Gym Photos using a Black Background and Keno Flo Lights

I’ve been taking photographs of professional trainers at La Jolla Sports Club for awhile.  Last week I decided to try taking photos against a black background using dim lighting.

My basic setup included 2 Keno Flo Diva Lights, a black background and a 35mm lens.  The setup provided clean looking shots of John Parker which gave us the option of using the shots taken as they were out of the camera or even to extract him and build composite photos against different backgrounds.

Continuous light is better than strobes.

Through lots of trial and error, I am finding that continuous lights and panels such as the Keno Flo Diva lights are giving me much more control over my lighting and are less subject to error.

Too many times I find myself struggling to keep multiple strobes synced up and controlling the light output.  With continuous lights I am able to get a much better result than when I use strobes.

The Result

The result turned out pretty good and I was happy with the nice soft lighting which didn’t blow out the subject too much.