Photographing a media day is a whirlwind. From little league to the Pros there is never enough time to do everything you had in your mind. Never enough time to get as much content as you'd like. Enter the Westcott Creative Mask Mode to help you maximize your ration of time to creativity. Regardless of skill level this tool will serve as a force multiplier when it comes to your results whether you are shooting head shots for an office or doing a high volume media day for the local little league.

Average time with a pro player at a media day is about 1 minute. For this player the starting time was 8:38:29. The finish? 8:40:59

Total time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds. That may not seem like a lot of time but it was fully 30 seconds longer than i had with any other player (thank you!)

In 150 seconds i created 80 images. I threw away 19 because of a couple of blinks and 17 shots that I didn't like how the light interacted with the pose leaving me with 61 images you see this post. I consider myself pretty efficient when i'm shooting and pretty experienced with the Westcott system of lights and triggers. I could not have done what I did this year even as recently as late 2024.  

So what is Creative Mask? How do I use it? WHY should I use it? 

Creative Mask is a feature currently only available on the Westcott FJ400 II and FJ800 that allows you to program a series of frames from 2-6 and pick which strobes will go off in a sequence using the brand new touchscreen user Interface on the strobes to create multiple unique looks without having to change any settings once you start shooting. In the past I would have had to manually turn off or move lights in order to get the same results. By keeping me on the camera instead of fidgeting with the lights or trigger I am able to look "as if" to the subject. Looking "as if" - displaying confidence that you may not have is an important part of building rapport with a client. If they look at you and you look happy with your results - they will gain confidence just based off of your confidence. For me looking down and knowing that I am saving time, being more creative, being more focused on my interaction with my model raises my confidence and that is infection on any set...

Here is my video as I walk you through how i set this up but also some of my best practices on how to be most efficient with the new tool.

(NOTE - when i say FJ400 i mean the II)

Here is a close up of my chart from the video and a photo of the set showing which groups are assigned to each light. I start this process by thinking of the various looks that i want to achieve. In this case I wanted something a little "safe" for at least one of my shots... That became shot 5. That was the shot with the A, C, D, and E all going in the shot. I knew that for some poses and some players that a shot like 2 or 4 might be too dramatic for the client but at the same time I knew that in other poses those shots would be dynamic and  mysterious. 

For shot 1 i made a decision to have no lights go off to give me a black frame so that i would know it was time to change poses. My current workflow is to have the subject stand in one pose for all the shots in the sequence even though i know there are some shots that won't come out perfectly it is easier than breaking the rapport by asking them to turn constantly to the meet the light via pose. When you look at the full take below you will see that some shots are VERY dark on the face as an example because I had the player turn to camera right away from both of the main light sources... in my opinion that is ok because I don't want to have the subject thinking about which way to go - i want them to be as comfortable as possible...

Shot 2 - A + C. JG Beauty dish with grid is my main light with separation from a 1x4 and grid about 180 degrees from my main. I have feathered the main light away from the background in addition to the grid to keep the spill onto the background to a minimum. This is the dark background semi-split light shot you see below... 

Shot 3 - A + C + D. Same shot as above but now I've added the gel to the background. Still very moody but with a bit more overall color. I choose Orange to accentuate one of the team colors....I love the way that the Joel Grimes Grunge Concrete background on my X-Drop Pro picks up the gel and makes the texture really pop. I actually had to take a little texture out of the background in post in order to get what I wanted...

Shot 4 - B + C + D - More or less the same shot as above but the Grimes is off and the 1x4 to camera left becomes the main light... When i have the player turn that way this shot really works great. When they don't if they were in just the right spot where i taped the floor then it was a dramatic split shot. When they moved slightly it became a shot of total mystery that worked sometimes and didn't other times. There are 61 shots posted here - I took about 80. Two blinks and 17 that for me just did not work... when you look at the timelapse of the full take of position players you will see some where it's really great. Sometimes... it doesn't work. i am experienced to know that i'll never achieve perfection so instead i set out in search of being great as much as I can on any given shoot...

Shot 5 Back to shot 4 but now with some fill from my 7' silver Umbrella with diffusion. I set this up more or less with the intent that I'd be safe. more fill to camera right but not a "main light source" If one or more of the other sequences did not work for a particular pose I'd still have this shot which would be usable almost no matter what. Not FLAT but definitely more "well lit" traditionally within the confines of what the team asked of me....
 

Shot 6 goes back to the 1x4 as the main with the other 1x4 as fill with added fill from the umbrella but no gel. For some poses this would be ideal....

Remember - all of these shots with these distinctive looks that i would have had to do maestro level manipulation of my FJx3s under normal circumstances were done in 2.5 minutes. If you have any questions about how to use the Creative Mask please reach out....

 

Bonus - here are a few timelapses. 1 is the entire shoot with the set up and the other two are the total take for the position players...