Retouching athletes: muscular male athlete in a gray sleeveless top, dramatically lit against a black studio background, holding a weighted medicine ball.
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How to Photograph & Retouch Athletes

THIS COURSE INCLUDES

  • 21 Lessonsin 2 sections
  • 7h 14mof captioned HD video
  • Intermediatesome Photoshop basics
  • 9 Sample Images+ a gradient, action and brush
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DESCRIPTION

In this tutorial, we’re working with health and fitness coach Nile Bratcher to explore the ins and outs of photographing and retouching athletes and deliver images that are both stunning and representative of the spirit of his business. We’ll take you into the photoshoot as we build four different studio lighting setups from the ground up. Then it’s on to retouching athletes in Photoshop, where we’ll teach you everything from masking and cutting out your subject to effective dodging and burning.

What You’ll Learn

  • Build four studio lighting setups from the ground up
  • Retouch athletes with masking and dodge and burn
  • Photograph fitness images that represent a client’s brand

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Table of Contents

Studio Lighting and Retouching for Athletes (I)
  • 01 - Tutorial Introduction
    1:53m
  • 02 - Athletic Headshot: Introduction
    1:17m
  • 03 - Athletic Headshot: Camera Settings
    3:39m
  • 04 - Athletic Headshot: Lighting
    17:10m
  • 05 - Athletic Headshot: Photoshoot
    11:45m
  • 06 - Athletic Headshot: Masking
    36:23m
  • 07 - Athletic Headshot: Retouching
    30:17m
Studio Lighting and Retouching for Athletes (II)
  • 01 - Action Photoshoot: Introduction
    1:44m
  • 02 - Jumping Photoshoot: Lighting
    15:50m
  • 03 - Handstand Photoshoot: Lighting
    6:02m
  • 04 - Jumping Photos: Masking & Color
    41:39m
  • 05 - Jumping Photos: Retouching & Graphics
    31:39m
  • 06 - Handstand Photos: Masking & Color
    34:33m
  • 07 - Handstand Photos: Retouching & Graphics
    55:12m
  • 08 - Athletic Detail: Introduction
    1:45m
  • 09 - Athletic Detail: Lighting
    6:12m
  • 10 - Athletic Detail: Retouching & Color
    47:10m
  • 11 - Portraits on a Black Background: Introduction
    1:44m
  • 12 - Portraits on a Black Background: Masking a Series
    29:02m
  • 13 - Portraits on a Black Background: Retouching a Series
    41:48m
  • 14 - Portraits on a Black Background: Coloring a Series
    16:58m

Course Downloads

Retouching for Athletic Images

Athlete in a white tank top on a white background before retouching

BEFORE

Athlete in a white tank top on a white background after studio lighting retouching

AFTER

Athletic Photography

Picture an athlete. What words would you use to describe them? Photographing and retouching athletes is about capturing exactly that. Fitness, action, energy, strength, and physique are all characteristics that need to be present in any athletic portrait. We’ll demonstrate photographic techniques to highlight muscle definition, form, and motion that will help you bring the spirit of an athlete to life.

Studio Lighting Techniques

Beginning with a single light, we’ll construct several unique lighting setups for photographing athletes piece by piece – each ideal for capturing a different concept, mood, or pose. We’ll also demonstrate how to position lights to capture and enhance muscle definition and motion.

Photographing Non-Models

One of the greatest challenges a photographer can face is making an uncomfortable situation – a studio photoshoot – a comfortable one. See first-hand how to help your clients relax and get the most natural images possible.

Athlete leaping across a pink background with white graphic shapes, final athlete composite

Athlete balancing on one hand on a pink background with white light trails

Client Interaction

Having your client present when photographing athletes can be a huge advantage. See how to bring them into the process for ideas and feedback so you both can feel confident that you’re nailing the right shots.

Meet Needs and Deliver Variety

The best way to leave a client wanting more is by meeting their needs and giving them options. In this tutorial, we capture everything from simple portraits to kinetic action shots in several different colors, styles, and moods. Learn how to get a wide assortment of photos with only a few subtle changes.

From Capture to Export

See the creative process of photographing and retouching athletes from end to end. Join us as we go in-depth during several photoshoots and then bring the images into Photoshop for retouching and styling. This is one of our most comprehensive tutorials to date covering studio lighting, client interaction, photography, and post-production.

Athlete in a grey tank top holding a medicine ball, lit with flat warm studio light against a plain dark backgroundThe same athlete after retouching, with cool teal rim light sculpting the muscles and a hazy dark background
Add stunning definitionOriginal

Action, Energy, Strength

Learn to create images as stunning as your subjects.

Athlete holding a medicine ball on his shoulder, dark studio portrait

Athlete with a medicine ball on his shoulder against a black background

Athlete holding a medicine ball at his side, low-key studio lighting

Retouching Athletes in Photoshop

As important as it is to highlight the features of an athlete when capturing a photo, when retouching athletes it’s equally as important to maintain and enhance those features in post-production. We’ll show you how to remove blemishes, increase definition, and add creative effects to ensure an athlete is at their peak performance.

Dodging and Burning

When retouching athletes, we’ll teach you advanced techniques to sculpt highlights and shadows around your subject, providing more shape and definition. This can be especially impactful during athletic retouching, greatly enhancing musculature and form.

Color and Style

Since we shot on three different colored backgrounds while retouching athletes, we have three totally different perspectives when coloring and stylizing our photos. From a bright pink, brimming with energy and abstract shapes, to black, where we’ll make things a bit more intense and dramatic. We’ll show you how to capture and magnify the tone of an image.

