Photographer Dustin Snipes had only 20 minutes with Oakland A's pitcher Scott Kazmir, but that didn't stop him from getting stunning shots for ESPN Magazine. In this post, check out behind-the-scenes photos and video from the shoot.
In the professional photography world, sometimes awesome opportunities pop up at unexpected times. Snipes was in Seattle with his family when he got the call that he would be photographing the Major League Baseball player. With only a few days notice, he arranged to have his photography assistant meet him in Oakland with all the lighting equipment needed for the only 30-minute setup time they had.
On the day of the shoot, Snipes had a few more challenges to battle: a harsh midday sun and lots of wind. To battle the intense sun, Snipes doubled up on lights in each location, then turned down the power on each head to give him faster flash duration while also keeping the power output high enough to compete with the bright sun.
Before starting the shoot, Snipes went over the movements with Kazmir to make sure he'd be able to capture key moments.
For the first 15 minutes, the focus was on action shots.
After that, they had 5 minutes to do a quick portrait shoot.
At the end of the speedy shoot, Snipes was able to get a double page opener, a table of contents shot, and another smaller secondary shot for ESPN Magazine.
Check out the lighting list
Pitching shot
2 MobiLED heads pointed into a Para 88 for the main light
1 P65 and 1 P45 with MobiLED heads cnnected to a MOVE 1200L pack for a rim/kicker light on the camera left side with the sun providing the camera right kicker.
Green Wall
1 Para 88 with mobiLED head and para88 and move 1200L pack