Photographing a Gym/Fitness studio

[Karebear98]

So a friend has asked me to photograph her headshots and actions shots as well as her business. A gym. Not so concerned with the people aspect, but the environment.

She has informed me there is a plentiful amount of flourescent lighting, mirrors, and clear glass. Kind of a nightmare I know. Does anyone have experience photographing businesses or gyms with similar environments? I have only photographed two hair salons, inside and out.

Know of a resource where I can find good tips, tricks and how to's on this type of photography? Anything you have to share would be appreciated.

[mrsrice22]

google or search on flickr, but my guess would be real estate photography may be similar in that you're working with horrid lighting and may need to adjust accordingly. If you haven't already, check out photovision for a digital calibration target to get the correct WB. I got the larger one when they had their year end sale, though the smaller pocket size will work just as well.

I think a tripod and a slow shutter speed so that the peeps working out will be blurred but you'll catch some motion on the machines, might make a cool shot... :)

[Flea77]

Be prepared for horrible lighting, high ISO and shoot wide open at f1.8 (first because you need the light, second because it will help throw the reflections OOF).

Allan

[Bruce M. Morris]

Kara,
Some suggestions. Before you spend a bunch of time looking online about what you need for shooting, go down and take a look at the gym. Lots of glass could mean lots of light coming in from outside. Taking some photos of possible settings so you can see the lighting mixture would also help in determining how much auxiliary light you need to bring in.
When you ARE looking for information online, look for "painting with light" or "Painting with Flash".

[Karebear98]

Bruce...I would love to just run down and look but it's in College Station and I am here in League City. :( She is going to take a few casual pics with a point and shoot in order to show me the layout, space, etc. I will def. look at the two online sources you suggested.

[Bruce M. Morris]

Something else to consider which might eliminate some of the concerns about balancing all the different light sources. Keep in mind the idea of doing a B&W rendering of the images as well.

[Tom]

You just need a few off-camera lights. Overpower the F lighting and you are fine.

[auddii]

Hopefully you've already photographed this sometime in the past year. :)

[DiskoJoe]

Originally Posted by Karebear98

So a friend has asked me to photograph her headshots and actions shots as well as her business. A gym. Not so concerned with the people aspect, but the environment.

She has informed me there is a plentiful amount of flourescent lighting, mirrors, and clear glass. Kind of a nightmare I know. Does anyone have experience photographing businesses or gyms with similar environments? I have only photographed two hair salons, inside and out.

Know of a resource where I can find good tips, tricks and how to's on this type of photography? Anything you have to share would be appreciated.

Its just a interior of a building. Go there see what colors things are and then make your lighting choices. YOu are over thinking this. You should be more worried about the poses. Fitness poses are not the same as hair model poses or typical portrait poses. You have to emphasis tone and muscle. You should be able to find plenty on flickr. This is quite a common popular genre.

[arich]