Seeking advice on shooting heavily oiled bodies

[Al L]

Hello,
I will be shooting a body building event this Saturday (Ronnie Coleman Classic)
and I'm looking for suggestions from those with experience in shooting these kinds of events.
I shot a smaller body building event years ago and was surprised
at how difficult it was to get a good keeper rate. Very shiny skin with color lighting, etc..

I plan on shooting a standard zoom as much as possible from 5'-20' away with flash
and leave the long distance shots to someone else.

Thanks,
Al

[bondarnes]

I would suggest one light near the camera as a fill light, then a stronger light on each side about shoulder high to skim across the body. If you don't have flashes, then you coud do this set up using halogen work lights

[CaptainTom]

I've discovered that the oil reflects a different spectrum of the light at different
places on the subject. I think it has to do with the amount of oil on the subject vs. the direction of the light, etc.
It can turn out very blotchy.
I had anticipated trying a CPL filter if I had to shoot them again.
I don't have any other answer.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

2009 NPC Philadelphia & Tracey Greenwood Fitness Figure Classic - JIM's Photos
Even though these are posed on a non-stage set up you can see that he is using at least 3 lights (may or may not have a hairlight) one on each side and then a third by the camera right, as Don suggested and you can see his results.

Now since it sounds like you will be shooting the competitors while on stage it would be very hard to set up strong enough portable flashes to light them well (you would almost need a larger studio pack with some very high power flashes to cover a large stage area and then you would probably have blown highlights).

It looks like that he isn't even using a soft box or grid on his lights which would knock some of the overblown spots on his bodybuilders.

So I would say if you really want to get some great shots you will need to find a place off stage to set up a shoot area and set up lights like Don said.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

OK went back and looked real close at one of the female body builders and he is using way more than 3 lights. (look around the feet and the shadows that are being cast- there are 3 distinct shadows as mentioned above but then there are at least 2 lesser shadows so he has at least 2 more lights that are dialed down a half stop or more to add some more depth and reflections).

There is no way that you could duplicate this on a competitive working stage since the lights are all directed at one spot.

[Al L]

Hey thanks Don, Tom and Paul.
I will be using a flashgun off stage most of the time.
If there is some room off the beaten path I might set up 2 lights
and keep it simple.
Tom mentioned the skin looking very blotchy and that is exactly what
I was referring to. I'm not a PS guru either so keeping things simple will be key
I think. Thanks again,
Al

[wandrson]

I believe there is a blurb about this in "Light, Science, and Magic" A great book about lighting many kinds of subjects. Well worth buying or borrowing a copy.

[Al L]

Just a quick update on the photo shoot...
I wasn't able to set up lights as some larger photography company had
that set up in advance along with dvd sales.
Their setup was nothing unique btw, just a few more lights
as was mentioned here.
Thanks again for everybody's input.
Al