Roy Halladay cover shoot

Here is the Roy Halladay photo shoot that I did in February 2010 for the Sporting News. Although it is over a year old, people still email me and ask questions about it. I had some behind the scenes video, so I put this together for you.


Roy Halladay Photo cover shoot from Preston Mack on Vimeo.

Roy Halladay cover shoot

My love of photography began with baseball cards. My brother Pat and I had thousands of cards, and I think I picked my favorite players based on the player photos. Whenever I have a chance to shoot a professional baseball player, this is always on my mind. When the Sporting News asked me to photograph Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay, I knew it was an amazing opportunity. Roy had been traded from the Toronto Blue Jays and had never put on the Phillies uniform. I would be able to make the first ever photos of him in full uniform.

The assignment was to make a cover photo of Roy on the pitching mound. The Phillies hold their spring training in Clearwater, and Roy lives in nearby Odessa. He always reports early for camp which makes photo shoots like this possible. It is nice to be able to have this kind of access before all the other players arrive - before all the media requests and before they have a regimented schedule. I brought along two assistants for this shoot. My regular assistant Jorge and Shaun, a college kid out of Central Florida (UCF).

This is a breakdown of what I brought for the shoot:

-Profoto 7B generator with 1 head

-Profoto Acute 600B generator with 1 head

-Profoto Acute 1200 generator with 2 heads

-Profoto Acute 600 generator with 1 head

-4 speed rings, 2 White domes, 2 small softboxes, 1 Octobank , 1 Profoto medium softbox

-4 grid reflectors, 6 c stands, 2 100' extention cords, power strip

-2 Pocketwizard transmitters, 4 Pocket Wizard receivers, AA batteries

-1 large apple box, 2 sandbags, 1 multicart, 1 Scrim Jim, 6 foot ladder, 1 monopod, 2 mats, a baseball glove and major league baseball

-Cameras - Nikon D3, 2 D300's

-Lenses - Nikon 20mm, 50mm, 24-70, 70-200, 300 2.8

We had full access to Brighthouse Field, the main baseball diamond where the Single A Clearwater Threshers play. The only "negative" was that we had to shoot this photo at high noon. When you shoot outside, there are many things you can control, but the most important variable is the sun position. When it is high in the sky it is difficult to make the light look pretty. Overhead light is harsh and not warm. I think that most people would agree that low, colorful sunset light is the best.

I found out that we had Roy for a total of 1 and 1/2 hours. That is an eternity! I am glad he was so willing. Of course, I had 25 minutes, the rest of the time was for Sporting News reporter Steve Greenberg's interview. Most of my photo shoots with athletes are usually 7 minutes or less, so I was more than happy. With all this time, I wanted to make sure that I had multiple photo locations ready to go. The most important one was the cover shot, the vertical photo of Roy on the mound. We arrived at about 10am for the noon shoot.

Set up #1 - I always like to over light subjects, and this was no exception. I set up the Profoto 7B as the key light, about 5 feet in front of the mound, just to the third base side. I put the 5' Octobank here so I could get beautiful soft light on his face. This battery operated generator was set to 1000 WS. I made sure to position the light low enough so the visor on his ball cap wouldn't cast a shadow on his face. I put the Profoto Acute 600B between the pitchers plate and firstbase, with the zoom reflector. I put the Profoto Acute 600 on the other side, mirroring the first rim light. Both rim lights were set at 600WS, or full power. I normally would put a neutral density filter on the lens to knock down the exposure, but from the low angle I was shooting, there was no real background other than blue sky. When you shoot large aperture portraits, it is a nice look because you normally do not get such depth of field control with lit portraits. The light for this photo was 1/250th @ F/16 , 200ASA with the Nikon D3 (24-70) and Nikon D300 (70-200). Since the sun was at a high position over first base, I had my assistant Jorge stand on a 6 foot ladder with the Scrim Jim. He blocked out the sunlight so I was able to light him only with my light. At 12 sharp, Roy came out. I told him that it was weird seeing him in that red uniform! All of us are used to seeing him in the Grey and Blue of the Toronto Blue Jays. He smiled and said that it was the first time he put the full uniform on and he didn't even look in the mirror yet. He went out onto the mound and did about all you can do as a pitcher - He posed from the windup, the stretch, hands up, slightly down, ball exposed and hidden, smile, no smile, etc. I made sure to shoot tight, medium and loose shots, allowing plenty of space for the page designer. You always try to shoot a little loose because the dimensions of the magazine is never the same as your camera image.

Set up#2 - I have always wanted to shoot a low, wide angle photo of a professional pitcher as he delivered the pitch to home plate. I think that action photo captures the power and elegence of pitching. The light for this setup would be easy adjust for - I just needed to eliminate the light on the firstbase side and move the third base rim light towards second base. Now, with my position low, and to the third base side of the pitchers mound, I get a dynamic look, low angle view of Roy pitching the ball. The reason this photo works was because of the sun's position. Normally you would not shoot into the sun - however, when you have full power generators providing strobe light, you have the ability to knock down the ambient light and make a nice image. The stands at Brighthouse field would be backlit since I am shooting into the sun, but I thought it added a nice dramatic effect. One last bit of technique, I used a 8X neutral density filter on the 20mm lens. I didn't want the stands to have too much sharpness - you have so little control of depth of field with wide angle lenses so I use this whenever I can. The exposure here was 1/250th @ F/8 , 200ASA with the Nikon D3 (20mm). Roy was very interested in the shot and looked at the image preview on the back of my D3 a few times to get his positioning and action just right. I had to move his follow through angle to right of home plate so that I could get his glove to hit the sun when he broke his hands.

