I'm pretty excited about this behind the scenes video. Not because it's anything spectacularly informative, but because for whatever reason, people in my industry don't generally produce them. I couldn't tell you why that is. It's not like fitness photography is anything revolutionary. In fact, I would venture to say that rendering the human body is one of the most basic exercises in art.
Anyway, to the point...this video is from the feature shoot for latest issue of Oxygen, one of the leading women's fitness magazines. Unfortunately every online source failed to credit or link to the photographer responsible. Not this guy. Robert Reiff is the man behind the camera. The thing I want you to pay attention to is the use of light for contouring. Those of us in the fitness industry do this all the time. I'm not sure how prevalent it is in other genres, but when defining a body it is something you have to master. In the case of these images the rim light is kept soft and feathered gently. This particular publication prefers to keep their images feminine and approachable which is why that kind of light was chosen.
The harder the light, the more intense the definition. You're going to have to pause the video a few times to get a solid look at what is going on but, if you want to work with physiques...you need to know this.
Can someone tell me what the key light is?
The Key is a Fresnel Spot, not sure if its profoto or not, it's too big to be the Hard Box as that actually sits on the head while the Fresnel has a yolk that mounts to the stand.
Can someone tell me what the fill light is?
My best guess is they're using Profoto... The main looks like the Hardbox and the others look like B1 monos.
Great post, I love seeing BTS of other's shoots...thanks! It's also a great way to bring more attention to yourself as a photographer, never know when someone is going to see it and say, "hey, remember that guy that shot that fitness model? We need something like that."
Oh I didn't even know Oxygen was back! It went under in 2013 and I bought the "last" issue.
Yeah, they sold to Active Interest Media shortly after the owner died. Robert was an awesome guy, I'm really glad they were able to keep his publications going.
Lost one minute of my life haha.