Jeff, I think when you're ready, I think we go back on to a stand. And now, you guys can see if you're standing here watching from home, we have another light set up. We have another Profoto pack. And what we're gonna try to do is add just a little edge light and it's something that Corey made the observation right away. He looked at the photograph and he said in kind of non-technical terms, he said, "boy, I'm not just separating from the wall very much. What could you do that adds an edge to the photograph?" And that's exactly what we're gonna try to do, create an edge light that really separates out his body from that black wall. And so, we're just gonna give this a test. So Corey, maybe let me just fire a frame see what it looks like and we can analyze it on the computer. Just do the same kind of thing? Yeah, and I think it's really halfway between the top and the concrete. I went too slow there. I definitely love the edge. Just getting that separation is great. I don't actu...

ally mind all of this bleed. It actually sort of compliments this daylight right here. And this shaft of light starts to feel a lot like this shaft of light. So already you can see with that little edge right there, you're separating from the wall. And this actually starts to feel intentional. It starts to feel like we're shooting another light across the foreground and another. So there's some bleed right here. If we had time, I'd be interested in trying to keep some of this bleed off the wall and just keep it on the actual concrete. Which we just add a tighter grid and just really isolate where you're gonna be at when you're actually up in the air. And I think that zone, if I had my choice, it would be another four inches lower. Like ever so slightly. It might just be if you just kinda stand up just a tiny bit, because I can't with the speed I have go at that certain spot to get the pop you need. That makes sense. Did you just spin that light out a little, Bly? Let me just see a frame without Corey in it. It's less, but it's still there. Still quite a bit of bleed on the -- Let's try one more time. What we're trying to do, there we go. That helped a lot. That's quite a bit. That's actually really nice. And you know, maybe I should throw the lens hood on, Brett. Oh, I've got it on, okay, nevermind. You're seeing a little bit of flare on the left. Which I don't mind, that's not terrible. And the reason we don't come away from the wall dramatically is we wanna keep the -- The edge on him. This edge as tight as we can so it really just accents the back of you so you can see where you were at. If we come away too far, we're gonna start throwing another shadow that way and we're gonna get way more light and then it'll take the drama out of the shot. And let's see, now that we've spun it off, we're getting less of that bleed on to the black. Let's see if we're still getting the edge and how it looks. Let's just give it a shot. Okay, just let me know when he's coming in. You got him, Brett? Three, two, one. Okay, cool. Nice edge, yeah. I wanna zoom in, can we zoom in? I wanna make sure he's nice and sharp. Yep. Yeah, it looks great. With the focus over here we can -- So I probably went too high again. Yeah, you know it's that balance of I'm trying to decide if I get much higher I lose this cool strip of light but it's working. Look, if you're Red Bull, this works pretty well. There's a lot of Red Bull in this shot. So why don't we go -- Jeff, let's actually shoot faster with 250th of a second. Are we gonna be at our limit? Okay, we're gonna stay there then. So, Alex, how did that work? One question, you getting anything? It's okay, still dialing it in. Okay, okay. Maybe if you're dialing that in, do you want to jump on this camera and fire on the strobes here now that we have the edge light? Cool, great. Corey, I think that what you're doing is great. And we will trade this off. And another interesting point about the lighting too is, you know, lighting takes a lot of time to go ahead when you're setting everything up and we're your really going through it. So you need to plan for hours. I've been on shoots, car shoots, where we've had 20 hours of pre-light before the trigger even gets pulled once. And I think Jeff's making a good point and I'll reiterate that. This is real quick and dirty, we're just showing you the example of one light adding an edge light. I think it's all about this idea of how do you evolve the situation. What we're not showing you is the two or three hours of refining this shot. And really fixing that bleed, putting a grid on, making sure the grid is in the right spot. So, auto-focus real quickly is this button here. Or that one. Or you can use that one. Yep, that's fine and the vertical grip and that's on. Maybe just depress that shutter and see if it's firing. Yep, we're unlocked. Okay, cool, so we'll give you the count in as well. Let me slide out of your frame. Corey, whenever you're ready. Okay, so Corey's coming in. Three, two, one. Ooh, that looked like the strobe fired at the perfect time. Nice. And one of the nice things for me, as you're shooting, it's nice to actually step away. That's nice. Nice moment. Nice timing. It's nice for me to step away or if you're shooting alone, to just step away from the camera and have a bigger perspective of what's happening. I think we're all struggling with sort of where he is. I mean, you could go slightly higher. I should go higher. Yeah, and maybe it's giving up some of this strip, but I would try it. Yeah, I'll try it. You're two feet higher and see what you think. Corey, I think whenever you're ready we're just gonna try slightly higher elevation from a camera perspective. Okay. Okay, here he comes. Three, two, one. Cool, I bet that'll be nice. I think that makes a huge difference just getting him below the Red Bull branding. It would be nice to get him straight on. Sure. You know, I think what's great is this shot has evolved into, you know, we started in that far back long lens, compressed, went in with one light, shot wide and then now we're on a 24-70, a little more compressed with that edge light. And I think it's a better frame than what we started with. We could easily spend an hour here evolving it, but I think your timing is perfect. You're nailing the frame. Alex, how did that go? Looks like it was better over here. Yeah. Let me look real quick, I just want a peak. Also, I used a much quicker shutter than I was. Got it. Yeah, you can almost drag it a little more. That's kinda starting to work in there. Yeah, right there. Yeah, it's almost a little more power. Yeah, exactly. Right, one speed, but -- And again, that's something with time, you could look into bigger strobes.

