Olympic Hopeful

[kkamin]

Recent shoot for a 2016 Olympic hopeful. I acted as photographer and creative director on the shoot. She is a Minnesota-based boxer so that should explain the concept (it's the coldest state in the Union). Open to crits and comments. Thanks.

 

[Nevermore1]

To me the "snow" looks like it is blowing forward while the ties for her hood are blowing back.

 

[tirediron]

I like the image, but the eyes are too dark. What sport is she hoping to compete in?

 

[kkamin]

She's a boxer. I purposefully lit the face so the eyes would be deep in shadow to try to create a menacing look.

@Nevermore1: She is running with the blizzard. It created more movement to do it this way. And the snow would be blowing in her face as well if she was running into it.

 

[Mtothepoweroftwo]

wow, very strong shot! could you shed a little light on how you made it work (pun intended)?
i would guess something like an umbrella straight in front, 45 degrees down, single flashlight and snow added in post-processing or?

 

[Steve5D]

I like the image, but the eyes are too dark. What sport is she hoping to compete in?

I'm gonna' guess ice dancing...

 

[Robin Usagani]

I like it. I just think there should be snow in front of the face too. A little steam from breathing in the cold would be nice too

 

[kkamin]

wow, very strong shot! could you shed a little light on how you made it work (pun intended)?
i would guess something like an umbrella straight in front, 45 degrees down, single flashlight and snow added in post-processing or?

Thanks. I used a beauty dish overhead with a reflector under her (basically a clam shell set-up). There were two strip soft boxes behind her angled at her at 45 degrees to give her a little kick. The snow is my assistant throwing fake snow in the air in front of a black back drop several times, which I composited in Photoshop, and where I used the Radial Blur filter to give it directionality and a sense of motion.

 

[kkamin]

I like it. I just think there should be snow in front of the face too. A little steam from breathing in the cold would be nice too

Thanks for the feedback, Robin. We tried to get a steamy breath-look from her mouth by using a vaporizer pipe on-set, but it ended up looking too much like smoke as opposed to steam. I toyed with warping stock steam but it didn't look right. It sort of needs to be coming out of her mouth and then wrapping around her face since she's running. I gave up, but I'm sure craftier people could have gotten something to work.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I like it. I just think there should be snow in front of the face too. A little steam from breathing in the cold would be nice too

Thanks for the feedback, Robin. We tried to get a steamy breath-look from her mouth by using a vaporizer pipe on-set, but it ended up looking too much like smoke as opposed to steam. I toyed with warping stock steam but it didn't look right. It sort of needs to be coming out of her mouth and then wrapping around her face since she's running. I gave up, but I'm sure craftier people could have gotten something to work.

Nah.. just use photoshop and free hand the smoke. This shot.. the pipe was not lit.

 

[gsgary]

You want to hope she does not come up against ours Nicola Adams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[hotdrop]

Im curious what you are going to use that photo for. Im not sure how you shot it but the contrast between her hoodie and and her t-shirt make it look like you shot the hoodie separately from the subject and overlayed the two. The composition of the photo seems to highlight the fists, the hoodie, the snow and effects but your subject is masked by the shadows on her face. If I saw her in person or on TV I would have a hard time recognizing her from this photo. Here is the order my eye sees in this photo. Highlight on LH fist, highlight above it, RH fist, chest highlight, over around the outside of the hoodie and then her face last.

 

[spacefuzz]

hmm really dont like that I cannot see the eyes. I want there to be a gleam in there.