For this Alabama-based senior portrait, Nathan and Annette Protz of Blessings Photography wanted to freeze this track star jumping over a hurdle while keeping her hair and face in focus. They set up a Flashpoint Xplor 600 monolight with a 36-inch octabox in front and slightly to the side of the hurdle. They also used a speed light with High Speed Sync both behind and above her to separate her from the background and fill in some of the shadows.

“After getting a test exposure, we had the senior jump the hurdle, and she nailed it,” the photographers recall. “Although we took several frames, the first few were our favorites. We love how you can see the motion in her hair but the details are sharp.”

(Captured using a Sony a7R III and a Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 ZA lens at f/4, 1/1600th of a sec and ISO 200.)

Photo © Nathan & Annette Protz

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