Join Westcott and Pro Sports Photographer, Matt Hernandez and explore how to mask your subjects without a greenscreen. This approach utilizes the FJ400 Strobe’s masking mode to turn studio portraits into an outdoor sports portrait!
Start by putting your camera on a tripod and setting it on the high speed continuous mode. Set your FJ400 to This process requires you to shoot two identical images so the tripode and high speed continuous mode will help ensure that both images are as similar as possible. The process of shooting these images happens in two sequences.
Step #1: Studio Portrait
Using all the main lights, capture a studio portrait of your subject. In this video, Matt is using the Matt is using the Westcott FJ400 Strobe, Rapid Box Switch Octa-M, and the Rapid Box Switch 1×3 with the egg-crate grid.
Step #2: Mask Mode
Using the Mask Mode Function on your FJ400, shoot of the second image using a strobe to light just the background. The resulting image below allows you to easily create a mask in photoshop you can use to isolate your subject from the studio background.
Step #3: The Background
It is important to make sure that your studio lighting matches the outdoor natural lighting you will be capturing in your background. In this video, Matt replicated lighting around 3pm by his subject from the side to imitate afternoon sunlight. He then goes out and capture an image of the background, in this case a soccer field.
Step #4: Composite Creation
Overlay the masking mode shot in photoshop to create a mask of your subject. Substitute in the background capture in for your final composition!
Overlay the masking mode shot in photoshop to create a mask of your subject. Substitute in the background capture in for your final composition!
All images and video content by Westcott and Matt Hernandez