![[Pics] Flickr Spotlight #9 – Amazing Athlete Portraits](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/large-16-9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/fs-flickrspotlight-sport_jpg.webp)
As some of you may know, I started my photography career as a sport/basketball photographer, and I'm a big sports fan in general. This month is one of the craziest months in sports world-wide with March Madness, Champions League Quarter Finals, Euroleague Quarter Finals, and of course some really great NBA games - so I thought it's a great time to do a post related to that topic: Athlete Portraits.
Here are some of the most amazing athlete portraits found on Flickr - some from photographers you may know already, and some from people you never heard of before - but they all got one thing in common: Amazing shots!.
Photo: Joel Grimes.
Photo: Kristian D'Amato.
Photo: Kenny Smith.
Photo: Kiliii Fish.
Photo: Jerry OConnor.
Photo: Chad Coleman.
Photo: patrick crawford.
Photo: Nathan Sweet.
Photo: Zach Ancell.
Photo: Jose Mercado.
Photo: William Yu.
Photo: Matthew Coughlin.
Photo: Elevendy Inc.
Photo: Rob Hammer.
Photo: Xavier Wallach.
__
From Noam:
I always love hearing from fellow photographers. If you have any ideas for themes, or any other suggestion ill be more than happy to hear from you. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter. Oh, and of course on Flickr.
Awesome portraits Noam. I can't help but notice though, all of these portraits are rather heavy on the strobist-technique. If an athlete portrait photographer really wanted to stand out from the crowd, he'd probably try a slightly more edgy, raw style of photography.
3 people I know of have been featured in the flickr spotlight this week. Glad they are getting exposure. BTW, Frank (athlete in Williams' image) is a really nice guy.
Love the Blake Griffin shot (probably biased as I'm a huge fan). An idea for a future Flickr Spotlight - automotive shots (or a particular type if you want it to be less generic).
Some great shots, although one or two of them look a little too artificial for my personal taste. :)
what about
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagesat5280/6369825417/in/photostream
some of thoose use a little too much dodge and burn for my European taste
But really nice pics!!
This is a good one too, especially since it's a sport that isn't as common as the others. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ski_bumm/5709996831/in/set-72157624600520271/
See a lot of sport portraits used with the same lighting technique, strips on the side, dish on the top..
Kinda 'boring' to see that, some stand out.. other just don't.
Wish they had more variation.. :)
Would this count? Shot wide open @ 2.8 using VariND, an Elinchrom Quadra in a deep octa and two speedlites as rim: http://blog.richardpardon.co.uk/?p=1969
Will be posting some other athletic portraits shortly. There also on FlickR if that helps :-)
If you didn't know better, you'd think that most of the images were taken by the same photographer. There's a consistent style, somewhat dark with dramatic lighting. This is the trend today. In 50 years, someone will look at these images and say, "Well,that was the style back in the early 21st century." So, what will be the style in 10, 20, or 30 years? Can anyone predict?
Slightly more edgy and less polished I should hope
As promised, have permission to post the latest Athletic portrait i've done, this time of a rower gold medalist and olympic hopeful:
http://blog.richardpardon.co.uk/?p=2000
Shot wide open with a VariND filter and single quadra head in a deep octa
Your pics are great! love the lighting!
great post :) my personal shots http://www.flickr.com/photos/samirkharrat/6889043451/in/set-721576293507... and http://www.flickr.com/photos/samirkharrat/6864840016/in/set-721576293507...
i sort of agree... the styles are all very similar. Here is a climber's portrait from last year I shot. I did my damnedest to stay away from the over processing...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35864279@N02/5907058563/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35864279@N02/5907152019/in/photostream