The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets From One of the World's Top Shooters

generally snacking on something, and if he liked a picture, he would call out, “Yanko,” meaning to yank it from the slide tray as a select. There would be a burble of approval around the room. If he reeeeaaaaalllllly liked it, he would call out, “Yanko Supremo.” More burbling.

    I had never realized I was out there looking not for pictures, but for yanko supremos.
     
    This one I believe got at least a yanko. Maybe even a supremo. The story was about Mike Ruth, a massive defensive lineman for Boston College and winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player. He was a surefire first rounder and big news, so I was dispatched to shoot some pictures.

    Size is a tough thing to show in a photo, believe it or not. I was once assigned to photograph the biggest guys in the NFL, and I failed miserably. Biggest in relation to what? I put guys in meat lockers à la Rocky, on a bulldozer, lifting things, you name it. The only thing I got out of it was the biggest bill I have ever run up in a Red Lobster, when I caused the front line of the Indianapolis Colts to miss their training camp dinner. I had to spring for a meal. Each of them ordered two entrees.

    “Remember to think like a comic book: low angle, look up! Turn your subject into a superhero!”

    So, when I saw the summer sun dipping towards this hill and Mike was shirtless, finished with his workout, I grabbed a 400mm lens and asked him to go to the crest of the hill and do something athletic.
     
    The pale haze muted the colors and made the sun shootable as a perfect round ball. Mike did some stretches, and I got a photo
USA Today
called the best sports photo of that week.

    How to Get This Type of Shot

    Couple of simple rules of thumb here: You have to get your subject to extend, and make their body a graphic shape. If they just go up and stand there, their silhouette will have no definition, and they will just look like a dark lump on the horizon.

    Bigger is better here, in terms of lens. The bigger the lens, the more magnification and compression you get, and the subject and the sun get more impressive. (Low camera angle helps, too. Remember to think like a comic book: low angle, look up! Turn your subject into a superhero!)

    It also helps when he’s 270 pounds.
    Think Like a Comic Book
     

    “Comic books tell wonderful stories. They have color, punch, drama, and great POV (point of view) on the action.”

    Bam! Splat! Pow! Aaarggh! Zoom!
     
    I grew up on comic books. I went to five different grammar schools. Always the new kid. I had to find something to do besides get the $#!& kicked out of me during recess.

    It informs my pictures now. Primary colors. Dramatic gestures. Screamin’ light. I’m thoroughly unabashed about this. Comic books tell wonderful stories. They have color, punch, drama, great POV (point of view) on the action, and they make Zod, evil overlord of the Darthmanian nebula system, very real. At least for me.

    So when I get the world’s largest Van der Graaf generator in front of my lens, I’m in heaven. Or Frankenstein’s castle. I’m thinking up a world of color, light, monsters, and heroes, and man, to borrow a phrase, “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”

    A picture like this is a trip into the valley of the gels and the enemy here is white light bleed. That sounds like a horrible dermatological condition, but it is actually about the lighting, and generally results from being careless or lazy. When you want to just generally warm a scene up, for instance, it is cool to loosely tape warm gels on the strobe heads. Most of the light goes through the gel, some white light jumps out through open spaces between the gel and the head. No problem.
     
    But, if you want rich, saturated color, ya gotta seal the light with the gel. Tape it on carefully and allow no open seams for white light to scream outta there. White light bleed will turn red pink, and give you punchless color.

    Another point: when you don’t have a good blue, for instance, a first, logical instinct might be to turn up the power on the flash. Want more color? Give it the gas! More power! No. Wrong. You make the color richer and stronger by dialing down the light. Less power, more color.
    Bring It All!
     

    Eisie (Alfred Eisenstaedt) always used to say, bring the stuff with you, it doesn’t do you any good back at the studio. He was right.

    But just ’cause you got it, don’t mean you have to use it.

    I dragged a bunch of strobes to the