Should I strobe or shoot ambient

[Sauk]

Ok so this place has pretty darn good lights. I can shoot 2500 ISO 1/640th or go 3200 with 1/800th with no recycle.

Can you look at my images and tell me which one I should do? I am shooting on Monday and I can't decide. I like the ambient shots and they are very acceptable to me quality wise, color, etc..

Lots of strobe shots: http://matthewsauk.zenfolio.com/p203022821

Lots of ambient shots: http://matthewsauk.zenfolio.com/p359756502

Any opinion is greatly appreciated.

[Sledhed]

Both look pretty good Matt but I think I would use the strobes.

[Sauk]

Sledhed,

Would there be a reason? I am assuming just for the lower ISO.

I printed out both tonight and both look purty nice. I can tell the difference, but my wife could not.

I am going to have them printed at costco tomorrow in a much better printer to view them again.

[beacherz]

In this lighting situation, from what I see on my screen I'd go with your ambiant. 1/640 should do just fine for bb, don't you think?

[wyofizz]

Matt,
Ambient looks good to me.
Enjoy burst mode for the night :-)

Dave

[Sauk]

Yeah at 1/640th I can shoot at 2500 to 2000 ISO. I can get more images shooting ambient which would be good for the DVD I am selling to the team. I think I am going to shoot both for now. Setup ambient on one side and strobe on the other side. Best of both worlds :)

[Aaagogo]

i think you've solved your own question. Matthew.

both ambient and strobed looks equally good.

[Zivnuska]

I'd give the edge to ambient. No direct strobe shadows. No wait to recharge. Your ambient shots seem to have very nice color at this venue.

[cdifoto]

Ambient.

Less **** to drag.

[Sauk]

lol

cdifoto, great argument!

This is going to be tough to be honest. I really like the color I can get from this venue shooting ambient. But I also like the pop of strobe as well.

It would be nice not to have to bring a bunch of stuff for once and setup for an hour with safety cables, tape, etc...

Thanks to all that have replied.

[Sledhed]

Both look good Matt but I like I said earlier, I would shoot strobes just for the lower ISO.

[SPORTshot]

If both look good on paper, I would go with ambient. I'm not a big fan of strobes anyways....to me they give almost a "fake" look. But I am a complete newbie to this stuff and I don't know much so I'll leave it at that.

[Aaagogo]

looks like it's time for you to get a light b***h to carry all ur gear, LOL

[johndevane]

I may be late on this conversation, and I didn't bother to read each comment, so apologies...

As I clicked on the "strobed shots" I said to myself, "Self, you already know these will be good. You didn't have to look." so I closed that page.

When I clicked on the "Ambient" page I said to myself, "Self, these are GD good pictures."

Leave all that heavy s**t at home and go enjoy bursting the heck out of your camera. I'd even say you should spray and pray ! GO WILD like a rookie! :)

[Big K]

Late contributor as well. Given they both work I would ask the question do you think you will sell very many 8x10 or bigger prints? If yes, then go with the strobes. If the video and smaller prints are the main use, go with ambient and increase the volume of shots.

I find that using a 3-8 shot burst in a video to give it a bit of motion works really well. You can't do that with strobes.

Good luck.

[AB8ND]

Both look good, but I think the players eyes are much brighter in the strobe shots. The ambient shots have the dark eye sockets almost like a bad bounce flash shot.
I'd go with strobed

Jack

[canonnoob]

well i would be interested in knowing how you are shooting 1/640th with strobes in the first place... but I would deal with the strobes...

[Sauk]

lol Big K,

I am printing both in 12x18 at costco and should be able to view them in about 3 hours when the wife picks them up.

Again right now if the ambient images come back looking great or not that much difference I am going to go ambient and fire away.

If the strobed looks sweet I will shoot half strobe and half ambient.

I have always loved the pop you get with strobed plus the low ISO which you know can be enlarged no problem. But I like the ability to get 3 shot bursts when you need them.

[Sauk]

well i would be interested in knowing how you are shooting 1/640th with strobes in the first place... but I would deal with the strobes...

Got me kinda confused here :) 1/640th is without strobes at 2000 to 2500 ISO F2.8.

