DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

What it’s like to photograph football players

Oct 24, 2022 by Blair Bunting Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Photographing football campaigns in one of the most aggressive and intense types of commercial photography there is. While some photoshoots will have a sushi chef for craft services, football sets have doughnuts, caffeine and loud music. Football is unlike any other sport to capture, and I absolutely love it.

One of the more important, and less talked about, aspects of a commercial photoshoot for a football campaign is the type of energy that exists on set. It is not like you are on the sidelines of the filed at an actual game where there is so much testosterone flying around that it is contagious (even to those that just came for the beer and peanuts). A photoshoot doesn’t have the real threat of getting crushed by a 400 pound lineman from the opposing team, instead it is a safe environment (except to those that don’t like being photographed). It is on the photographer (or on large sets, the producers) to have the setting prepped in a way that is conducive to getting the athlete in the zone.

The first thing, and most important part of a setup for getting aggression out of a subject is to know what their personality is like. This kind of read has to be rather fast, for when you are photographing a number of players in a single day, trying to “get to know” each guy is not possible. One of the rules of thumbs I go off is where the player I am photographing sits when they come in the studio. Players in team sports vary greatly with their introvert/extrovert personalities, and knowing if they feed off their teammates off the field can be key to coaching them on set. If a player sits with the group and proceeds to joke around with the crew, it is in your best interest to leave the studio lights on, and let their peers encourage them (whether through pumping them up, or giving them hell on set). At the end of the day, while I have 10-15 years on the college guys, they have 150 pound on me, and there is no threat that I can pose that hits them harder than their friends telling them they need to do some arm curls.

If a player is more self-driven in their demeanor, the rules on set change. For football, I have found that receivers tend to be this way, with running backs and quarterbacks being split 50/50. With this type of player, you need to kill the studio lights completely, and let the only light they see be what the modeling lights show. Doing this immediately shuts them off to the outside world and sometimes it feels as though I am watching a player mentally walk onto the field. If there are other teammates on set cracking jokes, I have found that they either need to be silenced, or the music needs to be cranked up. With a self-driven player, you have a mega chance for great intense images, but you have to line up the shot list in an order that quickly gets them used to the flashes, and then immediately catapults them in to the complicate action.

An example of this is this shot of a runningback I did for Arizona State’s most recent football campaign. The image is as much tension on the body and intensity that I could build into a shot, and it came on frame 8. From the gritting of his teeth, to loading all his weight to one ankle (which seems painful to me), the player was immediately in the frame of mind (no pun intended) within minutes. Had I taken time to build out lighting, or approached him differently, by the time things were dialed, his focus would have been performing for the camera, and while I appreciate the effort, it often leads to an image that feel inauthentic.

The next image that represents a bit of an easier to create shot is the image that I created of a receiver for this year’s campaign. The player was lead by the enthusiasm of others, and for his image, i let them get him into the zone. One of the best ways to do this is to show the back of the camera to the other players on set first. If you have a strong image, it is only going to further their reactions, and the photo of that subject is the result of snowballing excitement. If you are lucky enough to o play this right, you will have a player that doesn’t care about the amount of times they are diving for the shot, as they are empowered by the audience. For the specific shot, it helped me to perfect his form (specifically how his hand and feet trailed) so that I could get the shot of the athlete in a single frame.

At the end of the day, my job at an advertising photographer is to create a shot that makes a emotion in the viewer quickly, but doesn’t lead to them asking further questions. The only to do this is to get the player to perform naturally, and not forced. However, the real skill on set comes to how we as photographers create “natural.”

About the Author

Blair Bunting is an advertising photographer from Los Angeles. He has won numerous awards and worked with clients such as Discovery Channel, Pepsi, Disney, Adidas, Nikon, to name a few. If you would like to see more of his work, visit his website, read his blog, follow him on Instagram and Twitter, and like his Facebook page. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

ESPN mocked for using wide-angle footage that made football players look like ants Photographer knocked unconscious when a football player slammed into her during the game Watch: Fan runs onto the football field, photographer tackles him down The Last Of Us: A Video Game That Lets Players Become Photographers

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: blair bunting, football, sport photographer, sport photography, sports photography

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« New to landscape photography? Think twice before buying that super wide angle lens
This is the worst digital camera in the world with a resolution of only 48 pixels and no lens »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing
  • Nanlite announces powerful AC-powered FC500B and FC300B LED lights

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy