But This Is Just the Beginning...of the Athletic, Rim-Lit Portrait

This extreme overhead placement is just a one-light beginning for an extremely popular style of tough-guy, athletic portraiture that has been popularized by ESPN magazine covers and all sorts of super-dramatic athletic posters. You’ve seen them—athlete up front, all sweat and muscle, daring somebody to score on them, with hot, almost nuclear rim lighting.

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Speaking of this style of pic, why, here’s one now! Aaron poses as a boxer, which he is. Overhead beauty dish, extreme placement, hardly any detail in the eyes. Again, that’s the starting point. For this, I added two rim lights ...

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