Football and Rain and Flash...oh my

[dmwierz]

Had the chance to shoot a night HS game this past Friday in the rain.

Here are the results. The big challenge (other than keeping the gear dry) is getting consistent colors, since the home team's uniforms kept changing color all game as they alternately got wet, got soaked, dried out, and got wet again. Also tricky was handling the rain streaks.

First one from warmups in a downpour. Second one just after the start of the game.

[dmwierz]

OK, I got busted for posting too many images in one post, so I would STILL like to know how to do this on POTN. Here are files linked to from another location, and once more could only upload two at a time, so how is this different from just uploading them from my hard drive?

EDIT: The problem is that you uploaded the photos to POTN again using the "attach" method. That is why you are limited to two. Read this http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=163130 which explains how to link to images stored elsewhere.

[IODebbie]

Beautiful work under adverse conditions Dennis! I shot a game last night where the lighting was so bad that everything looked green to the naked eye. Horrible!

[Sledhed]

Looks good Dennis. Last Friday was miserable, I shot those two games at Gately and it started pouring right at the end of the first game, the second game it rained almost the whole time. At least Gately has that nasty astro turf so I wasn't standing in mud. It did make some nice shots with the water flying up.

[dmwierz]

Looks good Dennis. Last Friday was miserable, I shot those two games at Gately and it started pouring right at the end of the first game, the second game it rained almost the whole time. At least Gately has that nasty astro turf so I wasn't standing in mud. It did make some nice shots with the water flying up.

Debbie - thanks. Chris, don't you just LOVE the funk-a-delic color of Gately's grass? I've lost count of the number of comments and criticisms I've gotten about the off colored grass when people have seen my shots from there! One more good thing about Gately is parking is better than most places.

Dennis

[Sledhed]

Chris, don't you just LOVE the funk-a-delic color of Gately's grass? I've lost count of the number of comments and criticisms I've gotten about the off colored grass when people have seen my shots from there!
Dennis

Grass? It's more like an ugly carpet. It's supposed to be replaced before next season, I'm not sure with what yet but I think it's similar to the surface at LWE. When I get home I'll post up one of my shots from last Friday.

[JSJR4]

Good job given the bad conditions

[Croasdail]

Where is the Mud... you got ripped off!

[dmwierz]

Mark,

The mud was all over my shoes, and my kneepads. The field actually drained remarkably well.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis

[Croasdail]

I was going to say, who ever built that field knew what they were doing because it looks like it was holding together very well. You did well.... rain plays all kinds of games with ya when your using a flash. Cheers.

[dmwierz]

OK, I got busted for posting too many images in one post, so I would STILL like to know how to do this on POTN. Here are files linked to from another location, and once more could only upload two at a time, so how is this different from just uploading them from my hard drive?

EDIT: The problem is that you uploaded the photos to POTN again using the "attach" method. That is why you are limited to two. Read this http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=163130 which explains how to link to images stored elsewhere.

Huh? Explains it? Well, I must be a moron 'cuz I've read that tutorial three times and still can't work through it. That tutorial explains how to upload files to the various online sites and adds a perfunctory :

they provide the entire link including the IMG tags required. Just place Your mouse inside the box titled "Img" hit CTRL-C to copy the selected text. Then You paste that into the post here and You are ready to go. (See under the links how the linktext You should insert should look like depending on the host)

Great, if I'm using PhotoBucket. If not, no joy.

Huh, again?

Let's try this:

http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/image/88127810.jpg

And this:

http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/image/88128219.jpg

and even this:

http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/image/88127356.jpg

The un-moroning thing was using the IMG tag instead of the URL.

EDIT: Excellent! You've got it now.

[Sledhed]

Dennis,

Here is one of my shots from Gately last week. Is that just about the ugliest turf you have seen?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1806531760_3771b7a296_o.jpg

To embed an image, right click on image and click on copy image location and paste it to the yellow landscape icon here.

Edit: I see you figured it out.

[dmwierz]

Dennis,

Here is one of my shots from Gately last week. Is that just about the ugliest turf you have seen?

To embed an image, right click on image and click on copy image location and paste it to the yellow landscape icon here.

Edit: I see you figured it out.

Oh, GAWD, I forgot how hideous that turf was. Good thing you don't shoot for MaxPreps - they'd NEVER accept images like that - your shots would be immediately rejected for "unusual color shifts" :)

I can't imagine what kind of drug cocktail the field designer was ingesting who thought that color green actually looked like grass. I wonder if it's changed colors over time, and maybe one day in the past was closer to real grass color?

Nice capture, BTW. Ah, daytime football...

Thanks Chris.

[ak_powder_monkey]

what type of flash are you using and what sort of distances are involved?

[dmwierz]

Monkey- The flash is a 580EX and distances for these shots is 10-25 yards.

Dennis

[musicmate]

i quite like the QB shot but still not keen on sporting images using flash but i guess that is just a personal opinion i would hate to think what would happen if i used flash at a game here in the UK.