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Corey Rich

Corey Rich has built a life and career around his passions for travel, adventure, and telling stories with his camera. With a background in rock climbing and photojournalism, Corey’s work spans a range of genres, from iconic still imagery for leading editorial publications, to television spots and films, to directing high-production-value commercial projects for Fortune 100 companies. 

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Commercial Adventure & Sports Digital Photography Digital Photography Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

Zoe Heimdal

I really enjoyed this class! I am not an "action sports photographer" -- just an avid photo enthusiast, and I found this class highly informative/interesting. Corey has a very down-to-earth quality in the way he presents information... a regular guy, who knows a ton, and is sharing his wisdom. Clearly many topics/tips were off-the-cuff as he ran into situations during his shoots -- it just felt very "real" -- like I was there with him, getting a private lesson. There was quite a bit of info dealing with camera cards/photos/apps that was ubiquitous to any photographer. And then it was interesting to hear about his travel bags and what he brings to shoots (a ridiculous amount of gear, but everything with a purpose). There are hours of on-site filming for an outdoor ski and an indoor bmx shot... with Cory trying/failing/succeeding in many attempts at things -- just like a real photo shoot would happen. His advice for capturing a good/workable shot from the get-go and then spending the time on the riskier/more-creative shots, was solid -- as far as keeping your clients happy no matter what. I was genuinely surprised at how interesting/useful I found this class (being that I rarely take action shots) -- and I'd encourage any photo enthusiast, or person in the earlier stages of any professional photography career, to check out this class. My one piece of constructive criticism for Cory/CreativeLive -- try to represent women? This class only had the briefest of inclusion of females, and left me with the impression (I'm hoping incorrectly), that the world of action sports photography, is a man's world.

a Creativelive Student

If you're looking to learn from one of the greats of action photography who also happens to be an incredible instructor, look no further! Corey Rich and his fantastic team will show you every facet of being a great action photographer and they share all of their insights from A to Z. Their instruction is heartfelt and they laid it all out there for everyone's benefit. A huge thank you to Creative Live and Red Bull Photography for bringing this to the world. This is a must have class in your library!

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Capturing Variations of BMX Athlete

Capturing Variations of BMX Athlete

Lesson Info

43. Capturing Variations of BMX Athlete

Lessons

Class Introduction

What Makes A Great Action Photo

Conceptualize the Shoot

Research Location / Wardrobe / Props for Action Shoot

Safety Tips for Action Photographers

What Gear Do I Need? Packing and Prep

Workflow and Asset Management

Ingesting and Organizing Files

Editing Down Your Selects

Post Processing Overview

Working with Clients to Select Finals

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 1

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 2

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 3

Final Client Delivery

Introduction to Snow Athletes

Setting up the Shot: Using Natural Light

Getting that First Action Shot: Snow Park

Scouting Location for Action Shot: Snow Park

Capturing Variation of Snow Park Action Shot

Refining the Snow Park Action Shot

Action Shot with Strobes Overview

Shoot: Action Shot with Strobes

How to Light Using Strobes

Action Shoot: Snow Park with Strobes

Refining the Snow Park Action Shoot: Using Strobes

Capturing Variation with Snow Park Athletes

Capturing Portraits: Snowboarder

Capturing Portrait: Skier

Shoot: Feature Jump Action Shot Afternoon Natural Light

Introduction to Today's Shoot

Building a Rapport with the Athlete: BMX Rider

Scouting Location for Action Shot: Indoor BMX Park & Natural Light

Getting the First Action Shot: BMX

Conceptualizing the Action Shot: BMX

Prepping Gear & Refining the Action Shot: BMX

Action Shoot: BMX Athlete with Natural Light

Setting up Remote Cameras

Capturing BMX Action Shots: Remote Cameras

Conceptualizing the Shot: Using Strobes in Indoor BMX Park

Lighting with Strobes: Indoor BMX Park

Action Shoot: BMX Athlete with Strobes