First time doing a fitness shoot

I am going to be doing my first fitness themes shoot in the next couple weeks and I am really interested in some tips for lighting techniques and so on. The look I am going for is an intense workout style shoot and we wil be shooting on location at his personal gym. My subject is a physique competitor and fitness intsructor locally in Milwaukee. I have 2 speedlights 580exII and 430ex (if they arent in my sig). Any helpful hints or suggested lighting setups are much appreciated.

I am assuming that these are going to all be posed shots rather than candid style?

If candid style, here is Jared Polin shooting candids in natural light. This will at least help with composition.

I would think that you are going for a stronger pose/lighting set up.

With a two light set up i can think of a few ways that would look good. I like split, loop and broad or short lighting. The link will show you how it is done and how it looks.

I would then use the second light for a hair/back light for separation. I prefer to get a $10 grid from Amazon to keep the flash from flaring into my lens and giving much more control, especially in an indoor setting. You may also want to use your lens hood if you start getting flare and don't want it.

Another really cool light set up is toput a large soft box behind someone for a high key look. Placing them right up against it. Before adding in your main light take a look at the light you are getting. There will be great separation and a sliver of light on each side of the face. This pose looks best showing more neck or chest.Looks great for guys wearing a v-neck tee or no shirt. This looks really good in B&W also.

I have done this shot with smaller 30" octagons,just getting head/shoulder shots. You can make your own by using a white sheet with a soft box behind the sheet. The reason for the soft box and not just a flash is to make sure that the light source is larger, not just a small area from a small flash head.

Micro5797 wrote in post #17168818
I am assuming that these are going to all be posed shots rather than candid style?

If candid style, here is Jared Polin shooting candids in natural light. This will at least help with composition.

I would think that you are going for a stronger pose/lighting set up.

With a two light set up i can think of a few ways that would look good. I like split, loop and broad or short lighting. The link will show you how it is done and how it looks.

I would then use the second light for a hair/back light for separation. I prefer to get a $10 grid from Amazon to keep the flash from flaring into my lens and giving much more control, especially in an indoor setting. You may also want to use your lens hood if you start getting flare and don't want it.

Another really cool light set up is toput a large soft box behind someone for a high key look. Placing them right up against it. Before adding in your main light take a look at the light you are getting. There will be great separation and a sliver of light on each side of the face. This pose looks best showing more neck or chest.Looks great for guys wearing a v-neck tee or no shirt. This looks really good in B&W also.

I have done this shot with smaller 30" octagons,just getting head/shoulder shots. You can make your own by using a white sheet with a soft box behind the sheet. The reason for the soft box and not just a flash is to make sure that the light source is larger, not just a small area from a small flash head.

Wow a lot of great information there. I have a lot of ideas in my head that im going to be playing around with as far as lighting and concepts. I also have some shots I want to play with chalk dust with to get more of a gritty look to the scene.

AFPhotoMKE wrote in post #17168964
I also have some shots I want to play with chalk dust with to get more of a gritty look to the scene.

I know there are a few boxer portraits on these forums that may give you some ideas (check critique corner also). I do remember a female boxer portrait (set of 3 images) that were very colorful where they used chalk and colored chalks. I can't seem to find the images. This was about 6 months back.