Lighting BB game with 2 flashes

[Gatorboy]

I thought this may be of some use to the sports photographers out there.

I had an assignment to shoot a college basketball game Saturday at UMBC against Hampton. The RAC Arena is about as dark as the average high school -- ISO 3200; f/2.8; 1/400, so I wanted to use some of my own light. I arrived about 15 minutes before game time and was quickly able to setup two Canon 580's clamped to the railing on the upper deck to light the one half of the court.

The flashes were set to 1/4 power; 70mm zoom and I shot at ISO 200; f/2.8; 1/250. Triggered with Pocket Wizards.

SETUP:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/2130696757_02aa681a0b_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhoffmann/2130696757/)

SAMPLES:

#1.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2400/2130696967_aca6cdbeac_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhoffmann/2130696967/)

#2.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2076/2130697035_5d8daf3737_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhoffmann/2130697035/)

#3.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/2130696811_6dd996859f_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhoffmann/2130696811/)

[Borderfox]

Good job, seems like it really worked for you. Mostly you would expect sharp but noisy shots from bb but these are excellent.

[MT Stringer]

Thanks for sharing, Gatorboy. That's the setup I hope to use after the holidays. The gym is a junior high school and I'm worried I won't have anything to mount the flashes on. I have a couple of superclamps and several modified spring clamps, I just can't recall if there is an I-Beam or conduit to clamp on to.

You shots look great and I can only hope to get some as good as yours. I have the Skyports to trigger a 540EZ and a 430EX.

Mike

[e r y k]

awesome! quick question though, did you experience any power loss / slow recharge during the whole game? or did the flashes hold their owN?

[Gatorboy]

awesome! quick question though, did you experience any power loss / slow recharge during the whole game? or did the flashes hold their owN?

I was using the Al Jacob's Black Boxes (http://www.aljacobs.com/THE%20BLACK%20BOX.htm), but at 1/4 power, I'm sure I could have gotten by with the rechargeables. I only shot about 140 images, far from depleting the batteries in the 580EX.

[MT Stringer]

This evening, I set up two Speedlights (430EX and 540EZ) on the balcony railing at church and took 112 shots of a Christmas Program. The flashes were on manual at 1/4 power and 80mm zoom. I was using Energizer 2500 mah rechargeables and didn't have any problems with the flashes firing.

Hope you find this info helpfull.
Mike

[Stewx]

I would be worried about someone snagging the flashes while I wasn't looking.

[namasste]

Great shots Gator. I was thinking this would be my next step if my current trial doesn't pan out (looks promising though...believe it or not, on camera flash with a lightsphere...don't laugh, it works!). If I go with something mounted I think another Sigma 530 would do the trick.

Out of curiosity, why 2.8 and not f4 with 400ISO? Seems like you'd have a little more margin for error that way and the flash isolates your subject plenty already. Just wondering and believe me, I'd be pleased with those shots at any ISO! Nice and thanks for sharing the setup and shots.

[MT Stringer]

I would be worried about someone snagging the flashes while I wasn't looking.

I thought about that. The balcony area had several folks watching the program. Also, the program director guy was there with a video camera set up so I felt fairly comfortable with my setup. Now for a basketball game or two, I'm still kinda leery about that too.
Mike

[Aaagogo]

1 qn about the setup, no one complained?

[MT Stringer]

1 qn about the setup, no one complained?

If you are asking me, the answer is no. I asked my son-in-law, granddaughter (who was on stage singing), the pastor (who was also on stage several times), my wife, and a fellow church goer and they all said they didn't even notice the flash.

I did have three people ask me if I was firing the flashes with my camera and I said yes to all three.

BTW, I gave a copy of the pics to the pastor to share and use for their web site if so desired.

Mike

[Michael]

For the BB pics, I assume you had the flash on High Speed Sync?

[medicdude]

wow VERY nice. I bet the people were wondering WTF the flashes were doing going off by themselves lol. Very impressive.

[martinsmith]

For the BB pics, I assume you had the flash on High Speed Sync?
As these were triggered off camera with PWs high speed sync is not an option.

[Michael]

Oh ok got ya.

[ueb0258]

Very nice. I love the fact that you were able to use them and not get any hard shadows. I only see a faint one in the last picture. Great results.

[RangerRick]

Dave,
Just ran across this. Wonderful shots. :D And exactly what I'm looking at doing with two 430EXs.

Just out of curiosity... what cam and lens were you using? Assume you're using flash or 5500K for WB too, right? Or did you use any filters?

[namasste]

Dave,
Just ran across this. Wonderful shots. :D And exactly what I'm looking at doing with two 430EXs.

Just out of curiosity... what cam and lens were you using? Assume you're using flash or 5500K for WB too, right? Or did you use any filters?

Rick, stay tuned to the sports forum tomorrow. I'll be posting my setup using two off camera flashes to shoot wrestling as well as a few images from the match. Should tie in well with this thread which was a huge motivation for me doing it.

[RangerRick]

Rick, stay tuned to the sports forum tomorrow. I'll be posting my setup using two off camera flashes to shoot wrestling as well as a few images from the match. Should tie in well with this thread which was a huge motivation for me doing it.

Will look forward to it. I was looking at all my gear... and have everything except the wireless trigger/receivers. Can't decide wether to try two of the ebay $40 units or bite the bullet for the Skyports.:rolleyes:

[namasste]

Will look forward to it. I was looking at all my gear... and have everything except the wireless trigger/receivers. Can't decide wether to try two of the ebay $40 units or bite the bullet for the Skyports.:rolleyes:

Rick, if it helps...I bought Ebay triggers and without doing a mod, couldn't get the sync speeds to work. I hear the mod works wonders and if I were shooting in studio or stills, I might be willing to deal with the slow sync and even the occassional misfire but when shooting sports on an assignment, I can't afford to blow it so I went with the Skyports. I can honestly say that the sync speed is as advertised, I had zero misfires, and was able to fire from anywhere I wanted without an issue on triggering. The results were good enough (imo, you be the judge tomorrow) that I think I'm going to hold off on the Alien Bees for a while as two little flashes really got it done better than I could have imagined. As a bonus, I wasn't tethered to outlets so mounting was less of an issue.

[Gatorboy]

Just out of curiosity... what cam and lens were you using? Assume you're using flash or 5500K for WB too, right? Or did you use any filters?

I used my MarkIIN. Some shots were with the 85 f/1.8 and some with my 70-200 f/2.8

I didn't use any gels on the flashes, but just used a daylight WB. I shot here before and gelled my flashes green and used a flouresent WB, but didn't really like the results.