Bounced Bee set-up

[Zivnuska]

Big K suggested I try bouncing my Alien Bees of the back wall, so I gave it a try. The suggestion of using a light meter to evaluate the bounced lighting is a good one. That would have been a nice help to me. Memo: budget for light meter. Oh well, it's only money. It appears to me that my aim was a bit too far from the court midline.

Set-up, 12 feet from Bees to wall. Held by superclamps. Powered by Vagabond II
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2833.jpg

Too wide of aim??? Note: The lane and basket are missing because the L and R images do not overlap.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2836.jpghttp://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2837.jpg

A few pics. The wings were slightly brighter than under the hoop.


http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2838.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2826.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2849.jpg


I finallllly got a picture of my daughter getting a rebound--without her face being obscured. Happy Dad!
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/zivnuska/_D3E2783.jpg
Suggestions?

[JSkinner]

Excellent shots. The lighting looks very natural. Thanks for showing pics of the setup.

[namasste]

Z, these look beautiful. Looks like you used the big reflectors and I might suggest angling the lights in a bit more using the smaller ones. My thinking (which may be incorrect) is that with the additional angle at which the light is hitting the wall, you'd have plenty of diffusion and any light falloff due to changing the angle would be offset by the smaller reflectors. That might allow you to light the entire end more evenly.

Either way, these look great and I may be off my rocker suggesting anything.

[canonnoob]

great set up! I really like it. My only critique on your photos is that the third one of the girls is alittle soft...but the rest are excellent!

[johndevane]

I can't wait for Big K to respond to this. I'm very interested in his opinion and critique. I'm not brave enough to offer much advice until I hear his thoughts. :) But I do have one suggestion that will help for sure, if you can do it...

Get in the gym sometime with the house lights off. Set up your strobes and turn on the modeling lights. You'll get a great sense of where your light is falling and how it hits the floor. Swivel the lights around and pay close attention to how much spill light you get going directly to the key. I did it in my gym and it was eye opening. I brought my kids to stand in different places as I adjusted.

John

[Zivnuska]

Z, these look beautiful. Looks like you used the big reflectors and I might suggest angling the lights in a bit more using the smaller ones. My thinking (which may be incorrect) is that with the additional angle at which the light is hitting the wall, you'd have plenty of diffusion and any light falloff due to changing the angle would be offset by the smaller reflectors. That might allow you to light the entire end more evenly.

Either way, these look great and I may be off my rocker suggesting anything.

Thank you for the excellent suggestion. The relatively small size of the light circle was a surprise to me although it should not have been. With the short distance from the Bees to the wall (12'), the change from 11" to 7" reflectors may be appropriate.

I can't wait for Big K to respond to this. I'm very interested in his opinion and critique. I'm not brave enough to offer much advice until I hear his thoughts. :) But I do have one suggestion that will help for sure, if you can do it...

Get in the gym sometime with the house lights off. Set up your strobes and turn on the modeling lights. You'll get a great sense of where your light is falling and how it hits the floor. Swivel the lights around and pay close attention to how much spill light you get going directly to the key. I did it in my gym and it was eye opening. I brought my kids to stand in different places as I adjusted.

John

Good idea. Thanks. I will do that.

My problem (one of them) is that I shoot my daughter in one gym in the first game and the next game starts 15-20 minutes later in a second gym. The teams are already on the court and I'm really hustling to tear down, move, and set up in that time. When I'm set, I am taking my best guess for the aim of my strobes but there is no time or opportunity to measure light levels on the court. Experience will help but if you have any tricks for aiming strobes, I'm all ears!

Phil Zivnuska

[Zivnuska]

Yippeeee!! Just got word from my local AD about next week's HS BB tournament that features 8 boys teams. I have permission to shoot the slam dunk competition through the backboard using my strobes. Never done this before but I read the SS article about it and I'm really looking forward to giving it a try!!!

[wyofizz]

AB800's or 1600's?

[TopGear1Ds]

These are gorgeous! The quality of light is really top notch.

I'm going to be trying a similar setup next week with 4 AB800's.. I'll post results.

Yippeeee!! Just got word from my local AD about next week's HS BB tournament that features 8 boys teams. I have permission to shoot the slam dunk competition through the backboard using my strobes. Never done this before but I read the SS article about it and I'm really looking forward to giving it a try!!!
SICK! I can't wait to see these. Have fun!

[Zivnuska]

AB800's or 1600's?

Two Alien Bee B800 units.

[GenuineRolla]

wow, those came out great man, i'm impressed!

Nice even light.