Steve.

[4x4rock]

Dennis, your shots in the rain came out way better than mine in clear sky :)

I shot a night football game last Friday and it came out so bad that I didn't even turn them in to Maxpreps.

Any tips on how to fix ghost/white eyes? I got a few of those from the hotshoe mounted flash :(

[dmwierz]

Dennis, your shots in the rain came out way better than mine in clear sky :)

I shot a night football game last Friday and it came out so bad that I didn't even turn them in to Maxpreps.

Any tips on how to fix ghost/white eyes? I got a few of those from the hotshoe mounted flash :(

Sonny,

Demon Eyes, as they are know, are the bane of shooting with a flash at night. Red eyes are easy to fix, but Demon Eyes require actually rebuilding the player's eyes, sometimes pixel by pixel. Luckily, I don't get both eyes demonized very often. Normally, one eye will have The Demon, and the other will be Red Eye. When this happens, I fix the red eye, make a copy of it and paste the fixed copy over the Demon Eye.

I also found the PS action below which helps, sometimes:

http://www.atncentral.com/Zip_Actions/Animal_Eye_Correction.zip

A demo here:

http://www.atncentral.com/images/Animal-Demon-Eye-Correction.gif

From the Web site:

Run the action, then:
Grab a medium white brush and paint out yellow/green/Demon eyes.
Click the Levels adjustment layer and adjust left sliders (Input and Output)

You may need to add back some catch lights with the pencil tool if the eye is totally Demonized!

Obviously, I only do this with shots that are worth spending the time on.

[dodorouthier]

My cousin asked me t take pictures at his football finals tonight! The lighting is going to be misurable and...it is 0 degree right now!
I have NEVER done flash photography for sports. Is my buildin flash enough or should I use a 420 ex ...Idont relly know which setting i should be using. I have checked your exif...lets say that if I do half as good s you I will be happy.

So I am planning on using iso 1000
Speed flash at 1/250
f 2.8
all servo
pattern metering

Should I shoot on AV mode
or try to find a decent setting on manual?
Dont know how to ajust the av at 3 or what it means
and I have a 30d

[dmwierz]

dodo-

There have been many threads on this forum describing options for shooting night football. It is pretty difficult thing to do correctly, but i'll try to help you at least get started.

I would use your 420EX in ETTL mode (the built-in flash is nowhere near powerful enough), however I also normally use Flash Exposure Compensation on the flash, which the 420 does not have, so I would start out here, and using the camera's histogram, adjust your exposure by changing the ISO as described below:

Camera in Manual Exposure Mode
Shutter speed: 1/250s
ISO 800 (I didn't think the 30D allowed any partial stops between ISO 800 and 1600, but I may be wrong)
Flash on ETTL
Aperture f/2.8

Since you're not going to be able to run your flash on manual, or control its output with FEC (like you'd be able to do with, say, a 580EX), I'd leave the flash in ETTL mode.

Take some test shots of players about 15 yards away. Look at them both on the LCD and the histogram. On the LCD, if the subjects look like dark shadows (or if the histogram shows a lot of data but all of it from the middle of the graph and to the left), you're underexposed, so raise your ISO to 1600. If the shots now show players with well-lit uniforms and faces, and the whites look decent (and looking at the histograms reveals a goodly amount of data to the right of the middle), then you should be good to go.

It's not likely that you will be over-exposing, but if you are, lower your ISO to 400 and take some more shots.

Also, you should do a test to ensure your flash is sufficiently above the ambient light level. Once you have it set up to where you're getting good images - turn off the flash and take a couple shots. What you want to see are very dark subjects; almost like shadows. If this is what you see, you're probably good.

If the subjects are too well lit with the ambient light alone, you run the risk of getting ghosting. So, if the non-flashed subjects are too bright, turn the flash back on and reduce your ISO one stop then do the above tests again (look at the histogram and LCD for the flashed shots, and turn the flash off and do this test again).

As you can see, this is an iterative process, and their are no hard and fast rules. Even within a given game, on a given field, the ambient light can vary considerably and you may need to adjust your exposure as you move around.

Good luck, and make sure to post your results.

Dennis

[dodorouthier]

wow thank you I really really appreciate this!
Yes you have the choice of iso on the 30D
I will do my best!

[dmwierz]

Yes you have the choice of iso on the 30D

I apparently made an inaccurate assumption. You said you used ISO 1000, and while I don't have a 30D, I do have 20D and from the 20D manual:

The camera can be set between ISO 100 and 1600 in 1-stop increments

Which means one can't select ISO 1000 on a 20D, but from the 30D manual:

The camera can be set between ISO 100 and 1600 in 1/3-stop increments

Seems to be an upgrade from the 20D. Nice.

So you will be able to have more control over your exposure than I thought. With this discovery, you might be able to move up or down in ISO in more precise increments which should help you fine tune your exposure.

Good luck, and have fun!