Before and After — Ty Loomis Jump Serve
The Before and After series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Ty Loomis jump serves at the 2009 Houston AVP Tournament.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/2000
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Composition and Processing
- I know sand volleyball is largely played in warm, sunny weather, but my preference is to shoot on overcast days. The soft light does amazing things to skin tones, which is particularly helpful when your subjects tend to be very tan and wearing board shorts or swimsuits.
- I used a bleach bypass filter from Nik Color Efx on this image. The contrasty yellow cast of the filter works well with tan skin and is complementary to all the greens. Speaking of green, it was randomly convenient that Loomis’ shorts matched the background. Had they been blue or red or something else, they would have competed too much for attention.
- It might have been nice to have the entire body in this shot, but with all the attention driven upward to the ball I think the eye has a hard time wandering off the bottom edge where the legs are clipped (or even getting that far). The legs do bend backward a little bit to the corner, which probably helps reduce the impact.
Original:
February 16 2012 06:44 pm | Photography