How to: Photograph Portraits for a Fitness Influencer
It was no sweat for Gordon Ly during his session with the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 zoom.
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By Jenn Gidman
Images by Gordon Ly
I recently had the opportunity to conduct a photo session with Kelly, a personal trainer and fitness influencer who’s on Instagram as @fitbycoachkel. She just came out with a new app, so she needed video production, thumbnail photos, and everything in between for her website.
During the preproduction phase, Kelly and I had a “discovery” call, during which we discussed her vision for the content she wanted. She was thinking something along the lines of a neutral tone—so black and white grades—and photos that were edgy, showing off her muscles and physique while still looking feminine. She hoped to highlight herself wearing a sports bra or performing certain dance moves, maybe even with a little sweat dripping to show her in action. It was all about keeping her in her comfort zone and true to herself, so that would shine through in the images.
28-75mm (28mm), F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 50
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28-75mm (31mm), F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 50
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We shot this in a small studio in downtown Phoenix, and we purposely chose this particular venue because of its stark, clean, all-white look. We also only had a short amount of time to pull off the shoot, which is why I chose to use the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 zoom. The versatility this lens offers was key. I had the flexibility of shooting at 28mm to achieve wider photos—handy for taking hero shots, which are usually the first images you see on a client’s website—then zooming in to 75mm to capture more detailed images. Being able to do all that in such a condensed time frame and tight space and come away with so many great pictures without having to change lenses was a huge help.
I’ve long wanted to experiment with transitioning away from using solely all-natural light, and so lately I’ve been using more dynamic lighting. For this specific shoot I went that route, using a Paul C. Buff E640 Einstein flash unit and a 64-inch PLM umbrella—just that one light set up for the entire shoot.
I asked Kelly to bring a few different outfits, so we could capture a variety of looks while still keeping it branded with her trademark black outfits. That and her tanned skin tone stood out perfectly against the white background.
28-75mm (28mm), F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 50
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It always helps when you’re doing a photo session like this, where you want to emphasize the model’s physique, if the model knows what she’s doing. And Kelly definitely does, which made my job infinitely easier. Plus, I have a fitness background myself—I went to school for dietetics, before I started my production company, and I participated in men’s fitness competitions—so I know what looks good and what needs to pop.
28-75mm (49mm), F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 64
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Mutual collaboration ensured Kelly wasn’t just standing around, looking static. For some of the posed shots, I would come in more as a creative director—she took the lead on the movements, and I would tweak what she was doing slightly or have her hold a pose a bit longer so I could capture different angles. Using props like the barbells or medicine ball helped engage her muscles well so I could accentuate them in the photos.
28-75mm (30mm), F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 50
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28-75mm (62mm), F/3.2, 1/200 sec., ISO 64
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One of the biggest challenges was trying to achieve different looks in such a small space that didn’t have a lot of elements to incorporate into the frame. I didn’t want all 50 or so of the pictures I took to look too similar. Those two windows turned out to be handy, as I was able to work a bit of symmetry into a few of the images, especially for some of the wider photos—those would be perfect hero images. We also shot into the corners of the room so we’d have some leading lines to work with. Ultimately, it ended up being hard to go wrong. Plenty of powerful and amazing shots came out of this session.
There weren’t many other hurdles. There were a couple of stains on the floor that we had to edit out, as well as another annoyance we didn’t have any control over, and which you probably wouldn’t even notice unless I pointed it out: There was a giant crane that was outside one of the studio’s windows. Trying to get around having it appear in some of the shots was impossible—but that’s what Photoshop is for!
To see more of Gordon Ly’s work, check out his company’s website and Instagram.
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