Where do you put your stobes in Basketball games

[poeticmic]

I am starting to get into shooting basketball games but some of these gyms have horrible lighting. I was wondering to those of you who use strobes what is a good placement for them where you want have to worry about people messing with them as well as getting good lighting?

[liam5100]

Alot of it depends on what strobes your using, how much power they can output. How many you have etc. Typically with strong enough strobes you either want to have them as high as possible, maybe even bouncing off a wall or ceiling (this is where venue matters), perhaps point on towards the ceiling to balance your reach and ambient, with one pointing to 6-10ft above the key.

Ideally you want to be able to get there way before the games and test things. You'll want to get as large of spread of light on the floor as possible and still keep your exposure to at least 3 stops from ambient, 4 is preferable. That way you will not have any ghosting issues and with good light spread will still have some light on the backgrounds.

If you had strong enough strobes, up high in the corners is ideal, like I said before depending on venue, pointing towards the floor, or if you can bouncing off the walls or cieling to help spread the light broader. But again, the key is to stay 3 or 4 stops from ambient. It takes some pretty strong strobes to be able to do this.

[PuR HART]

hey I just started shooting BBALL this season. and after watching DVD 7 of the Strobist series.
David Hobby shows you were to put your flashes.
for the 1st part he shows you how to light with 2 flashes and where to place them.
he recommends top of mid bleachers clamped on a railing or Gaffed to wall pointed at the top of the Key.
after watching the DVD again jsut a second ago I realize that I had been placing my flashes on the closest railing to which i was shooting and moved them around during half time.
the images are ok I am happy with them but I also want to try to set it up the way D says to
I just use these settings and it is pretty decent.
1/2 power 400 ISO 200 shutter speed 2.8.
i would like to to shoot at 250 but my poverty wizards only sync at 200
hope this helps