Who are ya? Behind the scenes of the official World Cup portrait photographs

L ionel Messi of Argentina stands rigidly in front of the camera. Marc Cucurella of Spain whips his hair and appears to boogie. Diego Moreira of Belgium covers his eyes with his forearm and reveals an eerie tattoo. Harry Kane leans awkwardly on to one knee. There are 1,248 football players and 48 managers at the World Cup , and none could escape the obligatory media duty that is the official portrait – whether or not they had a fun pose in mind. Shot by Getty Images on behalf of Fifa in recent weeks, the portraits capture a wide array of poses and expressions, revealing details about each player’s personality – and the image they wish to convey to the world. The accompanying behind-the-scenes images, shared by Getty, tell the stories of how the portraits were made and what some of the players were like off camera. Two photographers were assigned to shoot each team, enabling them to prepare opposing sets – one plain and one distinctive – so players and managers could be rotated into position quickly. Simple lighting set-ups were used throughout: typically, a large studio strobe-light with a softbox aimed at the subject’s body, with a couple of rim lights to provide shape and definition from the rear. Though the backdrops were muted compared to the official portraits for the 2022 World Cup , the photographers were able to create vivid images using special lens filters that produced unpredictable blurring and kaleidoscopic effects (like the Messi image above). …