Although I began working in the photography industry as a wee babe in my sophomore year of high school, I was better known as an athlete. I was a competitive figure skater for a solid ten years, which has translated into a college dancer and a part-time weightlifter. I say all this to point out that I am not a gym rat per se, but more of a gym opossum. I lift heavy circles somewhere between 1-6 times a week to supplement my primary activities of skating, dancing, and rice-bag carrying.
I can, however, take some pretty good gym pics (I'm the little one in the mirror!).
In today’s post, we’re learning how to take pump pics and the cross between being an athlete and a photographer. In my post about my 1989 (Taylor’s Version) inspired photoshoot, I introduced you to my photography process. We’ll be following the same steps of outlining the three pillars of a photoshoot: Planning, Shooting, and Editing, while discussing the overlap of being an athlete and a photographer.
Pre-Workout: Planning
Perhaps one of the unique elements of ‘pump pics’ is that they are both wholly centering the athlete and often taken by the athlete as well. Gym photos should do two things: They should document your progress by highlighting muscle, and they should make you feel really good about yourself.
My biggest tip is to scout out where you want to take your photos before you do your workout so that you can go straight from your pump to your photo. The biggest element in emphasizing your muscles is going to be light. Unlike most portraits, for gym photos we’re looking to create harsh shadows. Most gyms are dimly lit with super concentrated lights that go straight down. Standing directly underneath this top-down lighting in a shadowy room is going to create a lot of contrast in the definition of your muscles.
To visualize the difference, take a look at how different the photos above look. The first is arguably a better photo: It’s closer up, it’s a better quality, and I felt really good after this workout. The second photo is much sillier, not necessarily a proper pump pic. But the lighting in the first photo is very bright, and the light in the second photo is top-down in a dim room. Both these photos were taken within weeks of each other, but the second one better captures the shape of my body because the light is creating shadows on the smaller parts of me.
Back/Bicep Day: Shooting
Don’t get yourself on TikTok kids, do your research, follow gym etiquette. In general, don’t get other people in your shot, don’t take twenty years, and don’t be in people’s way. Essentially: Don’t be obnoxious.
Gym photos are the ultimate crossover for me as a photographer who is also an athlete, and I’ve found that being both serve the same purpose. I primarily skate, dance, and lift to feel healthy and strong about my body. I take photos because I love the way a good photo can make someone feel about themselves. To me, both activities are an act of love- one for myself and one for those I can serve. Taking photos of yourself and working out are similar in that way: It can be a little strange and embarrassing, especially when you start out, but ultimately it’s the willingness to do it that creates the greatest impact.
But enough motivational stuff. To actually take a good gym selfie, there are three different methods that generally go with all selfies: A camera, a phone, and a video. In general, though, we want dim photos that we can brighten up later.
For my more camera-savvy folks, I recommend achieving this with a higher F-stop, even in the dimmer light. While I generally wouldn’t recommend a high ISO, in this case, we can tolerate a tiny bit more noise than we usually would- we’ll talk about this more in the editing phase.
If you’re using an iPhone, you can actually tap on your screen to set your focus, hold to lock, and then drag down the sun icon to make your photo or video darker.
If photos aren’t your thing, you can definitely take gym selfies (or any selfies) by starting a video, hitting a few poses, and then screenshotting the ones you like best. This method might not get you the best quality photos on a phone, but it is great for being efficient, which can be especially useful in a public space that requires a little physical flexing.
Recovery: Editing
Step 1: DO NOT USE PHOTOSHOP TO MAKE YOUR MUSCLES BIGGER. Athletics are notoriously dangerous for young people’s mental health. Stanford Medicine cites both bodybuilding and figure skating as sports most likely to foster eating disorders in youth athletes. Similarly, photography has a long and heart wrenching history with eating disorders, objectification of models, and dehumanization. In some twist of masochistic fate, two of my greatest hobbies are also two of the most mentally taxing. I’ve struggled with my own share of eating disorders and body image, both due to my sport and my art. It can be easy to lose sight of the reasons why we do the things we do.
The purpose of a gym photo is to document your progress and to foster pride in yourself, no matter what happened during your workout. Keeping sight of that is so so important, especially in the post production and editing phase. In my opinion, the most important thing to remember while you’re editing your gym photos is that you want your photo to reflect your actual strength, even if you’re feeling weak or you think you look a little small.
With my gym photos, I tend to bring the highlights up and the whites down. This is going to make the largest parts of the muscle brighter, but also contrasted enough to emphasize things like veins and smaller muscle striations.
Second, I tend to bring up my shadows up and my black point down. This is going to make the shadows of your image more visible, but the overall color darker.
The shape and size of your muscles are going to create shadows down your body. By creating a sharper contrast between the light and dark parts of the photo, we’re emphasizing those shadows, and thus the definition of your muscles.
Depending on your style of photography, you can also go ahead and mess with the texture. Although I typically like very sharp and clean photos for portraits, I find that bringing down the sharpness and adding a tiny bit of grain to the photo creates a rougher texture better suited to gym photos. Texture is going to contribute to the mood of your photo, but also help with defining the muscles.
And there ya have it folks! Gym photos are so much fun, they really remind me why I love taking photos and why I love being an athlete. I’m a firm believer that both photography and sports have something to offer everyone. I hope that this post helped some of my athletes out, or at least helped you understand the steps to planning out a good photoshoot. For more photography tips, inspiration, and humor, (as well as the occasional photos of my cats), check out my Instagram, Pinterest, or Portfolio, and come back next Sunday for another blog post!
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