- Although negative space is great (usually), somehow this hole kinda grabs my attention... - Will Foster
- Will, you must be crazy. Because this is what grabs my attention. - mark & his nikon
- Just a suggestion - (this is something I also look for in my images also so not trying to pick on you) - you have a leading line here that is behind your subject and at least for me, because of the color, it is leading my eyes away from your subject and right up the stairs. If you move your subject to the left a little this would not be an issue or if you put the leading line just slightly in front of your subject to the right it would actually move your eyes right to the subject. Just a thought. It is always easier to critique it afterwards but the trick is to discipline your self to notice these types of things before you press the shutter. This is something that I constantly struggle with also and something that improves the more you think and shoot. :-) - Shawn M. Knox
- cummon you guys this is an awesome shot, the stairs lead to the subject and the neg space works. what a body, and this is an awesome shot that shows off her hard earned assets! - peteracharlesworth
Brianne
10/24/09: I just wanted to thank you all for the kind words, favorites and making this photo #18 on flickr explore. This is by far the most "interesting" (by flickr standards) that I have ever had and I thank you all so much! I'll do my best to keep bringing you all more dramatic Sportraits (my new favorite word).
I got a chance to shoot another one of my good friends from the Oregon Track Team. Brianne is an NCAA Champion in the Heptathlon and competed in the World Championships for Canada (hence, the Canada uniform).
I'm getting to the point where I pretty much have at least one or two people who want to do a photo shoot a week. It's a great opportunity to build my portfolio and eventually, I'll have to start charging.
I'm hoping that soon I'm going to start getting some interest from other Oregon athletes so I can bring you all some photos of Football, Basketball, Volleyball and any other sports I can get.
You can find the rest of my photos from this photo shoot on my websitewww.zachancell.com
Thanks for looking.
Please contact me before using any of my photos. Thank you very much
STROBIST: Two SB-600 shot at full power through two Lastolite EzyBox's. These were set to the left and the right of the subject. A SB-800 was shot into a 22" Beauty Dish head on at the subject.
Comments and faves
patnoconnor, fizzbucket, New England Wedding Photographer Doug Levy http://, Photo Junkie BXL, and 472 other people added this photo to their favorites.
jordanvoth.com (32 months ago | reply)
bro you should be charging already lol
So I've heard that the NCAA is pretty strict with athletes posing for "professional" pictures, have you had any trouble with this?? I was gonna do some track shots with one of my friends and she was telling me how the NCAA has some hella strict rules about them not being able to pose for any pictures until the season is over (which it never really is).
ZachAncell (32 months ago | reply)
NCAA has rules on everything so it's pretty hard to know if it's true or not.. For me, I see no problem in taking pictures of my friends for them. Like I said, I'm not charging any of them to do it and it's not like I'm selling these photos to companies to use for advertisements or anything. I mean, when I was on the track team, it's not like we didn't have pictures of us in our uniforms. So I see it as me taking pictures of my friends.
Darren White Photography (32 months ago | reply)
Yeah this is pretty sweet. I like the way you used the light to really show the definition in her body.
Steven Coen (32 months ago | reply)
GREAT PHOTO. your portfolio is getting to be very impressive
foto_bob (32 months ago | reply)
I think you're quickly becoming one of my favorite new photographers. :)
Cumbrian Snapper (32 months ago | reply)
Awesome fantastic shot
ea83 (32 months ago | reply)
Nice work with the SB-800 beauty dish. It's not easy to see the direction of that light.
Will Foster (32 months ago | reply)
this one is cool, but i wonder if it would be better if some light was splashed onto the bleachers in that big black gaping hole top right... maybe some hard light, but just underexposed... just to get the lines.
L.C.Nøttaasen (32 months ago | reply)
Cool! :oD
ZachAncell (32 months ago | reply)
@Will That was my goal. I wanted to at worst light up the number tags on the ground, But, In order to get that to happen I would have needed one more flash unit. I tried moving one of the strobes to light the bleachers but then it lost a lot of detail in her muscles. So, I made the decision to make her look better rather than make the stands look better. Sometimes it comes down to decisions like that.
ditata (32 months ago | reply)
works for me!
Andrew Kumler (32 months ago | reply)
Awesome work man..Really great set you have going..
Aaron.Russell (32 months ago | reply)
Great shot!
tkrajacic (32 months ago | reply)
Stunning portrait!
Patrick Wenz Photography (32 months ago | reply)
Refreshing, looks "new", can't pin it though. Great work.
SethGeib (32 months ago | reply)
Seems to me that the bleachers are in better focus than she is, you can really tell in the original full size version.
frankie647 (32 months ago | reply)
So dramatic. Love the lighting
azádám (32 months ago | reply)
:O OMG this is so cool!
PhotoArt Hartmann (32 months ago | reply)
sehr schön!!!
congrats on explore :-)
e. david (32 months ago | reply)
Absoutely stupendous. both the shot and the woman. High drama to match the obvious high level of fitness!!!
| Z E R O | (32 months ago | reply)
Yep I agree with the dude up top! You should already be charging man!!!!! Whoa! This is an insane shot! I love the processing on it. Are you using the whole hi-pass filter, blur, sharpen effect?! Would reeeeally like to know. Hope you get more gigs!