Athlete leaping in front of a pink paper backdrop, first frame of an image stack

COMBINE PHOTOS (1)

Athlete leaping in front of a pink paper backdrop, second frame of an image stack

COMBINE PHOTOS (2)

Leaping athlete composited onto a clean pink background with white shapes

COMBINE PHOTOS (FINAL)

Athlete in a white tank top before a perfect cutout in Photoshop

PERFECT CUT-OUT (BEFORE)

Athlete in a white tank top cut out on a transparent background in Photoshop

PERFECT CUT-OUT (AFTER)

Athlete balancing on one hand on a pink background, before adding shapes

ADD GRAPHICS (BEFORE)

Athlete balancing on one hand with white light trails and shapes added in Photoshop

ADD GRAPHICS (AFTER)

Athlete with a medicine ball on a dark background, before coloring

ADVANCED COLORING (BEFORE)

Athlete with a medicine ball on a dark background, after teal and warm coloring

ADVANCED COLORING (AFTER)
Aaron Nace, founder of PHLEARN

Class Instructor

Aaron Nace

PHLEARN Founder & Lead Instructor

Aaron Nace is a photographer, digital artist, and the founder of PHLEARN. Since 2011 he has taught millions of people to edit with confidence in Photoshop and Lightroom, on YouTube and in PHLEARN PRO, and he has been a featured speaker at Adobe MAX for more than eight years.

Every PRO course comes with the sample images and PSDs to follow along step by step, and Aaron adds new courses and free tutorials all year.

  • 2M+YouTube subscribers
  • 160M+video views
  • 1,000+tutorials published
  • 15years teaching Photoshop
Nile Bratcher

Featured Artist

Nile Bratcher

Physical Therapist & Strength Trainer

A lifelong dedication to dance and martial arts led to helping others improve their health, reduce their pain, and empower their lives. Nile has studied with many industry leaders since his early career, beginning at the age of 17.

Reviews

  1. wait. I’m an addicted phlearner.

  2. “If you haven’t seen it before you probably have your mouth open now because it’s magic!” says Aaron while working on masking out curly hair. Yes, at this point I’ve had my mouth open, you guessed it right, Aaron! I couldn’t wait until I finish the whole tutorial before writing the review. Yes, I have to admit it’s magic and this is only the first part I’m going through! It’s mind-blowing,

  3. Aaron has many very special gifts – to transform good images into phenomenal images, it is one thing- but the true gift is that he has the ability to teach in a manner that we can actually do the same edits – very creative, practical teaching that can be sold and stand out in the crowded market. Thank you!

  4. Outstanding learning resource. Aaron clearly loves imparting knowledge, and impart knowledge he does. The quality of this learning resource is second-to-none. You are taken from go to wo. From the shoot (lighting setup, camera settings & collaborating with the subject) through the editing process to a finished and polished image. The video interface is set up so you can rewind, speed up or slow down the audio visual. The real kicker, the price. Well within reach of the majority of hobby photographers. So, a world class learning resource, well presented by a likeable guy who loves what he does at an affordable price. As we say down-under, beudy mate!

  5. I heard about Phlearn on the podcast “This Week in Photo,” and figured I’d check it out. Wow am I glad I did! Working in athletics, I immediately knew this was the first tutorial series I wanted to watch. Upon completion, I can’t wait to apply some of these techniques and methods to my own work and use it to help bolster our department’s brand. Great stuff!

  6. You are just brilliant! There were many little techniques in this tutorial which just blew my mind… I’ve been doing things the hard way for way too many years! Thank you, this was totally worth the price of purchase. Alldaron

  7. Awesome tutorial as always! I’m now off to go practise what I’ve learnt! Thank you Phlearn & Aaron!

  8. Amazing!!!

  9. Suuuuuper cooool, useful and easy to follow! Love Aaron and all the team for these tutorials! <3 <3 <3

  10. Super! Beyond a very good photographer you ar a Didactic Star! One of the best investments I did on photographic tutorials was to be a PHLEARN subscriber! Hugs from Brazil!

  11. My goodness. I’m so glad I discovered Aaron and Phlearn. I’m brand new to photography (I didn’t even own a camera two months ago, and joined Phlearn a week ago), and I feel like I have years of experience because of tutorials like this. Not only is Aaron a great photographer, but he’s an outstanding teacher! He covers literally everything. Every step, every click, EVERYTHING you need to know. This tutorial is just ridiculous. (I did indeed have my mouth open during the clipping section) Mind. Blown. I’ve messed with PaintShop Pro for years (I just downloaded Photoshop), so I’m familiar with a lot of things, just on a different platform, but again, Aaron points out exactly what buttons or options you need to click to do whatever so you’re not in the dark about anything. This is only about the 5th or 6th video I’ve watched, but being able to download all the files and do it yourself while following along to the video is just….it’s really the best thing ever! I literally schedule hours out of my day now for some Phlearn lessons, just like school classes, and can’t wait to learn something new every day. So Aaron, seriously, thank you SOOOOO much!!! I know you’ve helped a billion people, and I’m just another newbie, and you’ve never met me, but you’ve taught me more about photography and editing than I knew even existed! Best. Teacher. Ever!

  12. This was an awesome tutorial. Going so in depth it was hard to keep up. Going more in depth with the changes to Photoshop, really added some meat to it. Making one’s usage of the changes easier to accomplish. At times it was a bit hard to keep up, but that’s one of the good things about going ‘Pro,’ I can always come back and revisit. Then there’s always the possibility of purchasing it out right, so as to always have it on hand if needed!!! Great work, keep it up, cause I’m hungry for more :{)))

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