Digital Compositing Athletes Fitness Models LI NYC
Michael ONeill Photographer Writer Motorcyclist Adventurer
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Digital Compositing Athletes Fitness Models LI NYC

The inspiration for this shot came while I was watching the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Jamaican runner, Usain Bolt, dominated in all of the races he competed in, leaving Rio with his ninth Olympic medal. The perfect swan song as this Olympics would be his last. Aside from being of imposing physical stature, Bolt emanates an air of being larger than life itself. With this in mind I set out to create this digital photo composite. Starting with the perfect wide angle shot of the stadium taken from field level I then created the portrait of the athlete in the camera room of my East Northport, Long Island, New York studio. By using a similar camera position, but a longer focal length lens, I was able to create with my model this "larger than life" perspective. A total of three lights were used in the studio…one main light illuminating the subject from the front and two "kicker" lights to accent his muscularity while, at the same time, providing realistic highlights as if they were the product of the stadium lights. Digital image compositing is a very effective way to create dynamic images when budgets and logistics do not allow for the shot to be done on location. I have had the experience of working with many athletes and fitness models on many conceptual portraits. Give me a call if you have an idea or a project that you would like to collaborate on.