Pete Jones Tae Kwon Do 2.0

2/24/11 – Rebecca Getsfrid – Commercial and Advertising Portrait Photographer in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon

The Tae Kwon Do class I shot for last year had me out again, and it was another fantastic time. These kids are amazing and can do some crazy stuff I can’t even imagine making my body do.

The last time I shot them, I went out of my way to make the gym more studio-like, doing all I could to turn the background black. Since a lot of the students were the same this year, I wanted to give them something different, and instead opted to keep a bit of the gym in each shot. That way they don’t just have photographic memories of their achievements, but where they were and the friends they made while attaining those achievements.

I did a sort of combat-ready posed shot with each student, incorporating the gym background and the punching/kicking bag to add some more interest to the image. With one powerful light to the left, and a main light to the right, I was able to create a really cool almost cinematic or magazine style light that most parents don’t get to see in their kids’ sports images.

I also did a much more portraity style shot of each student using the same lighting. By turning them slightly and moving them towards the main softbox’d light, I was able to make the rim light a little less apparent, toning down the effect of it. Again, the goal was to give the parents something that they’re not going to get from normal sports club photos, something cool to show off to their friends, co-workers, and family.

The last thing I did with each student was pull out the ring flash and stick them against the gym’s yellow walls. I ramped up the clarity in light room to give it a bit more of a stylized look. Pretty much just one more easy shot I could add on to give the parents more variety.