Sports Illustration: Jordan Pierce

Clarke Central linebacker Jordan Pierce on Thursday, November 4, 2010 in Athens, Ga.

Yeah, its an illustration. You don't see sunsets like that here in Georgia. The why and the how after the jump.



Two factors led me to take this from a conceptual sports portrait into an illustration.

First, i had one light with me. No pocket wizards, no stand, no nothing. One SB-800. I was originally going to use Nikon's CLS and using my recently fixed D700 in commander mode. Nothing would fire right, so i went back to f/18 & full power on the flash.

Second, I had this nice gradient with the clouds until 5 minutes before practice was over. I had some nice clouds and flipped the WB to cloudy and was going to do something similar to what i ended up with. Then it cleared. And I've shot so many portraits lately of a kid outside against the sky with the sun behind his head. So i said the hell with it, toned the sky the way i wanted it to look, cleaned up a power lines & called it an illustration.

Ethics-wise, a photo like this could only be in a contest in the illustration category. Its not photojournalism, its not a documentary portrait; its just an illustration.