Photographing & Constructing Sports Photo Action Sequences

Today we bring you a behind-the-scenes look at an amazing award-winning photo series conceptualized by photographer Max Riche. This series, called Becoming an Athelete, captures individual athletes in a sequence of shots while they perform their specific talent and transform from an average Joe or Jane into an all-star.

Becoming an Athlete uniquely combines technical shooting with a painter-like artistic view. The beautiful motion blur that really gives this series life was achieved by using a combination of continuous lighting and Broncolor strobes. With the camera set to a longer exposure setting than you would normally use shooting sports, the studio lights first capture the subject in motion, then the strobes freeze the subject in place. Multiple shots are taken with the athlete in different positions and wearing different clothing. Afterwards, the photos are stitched together in post-processing to create the sequence.

athlete motion

Motion blur created using a mix of studio lights and strobes

Becoming an Athlete won the EISA Maestro Silver Award Europe in 2012.

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