Evan MacPhail Photography (32 months ago | reply)
Great shot. Wonderful light.
JohnnyBoyNJ (32 months ago | reply)
Hi Zach, I really like Your work! Your Sportraits are awesome and I LOVE Your HDR photos! I have been using photomatix for a few months now and really like it , check out a few of My photos and tell me what I can do to improve them. Thanks and keep up the outstanding work.............John
Leicamtoo (32 months ago | reply)
Beautiful image!! Well done. The lighting is fantastic.
ady_kusumajya (32 months ago | reply)
Wow
holia (32 months ago | reply)
well. that's a good portrait!! congrats
+++
Victor Garza (32 months ago | reply)
The tone is amazing. Great portrait and post process.
ON THE MOON STUDIO (32 months ago | reply)
Very cool photo................!
yusuf_alioglu (32 months ago | reply)
so cool...!
adam.watts (32 months ago | reply)
stunning muscle tone captured here.
LMazerolle (32 months ago | reply)
Great picture! Great body!
Will Foster (32 months ago | reply)
@Zach: Multiple exposure maybe, just post process it in later... it might work :-)
It still looks great, just thinking of what could make it even better! :-)
Daryl L. Hunter - The Hole Picture (32 months ago | reply)
Excellent lighting on model, great un primped, natural athlete shot, stunning in the way she is perfect without being all made up.
tefocoto (32 months ago | reply)
Sorry to be so critic, but the picture is focused on the back (clearly visible on the large version), the black background retouching is way too obvious, especially around her hair, the white of her eyes is overretouched as so is her skin.
ZachAncell (32 months ago | reply)
The biggest issue I had with this photo is we took it probably 30 minutes after the sun had gone down, so the only light was the ones you can see at the top of the stands that did nothing to help us out. Speedlights are great for portability but have no modeling light. I tried my best to manual focus by basing it off of the Canada, well much like this smaller version, it can look way more sharp and clear before it's blown up. That's why my next purchase will be a set of strobes with a modeling light.
As for the black background retouching, I'll be honest, there wasn't any. What you are seeing around the hair is from overlaying a black and white equivalent image with a luminosity blend and then enhanced with a high-pass filter. I agree with you on the skin and eyes. I clearly messed up on the eyes, and I just tried to get rid of the grittiness of her skin with a dynamic skin filter. I'll rework it and try to fix those problems. Thanks for bringing them to my attention.
tefocoto (32 months ago | reply)
Thanks for taking all that critizisim of mine in such a positive way!! I've had that "no modeling light" problem one time too so I know how hard it is to focus when its too dark. My trick them was to have The model put her opened hand (fingers separated) close and tothe side of her face but with The fading sunset behind it. Sometimes it made focusing a bit easier for The camera... (sorry if my English is not that great!)
azooooz_qtr [deleted] (32 months ago | reply)
NoOo CoOoMmEnT...!!
FaaaV...!!
<3
^^
ComMeNT Me PLeeeZ...!!
^.^
Sebastian Strube (32 months ago | reply)
gorgeous shot!
Fotogrāfs (32 months ago | reply)
Professional lighting and nice model! What size is your Lastolite EzyBox?
ZachAncell (31 months ago | reply)
@Valters The larger size. I think it's 24"x24" but I could be wrong. All I know is they are awesome, I just wish they had octobox's as well. Hope this helps, let me know if I can help you out in any other way.
Just want to thank everyone for the kind words and constructive criticism (got some good tips that I'll use next time I go out shooting). This has become my most popular image by far and it's thanks to all of you. Now, I'm just going to have to try to create an even better photo next time I'm out shooting (but that's what photography is all about).
Fotogrāfs (31 months ago | reply)
thank you for replay. Good luck. I'll wait for Your future model photos!
Brave Lemming (31 months ago | reply)
Wow the technique is fantastic here...
wonderful lighting, well done !
Paco CT (31 months ago | reply)
Excellent portrait, well, sportrait!
--
Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
Daryl L. Hunter - The Hole Picture (31 months ago | reply)
Please add your wonderful photo to:
vswag (31 months ago | reply)
Zach....you are an incredible talent. I simply appreciate that you post those in the Duck Sports group. This shot, like your other work, is amazing.
Vswag
provbenson2009 (31 months ago | reply)
I just viewed yr entire stream bro, and yr hdr work is interesting, but yr sportraits are un-f-ing believeable! I can only hope to produce images of this quality someday. Congratulations and keep shooting athletes!!!!!
Diary of Ms N [deleted] (31 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Life is Fitness, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
womanly!!!
MichaelHutton (31 months ago | reply)
This is such a great shot: expression, pose and composition.
Greg Samborski (31 months ago | reply)
Just came back to your stream again. My coworker/buddy is a runner and asked me to take a few running pics. I instantly thought of your work and showed him a few examples. Again, your images are excellent. I'm not gonna adopt your style, it's yours, but I'm definitely gonna try using your methods in a few shots, I love the results.
ZachAncell (31 months ago | reply)
@comatosed I'm not sure if I can even call this "my" style. It's an attempt to create something similar to what Joel Grimes produces. I'm still in the early stages of figuring out what you can do with photoshop, so I hope to eventually adopt, change and transform "this" style into something I can truly call my own.