How To: Lighting College Football Team in Motion with Faux Stadium Lights and Breakdown from Photographer James Quantz Jr.

Posted by: on Sep 04, 2024

How To: Lighting College Football Team in Motion with Faux Stadium Lights and Breakdown from Photographer James Quantz Jr.

Football season is back and Sports Portrait Photographer James Quantz Jr. takes on a multi-day shoot to capture the South Carolina University Gamecock’s football team in anticipation of the 2024 season. From his final results, to his lighting set up, and of course his tethering gear, James breaks down an experience he looks forward to capturing every year.

How to Freeze Athletes in Motion with Strobes

It is important to give yourself a range of lighting in a shoot like this since your subject will not be static with the image is taken. With the football players moving around doing action shots, larger modifiers and several lights are needed to create a bubble of light that keeps a good exposure on the players as they move around the set.

“I am also reliant on the flash duration, that is what is freezing this action,” says James Quantz Jr.

James also keeps the strength about midway or under 6 on his strobes with a higher ISO to get about 5-6 exposures to capture the players in action.

What Gear You Need to Create a “Bubble of Light” Set Up For Capturing Subjects in Action

For this photoshoot, James utilizes a 7 light set up to capture the players in motion. Let’s dive into what lights he used, and where he placed each of them to get his final results!

Lighting Setup:

For James’ back lighting set up of the players, he utilizes two Westcott FJ400 Lights with 1’ x 4’ Rapid Boxes with Pro Light Mods on c-stands to raise and lower lights to imitate stadium lights with two X-Drop Pro Backdrop Stands.

Camera Settings:

Tethering Gear:

RGB LED Lighting Set Up for Videography:

During this 4 day shoot James and his team captured both photography and videography for the SCU Gamecocks to use during the season. For some of the videography they set up 12 Amaran 150c Lights behind the athletes. This provided fun pops of color and mimicked stadium lights behind the players for their hype shots and reels for the season.

Learn more from James.

How Can Tethering Elevate Your Sports Photography Business?

  • Better Quality Captures: Shooting tethered in volume situations ensures that you capture the images you need for your clients quickly and accurately
  • Faster Workflow: Speed up your workflow when you shoot tethered because your images transmit directly to your computer
  • Better Organization: Meticulous organization is mandatory when you’re dealing with volume photography to ensure that images are matched up with the correct subjects

Download Tether Tools free Ultimate Sports, School, and Headshot Portrait Photography Guide today to learn how to elevate your sports, school, or portrait photography business with a great foundation in tethering and the tools needed to do so.