photographers, we would get more exposure because the picture would be spread around more. And Phlearn would get more hits (probably) if the sports figure used in the tutorial was recognizable more than if it was some random model who played football in high school.

Another point is that sports images usually (maybe just in my VERY limited experience) highlight an athlete, sports clothes/equipment, or sports drinks (or a combination of those). If a professional athlete isn’t used, then it’ll look like an advertisement – not necessarily bad, but maybe not what someone is going for? I’m curious to hear other people’s opinions on this because, as I said, I’m not well versed in sports photography and there could be this big old genre that just emphasizes the game that I don’t know.Looking forward to this tutorial though!! Thanks Aaron & Phlearn.
http://phlearn.com Aaron Nace

Hey Ett, I hear ya man, we moved from my house into a studio, so the other backdrop is unavailable, but we can look into making this more dynamic. Thanks!
http://phlearn.com Aaron Nace

haha, thanks Neil
Carl Constantine

I actually don’t shoot on green screen. I use a grey background, and soft light to get rid of it and mask my model becomes easy: . But that’s what I do. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbc-photos/8003074075/in/photostream. as for an action shot, I actually do a lot of MMA photography: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=285336521544793&set=a.285336508211461.66758.192119864199793&type=3&theater So maybe something like that. Also like G_w_hancock’s idea below and Brian Maiorino’s would be totally awesome, kinda like that one picture I’ve seen of a swimmer swimming down the road. There is lots you can do with this. Here is another composite (very simple) that I’ve done: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=295391070539338&set=a.295390960539349.68755.192119864199793&type=3&theater. That one isn’t me, but I am in that album.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jon-Peckham-II/100002160465503 Jon Peckham II

FXHOME Photokey is excellent for less post production green screen work. Try it out!
Alexis Kyprianou

Hey Aaron,my idea for the photo is that a NFL player tries to run to the touch line and there is a cheetah chasing him form behind. and so the NFL player looks back and see the cheetah and gets very frightened. Or the same concept but instead of a NFL player its a athlet runner.
http://twitter.com/FidoLoves Fido Loves

This is a great episode. The “Break It Down Series”

Nice
Kyle Simpson

Great video Aaron!
Skateboarder, Parkour, BMX?
Mark

I am actually working on a sport series where I am suspending the sport item (ball, puck, etc.) in mid air to simulate action. Maybe you can do something similar with suspension of objects.
I hate green screen because of the color cast on the skin so it will be really interesting to see how you do this.
Mark Feliciano

That is too funny!!
Mark Feliciano

That is too funny!!
laurilaukkanen

Here are some of my Football-themed gritty sport-portraits. Actually these were shot outside on a football field, but shooting on a green screen would be really great to learn!
Morten Obbink

the raw gridy sportsimage is joel grimes the best on in my opinion. check out http://www.joelgrimes.com
i uses the de satureded images an has a few videos out.
http://twitter.com/renlish Erin Guest

I definitely prefer a more fun and busy background for you, Aaron. It’s one of the things I like about Phlearn in general. The white is stale an very unPhlearny! Anyhoo, I like the planning process you describe – doing my own shoot soon, though a completely unrelated theme, but the tips here definitely give me ideas for setting up the concept.
http://twitter.com/renlish Erin Guest

Ohhh… A discus athlete fighting alien spaceships. Lots of essplosions!
Sean

Epic idea for a series of videos Aaron and team! I am very much looking forward to them and I will be dropping my $ when the Pro video is released!