Last year just before moving to Romania I was still working as the Production Manager for The Salvation Army Headquarters in Atlanta, GA and we traveled to a couple of our Kroc Centers (state-of-the-art community centers with full-blown fitness centers, aquatic centers, outdoor fields, chapel/theater and banquet halls).
My colleague and I spent a week just capturing video b-roll and shooting photos, literally anything and everything we could catch: children, families, adults in classes, recreation, events, etc. We honestly needed more than a week to capture everything happening at each location, but we also did spend full days just shooting things to use for marketing. It was a blast.
One of my highlights for that week was an idea to do a "fitness" photo shoot for some marketing for their classes offered with their fitness instructors as models. We went to the main gym and also the "trendy" crossfit room to capture some dramatic shots. I was heavily inspired by work I had seen from some photographers' work before and setup the strobes for the effect I was looking for, and then the editing took it to the final level.
The setup was pretty simple actually, 2 800W alien bees, the key was a large softbox 45º, and the back light (when used) was open-faced with a scoop opposite the key, or 90º opposite the side of the key. I really wanted to accentuate the detail of their muscles, something that's fun to do with light, how the shadows & highlights meet each other. When editing I exaggerated the clarity and pushed the contrast and saturation to the edge of reality to get the look I was going for. I played with the shadows and highlights, some brushing obviously and touch-ups. In the end, I loved the results, check it out! I can't wait to do another (in another backdrop, give me a new challenge!)
