Learn How This Dramatic Sports Portrait Was Created

James Quantz Jr is one of the best out there when it comes to sports portraiture, with his innovative lighting and eye-catching compositions making for dramatic images. If you would like to learn how to create this style of portrait, check out this fantastic video tutorial in which he takes you behind the scenes, breaking down a complex shot into easier chunks to show you how it all came together. 

Coming to you from James Quantz Jr, this awesome video tutorial will show you how he created a multi-light sports portrait. As you will see, when working with particularly complex lighting setups, it is best to build them up light by light. Starting with them all on at the same time and trying to adjust them to taste can be a bit tricky because the overlap can make it difficult to know where one light's effects end and where another's begin. Building up the setup light by light makes it much more obvious. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

If you would like to continue learning about how to light a portrait, be sure to check out "Illuminating The Face: Lighting for Headshots and Portraits With Peter Hurley!"

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

James is a beast and super nice guy. Always love his tutorials and I just found out his Pro Light Mod(ifiers) are now being created by Westcott. I love seeing success stories like his: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=pro%20mod%20westcott&sts=ma

I don’t own any Wescott strobes but the brand is making a very serious effort at showing that they are a real system. That’s what lights manufacturer should all be like, not just throw some products based on price. I have no doubt that they are probably made in China, but these guys have a good plan and partner with pros who design products based on their needs first and then Wescott makes them available to everyone. That’s something you simply don’t see with same price range name only brands.