Mtn biking

[tadrscin]

We had our Phase 1 grand opening of the Colonnade Bike Park in Seattle on Saturday so I thought this would be another chance to try some things since I still can't ride. I knew it was going to be very chaotic with well over 50 people in attendance so I figured it would be too dangerous to try and set my flashes down anywhere. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to try some off-camera flash using the cord and work on my ETTL. Well all I can say is that I clearly still do not get how that's supposed to work with balancing the background ambient light and the flash on the subject:rolleyes: It seems as though no matter what I did everything came out way underexposed. After a bit of frustration I decided just to set the flash on manual since at least I knew how to work with that. I also learned how awkward it is to hold the flash in one hand and shoot with the other. Plus I had to make sure I was pointing the flash where I wanted it. I can't tell you how many times I had it pointed correctly right up to the point I shot the picture :mad:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q63/tadrscin/Colonnade/BadFlash.jpg

I did get a bunch of shots the club can use, but this is the only one I really like. I should've taken more, but I spent too much time socializing.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q63/tadrscin/Colonnade/KidG-line.jpg

[Big WIll]

hmmm, any more examples? need of bit of practice especially on that 1st one. :)

[tadrscin]

Well the 1st one is an example of what went wrong. And yes, I have plenty more examples of those. I left the flash in so you could see which direction I ended up pointing it when I took the pic :oops: I also wanted to zoom in, but couldn't in time for the shot since I was holding the flash in my left hand. This is going to be a great place to shoot at when it's not so crowded though.

[Big WIll]

How packed was it? On the first photo, i would of set up an external flash to the left of the image, were people there or something??

[tadrscin]

Since this was the grand opening of phase 1, we had well over 50 people turn out and there were way too many people riding and crashing to safely put up any light stands and I was worried if I just sat a flash on the ground it would get run over. That's the whole reason I wanted to try using my 430EX with the off-camera cord using ETTL. Next time I go back I'll either bring the stands or just set them on the ground like I did last week at our jump park. See this thread http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=373411 Until the opening of phase 2, it will never be this busy and it will be much easier to shoot here. Then I'll be able to setup however I want and shoot without worring about myself or me gear getting run over.