Last week the Statesman sent me out to Wimberley High School to photograph senior Brenna Lyles (left) and junior Sophie Bethke (right) during volleyball practice.
Lyles and Bethke are the stars of the team, which has more state championship titles than it knows what to do with, but they could also go much further beyond their high school team. As their coach, Thomas Kane, put it, “they’re definitely on the radar of the nation team.”
But before college national championships and trips to the Olympics, these two girls have to finish high school. That means summer practices, which was where I came in.
I showed up about 15 min. early to get their portraits before practice. Teenage girls generally don’t like to pose for photos right after sweating for two hours. I set them up in two locations, but the first was far better than the second. So much better, in fact, that I’m not including it on this post.
The best portrait was the one at the top, but I did a full body shot in the same location as another option.
Then it was time for practice. I had to get some action shots and I wanted to single each of them out in the frame. Thank goodness practices allow me to do that fairly easily.
I tried to pay special attention to my background. As you can see from the portraits, the gym is decorated abundantly with school spirit, so I tried to use that to my advantage. And where I couldn’t, I just wanted to make a clean shot.
It was harder than you might think. Gyms have all kinds of things laying around to complicate a background. Also, I was maxed out on ISO at 6400, and my shutter at it’s fastest was at 1/500. I prefer at least 1/640 for sports. Fortunately, this time it worked out pretty well, in spite of the low-light conditions.
One Trackback
[…] I’ve covered more sports action this year than sportraits, but here are two of my better shots. The first was taken just last week. Manor high school football players Denzel Hutchinson, left, and Rodney Molette, right, whose fathers have both recently returned from U.S. Army deployments overseas, posed for me outside the MHS weight room. The second is Wimberley High School’s Brenna Lyles, 16, left, and Sophie Bethke, 16, right, at the WHS gym. […]