Set up #3 - If possible, I always try to shoot something different. You never know what the magazine would like to use, so this is where having extra gear is useful. We staged another setup with the Profoto Acute 1200 with the medium softbox on the dugout steps. I was going to put in a soft light onto the dugout bench and wall. The exposure here was 1/250th @ F/8 , 200ASA with a Nikon D300 (70-200). This was the simplest set up and the quickest to execute. The first image I shot was a close up of Roy holding a baseball. I love details of the game, so I wanted an image of him holding his sinker - that is his out pitch. This may be interesting only to me, but I think it is worth seeing. After that, I shot his portrait as he sat on the bench.

I was very happy with the shoot. It was a real pleasure working with Roy Halladay. He was open to all my ideas and posed for each image with a lot of energy. These images ran in the February 15, 2010 issue of the Sporting News. I think that the magazine looked great. My favorite image from the shoot is the wide angle image that became the full page opener inside the magazine. Special thanks to my assistants Jorge and Shaun.

Shaun also pulled double duty, shooting some behind the scenes video for this blog.

Cover shoot with Mets third baseman David Wright

Met's 3B David Wright

The Sporting News is one of the all time great sports magazines. One of my professional goals has always been to shoot photos for them, and covers if I was lucky enough. When I got the assignment to shoot Mets third baseman David Wright, I was elated.

David was named to the Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, so we had to shoot this last minute portrait before he left Mets camp and reported to Team USA. My assignment was to shoot the cover photo for the baseball preview issue. I always try and get a good selection of poses and looks to give the editors lots of options. To do this, you try to plan out the shoot so that it runs efficiently and you never waste any of the subject's time.

My assistant Jorge and I arrived at the Met's Training facility in Port St Lucie at around 7am. I had to do a quick scout. In all the years that I have covered spring training baseball, I had never shot in Port St Lucie. I quickly determined that the area around third base would not work since there was too much sunlight.

When I look for portrait locations, the first thing I need is a shady area. I like to have large areas of shadow in the foreground so I can have options with the subject. I always have a Scrim Jim with me to provide shade for the subject in case the sun is not in the right area. Since I had to shoot full body portraits of David, the Scrim Jim would not be able to provide complete shade. I had to set up with the sun 1/4 backlit. That is usually a good compromise.

The first set up was at second base area. I used two Profoto 7B lights. The main light was diffused with a 2'x3' Profoto softbox, positioned behind the camera to the right. The rim light was diffused with a small softbox pointed at the subject's right shoulder, about 10 feet behind the subject and to the left. The sun was hitting the subject's left shoulder, about 30 degrees to the camera and high. I had budgeted about 10 minutes at this photo position to get the fielding and batting shot.

Since I have only 2 Profoto battery powerpacks (2 more Profoto packs on AC power), I would have to fill some time while Jorge moved the portable lights from the second base area to third base for the final photo setup. I decided to light the dugout for a different bat portrait. I would shoot a portrait here to give Jorge about 5 minutes to move the lights.

When David arrived on set, he was pleasant and very focused, He gave me great smiles and serious looks. My favorite shot is him standing with the bat. I thought for sure that would be the cover shot. (The exposure for the bat portrait was 1/250th at F14 , ASA 200 with a Nikon D3 and 70-200mm VR lens. Zoom was set at 100mm)

When I got to the dugout for the second photo set up, I had David sit on the opposite end of the dugout, close to where the bat rack is. I shot the photo with a 300mm lens to really compress the image. I love the dark colors in the dugout because it makes for a real clean background. The main light was a Profoto

1200 acute light with an 5' Octobank. This was set up camera left, about 5 feet from his face. I "faked" sunlight in the dugout with another light, hitting him from above and to his

right diffused with a small softbox. The Sporting News used this photo as the opener in the main spread. (The exposure for the dugout portrait was 1/250th at F9 , ASA 200 with a Nikon D300 and 300mm VR lens).

The final setup was at third base. Since the sun is so strong, I had to use the scrim. It leaves a shadow on the ground, so it is not as good to use when you have to shoot full body images. I like this image, especially if they were to use it as a double truck opener. This was lit with a Profoto 7b as the main light with a 2'X'3' Profoto softbox and a rim light on the left. (The exposure for this third base photo was 1/250th at F14 , ASA 200 with a Nikon D3 and 24-70 lens)

You cannot make nice photos with out great subjects. David Wright is a real easy person to work with. I have never heard any media member, reporter or photographer, ever say anything bad about David. He approaches these photo shoots very professionally and I am grateful for that! David gave me almost 25 minutes for this portrait session. That is an eternity... I am not sure if I will ever get that long to shoot a portrait again!