Basketball from friday night

[northpointphoto]

More basketball from Friday night. Let me know what you think.

Russell

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/3283242703_4fcd4921b7.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3283250475_ccd8cc60b9.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3284071580_856743eaf2.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/3284069720_d4bd5bfa07.jpg?v=0

I hate when I get basketball head
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/3284065620_92b3fe61df.jpg?v=0

[northpointphoto]

Anyone?

[mountbatten]

Great photo's number one and two are my favorites. What setup did you use?? Camera and Lens

[4Bucks]

Great pictures... I am just working (at a hobby level) at taking indoor Bball shots. You have fantastic results... any info on your set up/gear?

[northpointphoto]

Thanks for the comments

Great photo's number one and two are my favorites. What setup did you use?? Camera and Lens

Sigma 28-70 f2.8 on D300
1/250, f3.5, ISO 1000ish

Great pictures... I am just working (at a hobby level) at taking indoor Bball shots. You have fantastic results... any info on your set up/gear?


You can check this thread for my light setups and gear
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=635625

[Sauk]

Excellent series. You are doing well with that setup. I am surprised you have to use such a high iso with that amount of light.

only cc I have is a few of those your horizons are off.

[namasste]

Agreed with Matt on both points. Did you still use one on the floor in front of the hoop? That last one would have been great had it not been for the ball. Well done Russ.

[slyone]

Thanks for sharing...I just started using my 1 flash last week and got a little crazy w/direct flash LOL! I paid dearly in PP, esp.w/redeye..:oops:
Your setup produces some really fine results that's for sure! There seems to be just so much "trial & error"for me with flash vs.ambient but flash can bring such magic to otherwise so-so photos. we got 1 tonight and again Wed. I was thinking of either trying to bounce of backwall(while tucked at doors area(corner of key) which seems almost impossible or extending catchlight panel straight up or direct again but lower power to 1/2- I think I used regular full power last time:rolleyes:

[AdamLewis]

Excellent series. You are doing well with that setup. I am surprised you have to use such a high iso with that amount of light.

only cc I have is a few of those your horizons are off.

Its only half power from a few speedlights. Its nothing like a monolight or pack/head system.

Whats really nice about this setup though is that youre virtually free to mount your lights anywhere you want and dont have to mess with AC power.

[silvex]

#4 is really nice. Why not shoot wide open to *try* get rid of fans?

[northpointphoto]

Excellent series. You are doing well with that setup. I am surprised you have to use such a high iso with that amount of light.

only cc I have is a few of those your horizons are off.

Thanks. I should have mentioned that half of these were direct flash and half were bounced off the back wall. With direct flash I had to shoot around ISO 650 and with it bounced I had to bump to 1000.

As far as the horizons go I know some of them look off it just where I was sitting the images didnt really have a good solid horizontal or vertical reference


Agreed with Matt on both points. Did you still use one on the floor in front of the hoop? That last one would have been great had it not been for the ball. Well done Russ.

This time I didnt use the third strobe. I still keep the third one in the box but I normally only use it If I cant get enough light under the basket.

I really wish that last one had come out because that would have been awesome.


#4 is really nice. Why not shoot wide open to *try* get rid of fans?

It came down to blurred out fans and better focus and personally I would rather get a sharper focus on the players.

[AdamLewis]

It came down to blurred out fans and better focus and personally I would rather get a sharper focus on the players.

Im sure you know since you seem to be pretty knowledgeable...

But you could always up the power and down the ISO to knock down more ambient. Of course, you kill recycle time (although Im not sure by how much with quantums powering the mix) and get less shots per charge.

[Kpeart.]

Great Work!

[thecomebackKID]

Very nice. Captured each picture nicely.:)

[silvex]

It came down to blurred out fans and better focus and personally I would rather get a sharper focus on the players.

Mind posting a sample? BTW great write up on the lighting/tools.

[northpointphoto]

Im sure you know since you seem to be pretty knowledgeable...

But you could always up the power and down the ISO to knock down more ambient. Of course, you kill recycle time (although Im not sure by how much with quantums powering the mix) and get less shots per charge.

Well currently I shoot at 1/2 power and I get about a one second recycle time. I've never really tried bumping the strobes up to full power.

Mind posting a sample? BTW great write up on the lighting/tools.

I dont really have any examples of anything larger than f3.5 because I've never shot wider since I started strobing the gyms.

[Croasdail]

Its a personal taste thing, but I find the lighting a little too much of a good thing. Instead of getting isolation from the background, your lighting it up and creating a ton of extra shadows which to my taste is too much visual noise in the shot. There are plenty out there that this doesn't bug at all.... so I know it is a stylistic thing. I just don't like shadows. But the colors pop and they are as sharp as a tac, so do what they were intended too. Well done. Cheers.

[HighPixel]

Great images IMO!

But you could always up the power and down the ISO to knock down more ambient. Of course, you kill recycle time (although Im not sure by how much with quantums powering the mix) and get less shots per charge.
QUESTION:Is this the preferred image outlook? Obviously it all a matter of style, but I strive to have my images look like there's no flash at all as if I had "great ambient"...vs. a strobed image that casts shadows on body parts.
Here's an example of a MaxPreps image.( I have to link, as images age protected).http://www.maxpreps.com/photo/gallery.aspx?PhotoGalleryID=f575e9a5-667a-485c-ae17-a133427c2d3c&Image=41
IMO, terrible...and this is a member. Sorry!
One I took from last Fridays game... I'm just trying to wrap my head around this strobed vs. ambient issue.
http://ronbaltazar.smugmug.com/photos/473465996_dbzyM-L.jpg
HP

[AdamLewis]

It is all up to preference. However, if you want to shoot at a high aperture and NOT have a busy crowd show up as much the only way to do it is to modify your light so it is coming down more directly onto the court, or make your lights brighter on the court so that they overpower the ambient.

[superdiver]

"More basketball from Friday night. Let me know what you think."

I don't think I like flash shots...lol these are good shots, I just dont like the flash effect...