[HighPixel]

Great job! Very even lighting with minimal shadowing.
HP

[Big K]

Hey I just saw this post. Your shots turned out really nice.

I have not experimented enough with changing the size of the reflectors so don't have any input on what it will do. My logic has always been to try and keep the light as concentrated as possible before the bounce. Even with the reflectors you are using and as close to the wall as you are, you are still creating a 15' diameter light source off the wall. That is a pretty darned big softbox so my thinking is do all I can to maximize the power because the light is softened considerably already with the bounce.

Before changing reflector sizes I would suggest mounting the strobes on light stands and move them toward the court. A lot of your light is hitting the wall well off the court and the middle area is not getting any. I think if you kept the same angle but moved the lights on both sides toward the court, you would improve the lighting under the basket and not dramatically increase the exposure on the wings. The stands would be needed to keep the light as high as possible.

If that is not an option, then try rotating them just a bit more toward the center.

As for how to aim strobes, when I am as close to the wall as you are in this example, I turn on the modeling lamp at its brightest setting and try to determine where the center is by looking at the light on the wall. Most of the time it works but if the wall is too bright to see the modeling light, take a quick test shot like you did and look at it on camera and adjust as needed. You will find you can estimate the move required pretty close with just a little practice.

Again, nice job and best of luck with future efforts. I will try and pay better attention next time and not miss your post for a full day.

[Big K]

I can't wait for Big K to respond to this. I'm very interested in his opinion and critique. I'm not brave enough to offer much advice until I hear his thoughts. :) But I do have one suggestion that will help for sure, if you can do it...

Get in the gym sometime with the house lights off. Set up your strobes and turn on the modeling lights. You'll get a great sense of where your light is falling and how it hits the floor. Swivel the lights around and pay close attention to how much spill light you get going directly to the key. I did it in my gym and it was eye opening. I brought my kids to stand in different places as I adjusted.

John

Don't wait for me, as you can see, I sometimes miss seeing the posts. :-)

I forgot to mention in my previous post that John's suggestion to test in the gym when it is dark is a great one. The experience from doing it even once will make setup and changes in that gym a snap in the future.

The walls you are bouncing off of have several good things to use as reference points. Once you find the best setup, find something to use as a visual reference for future setup. Ex. Aim the center of the light circle at the exit sign, etc.

[Big K]

Yippeeee!! Just got word from my local AD about next week's HS BB tournament that features 8 boys teams. I have permission to shoot the slam dunk competition through the backboard using my strobes. Never done this before but I read the SS article about it and I'm really looking forward to giving it a try!!!

A couple of things to consider if you are planning to cover the dunk contest with the strobes set up like this.

All the hardware on the backboard can cast shadows on subjects if they are elevated and close to the rim/backboard (Like when dunking) because the light is coming from the back. These shadows along with possibly other shadows on the floor will be much more visible when shot down through the backboard. You can get a sense of how long the shadows on the floor are from your test shots. You don't notice this near as much from a low angle due to the gloss of the floor but at a higher angle it is noticeable.

I would make a gobo that goes around the entire lens and attaches to the glass. You will get a lot of light reflection off the back side of the glass from your bounced strobes so you will probably need to seal it off pretty well.

Also, leave some slack in your gobo when you fasten it to the glass and lens. If not, the shaking from the dunks will end up tearing it loose from either the camera or backboard and you will be SOL getting it fixed during the contest.

Another also, use two magic arms. It really does make a difference.

Last also, safety cable the heck out of everything.

Good luck.

Post also, you may find it easier to mount the camera if you hang it upside down.

[Zivnuska]

The dunk contest is at the high school. The above shots are from the middle school.

I will be bouncing the Bees off the ceiling for the dunks. The gobo is made. Dual aircraft cable safety cables as well as dual superclamps and magic arms will be used. I spent an hour today doing a trial clamping (albiet it with one clamp), cleaning the backboard, adjusting cable and focus distance. The 4 pocket wizard set up has been checked as has the remote camera shutter release cable that goes from the PW to the camera.

The AD will let me in the gym 3 hours early to set up on the day. That backboard is going to rock like crazy and the thought of that is nerve racking. This is a mix of one part excitement, one part fear and one part "What the heck have I gotten myself into now."

[Big K]

You sound like you are ready to go. With the dual arm setup the rocking should not be an issue for you. If you think it will be real bad, you might gaffer tape the focus ring and zoom ring (if using a zoom) to eliminate any chance the movement will cause something to change.

You will have a blast. Best of luck and can't wait to see some samples.