Behind The Shot - NBPA Portraits

Here’s a quick rundown of the portraits we made of the Charlotte Hornets roster for the NBPA ahead of the 23’-24’ season at the Spectrum Center.

Equipment used for these shots:

  • Sony A1

  • Sony 24-70/2.8 GM II

  • Leica M10R

  • Voigtlander Nokton 75/1.5 ASPH VM

  • Flashpoint Xplor 600 Pro

  • Flashpoint Xplor 400 Pro (2)

  • Glow EZ Lock Umbrellas 41” (2)

  • Smallrig Softbox 36” w/ grid

  • C-stands (3)

  • 10’ white paper backdrop

While vast majority of the day’s photographs were made on Sony A1 + Sony 24-70 GM II, this shot was from the M10R & Nokton 75/1.5 combo using only the model lights from our flashes.

In post, the temperature is pushed warmer, skin tones tweaked accordingly, and the luminance curve dropped a bit in the highlights. Cyan-green is added to the midtones. Gordon’s treated with some pretty light retouching of the skin, we’ve given his eyes a subtle pop of exposure and saturation, and there’s spot healing of some flyaways in that slick hairdo.

Camera settings: ISO 1600, 1/90s, f/2.4

Setup / lighting plot from the Spectrum Center on media day

The following are some of the photographs delivered to the NBPA with basic editing, which included exposure adjustments, adding contrast curves, and naturalistic coloring to match other NBPA productions from team-to-team across the league.

Here, we’re keying from our Flashpoint Xplor 600 Pro w/ 36” Smallrig Softbox at around 30-45º in a Rembrandt lighting fashion, positioned about 4ft from talent. The two Flashpoint Xplor 400 Pros are positioned just-behind and off to the sides of talent, probably about 8ft in each direction, and angled onto our backdrop. The backdrop flashes are powered slightly higher than the key.

These photographs are made with the Sony A1 and Sony 24-70/2.8 GM II.

Special thanks to PM Erick Hodge and Digitech Grant Nicholls for their help on this project.


You can find our NBPA project brief here

You can find another photo breakdown from our work with tasting-menu concept L’Ostrica here

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Leading on Set w/ Director Ben Carter