Ready for Basketball?

[Merciez]

Not sure about everyone else, but I am ready for the start of the Basketball season. I ordered another strobe unit to help with lighting and I have a new lens that I did not have last year for Basketball which should produce some great images. I plan on goinig to qutie a few games this year at many different locations so it should be quite a learning experience :).

My typicall setup for Basketball is two AB800 strobe units mounted up high in the corners of the gym (same end of the court) and bounced off the ceiling. Use Elichrome skyports to trigger to strobes. My most common lens used for Basketball is the 70-200 2.8. Exposure settings are around F/4, ISO 800, SS of 1/250 to sync with the lights.

If you have not done so already, I encourage basketball shooters to listen the Artificial_lighting_for_indoor_sports_ video_podcast_episode _3 (http://web.mac.com/dmwierz1/Site/Podcast/Entries/2008/2/21_Artificial_lighting_for_indoor_sports__video_po dcast_episode__3.html) podcast by Dennis Wierzbicki. Dennis is an awesome photographer that posts extensively on this board and provides great knowledge on sports shooting.

Here are a few images from last year that I really liked.

1.
http://www.757sportspics.com/main/v7u4r3phzto/misc/p506719676.jpg

2.
http://www.757sportspics.com/main/v7u4r3phzto/misc/p514157636.jpg

3.
http://www.757sportspics.com/main/v7u4r3phzto/misc/p947420503.jpg

[TopGear1Ds]

Nice looking sample shots!

I'm curious, what are your plans for the third strobe? And what did you buy?

I'm thinking about getting a pair of AB's myself.

edit: And, YES! I'm very excited for basketball season. My favorite sport to shoot!

[Merciez]

I'm curious, what are your plans for the third strobe? And what did you buy?


It is actually my fourth strobe :D. All four are AB800s. I did quite a bit of research on my options for lighting a gym and I just could not find anything better for price/performance than the AB800s. They have a recycle time of approx 1 second with a flash duration of 1/1100 of a second and a very reasonable price at $279. I looked at more expensive monoblocks as well as various head/pack units and I could not find anything better than the AB800s IMHO.

By having four strobes, I have quite a few options for their use. My primary intent for the four strobes is to use all four at the same end of the court. Two strobes on in each corner with two of them pointing off the ceiling towards the foul line and the other two pointing off the ceiling more towards center court. By having the two extra strobes, I should be able to get better lighting at mid court as well as better overall lighting for that end of the court. I plan on using a Mark III with a 70-200 to shoot near court and a 40d with a 200 f/2 to shoot up around mid court. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

[DDCSD]

Please do let us know how that works out for you Matt. I'm about to order me a couple of AB800's. Wish I had ordered them two weeks ago. Been going back and forth on whether or not to go with them. As you said, there just isn't anything that is even close for performance/price with a decent flash duration.

[Zivnuska]

Matt,

Do you move your strobes at halftime or stick to one end of the court?

BTW, looking forward to seeing some sharp images from that 200 f/2!!

Z.

[Merciez]

Z,

I do not move the strobes at half-time. If the gym is not crowded, moving the strobes is a possibility.

The nice thing about having four strobes is I can set them up with one in each corner of the gym to give me the flexibility of covering both ends of the court. There are many potential combinations for the strobes which will give me many options for coverage (cheerleaders, half-time presentations etc.), this is the advantage of having several smaller powered strobes vice only two powerful strobes.

The other big advantage for smaller powered strobes are they tend to have faster recycle times and effective shutter speeds. They also use less power and therefore less likely to trip circuit breakers in older schools :).

[Zivnuska]

Matt

Keep us informed on how the 4 light set up works for you. Sounds like a lot of potential benefits. How are you going to position the second pair of strobes to avoid backlighting the players downcourt?

I got 2 B800s and 2 Vagabond IIs (small gyms with trip hazards) for this year and am excited to learn how to make it work.

It would be great to be able to shoot the 300 for the far end of the court.

Z.

[Merciez]

Matt
How are you going to position the second pair of strobes to avoid backlighting the players downcourt?


Z,

My plan is to have all four strobes at the same end of the court. Two strobes on each side of the court in the corners up high. One of the two strobes will be directed towards the free-throw line while the second strobe will be directed a little farther up court towards the half-court line. The opposite corner strobes will be orientated the same giving me two strobes pointing at the free throw line (reflected off ceiling) and two strobes directed towards the mid-court line (reflected off the ceiling).

Being able to caputre action at the far end is very difficult without having a place to mount a set of strobes around mid court.

[DDCSD]

Matt, what reflector do you use? The standard 7" or the 11"?

[Merciez]

Matt, what reflector do you use? The standard 7" or the 11"?

I nomally use the 11" reflectors. It would be easy for me to perform a test at the next home game to see how much of an improvement the 11" reflectors provide.

[DDCSD]

That would be great. I'm guessing that the 11" ones would be much better for bouncing.