[canonnoob]

Got me kinda confused here :) 1/640th is without strobes at 2000 to 2500 ISO F2.8.

". I can shoot 2500 ISO 1/640th or go 3200 with 1/800th with no recycle. "

I was basing it off of these options.. what are your settings when strobed?

[Big K]

lol Big K,

I am printing both in 12x18 at costco and should be able to view them in about 3 hours when the wife picks them up.

I will be curious to hear what you think. My guess is the strobed shots will look more like a poster and the ambient will look more like a full page newspaper print (Clarification, one of the rare times a newspaper actually does a decent job of printing).

When you sell a bunch of them, you might consider getting something like the Epson R2880 printer. Being able to print your own stuff on 13x19 paper is a nice bonus plus you can print on canvas, 40+ foot rolls of media for some nice pano shots and lots of other materials. I also think the vividness of the images, especially the reds, from a good inkjet printer on premium paper is hard to beat by most volume lab printing processes. Plus, your cool PP'ed shots are much easier to make look great on paper if you control the printing.

Custom edited, quality sports portraits printed on museum grade papers can command a really high price if you have a market with decent money, which I don't :-(

[Sauk]

". I can shoot 2500 ISO 1/640th or go 3200 with 1/800th with no recycle. "

I was basing it off of these options.. what are your settings when strobed?

Oh sorry by recycle I meant the lights in the arena, not my strobes :)

When strobing I am ISO 125 to ISO 200 F2.8 to F4.5

I think with better light placement though I will be closer to F4 to F5.6.

[Sauk]

I will be curious to hear what you think. My guess is the strobed shots will look more like a poster and the ambient will look more like a full page newspaper print (Clarification, one of the rare times a newspaper actually does a decent job of printing).

When you sell a bunch of them, you might consider getting something like the Epson R2880 printer. Being able to print your own stuff on 13x19 paper is a nice bonus plus you can print on canvas, 40+ foot rolls of media for some nice pano shots and lots of other materials. I also think the vividness of the images, especially the reds, from a good inkjet printer on premium paper is hard to beat by most volume lab printing processes. Plus, your cool PP'ed shots are much easier to make look great on paper if you control the printing.

Custom edited, quality sports portraits printed on museum grade papers can command a really high price if you have a market with decent money, which I don't :-(


Right now I have a EPSON Artisan 800 and I am very pleased with the prints I get with that, very pleased! I have printed a ton of 8.5x11 prints from it.

Thanks for the advice with the other Epson.

[HighPixel]

Hey Matt...You know I'm gonna tell you AMBIENT!
RonBaltazar

[SPORTshot]

Right now I have a EPSON Artisan 800 and I am very pleased with the prints I get with that, very pleased! I have printed a ton of 8.5x11 prints from it.

Thanks for the advice with the other Epson.


Hey Sauk, I just bought that Artisan 800 the other day....I'm having an issue with prints coming out darker than my monitor, any ideas ? I just flipped through the manual really quick and it talked about the Epson software having a color management option....do you use that or did you turn it off ? Did you change any settings ? Sorry for hijacking the thread.

[Thomas G]

I agree, if the prints look good both ways... shoot without strobes and save the hassle of packing.

[Sauk]

Hey Matt...You know I'm gonna tell you AMBIENT!
RonBaltazar


lol :)

[Sauk]

Hey Sauk, I just bought that Artisan 800 the other day....I'm having an issue with prints coming out darker than my monitor, any ideas ? I just flipped through the manual really quick and it talked about the Epson software having a color management option....do you use that or did you turn it off ? Did you change any settings ? Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Sportshot,

Have you calibrated your monitor? Are you having it auto fix your prints? What about EPSON Vivid or adobe rgb setting...

I tend to use adobe rgb and NO to auto fix. My prints come out just about as close to what's on my screen.

Prints are usually always going to come out a touch darker than what your screen is showing as your screen has light coming from behind, while prints are reflective light.

I would recalibrate your monitor to adjust for that and you should be all set.

[SPORTshot]

Sportshot,

Have you calibrated your monitor? Are you having it auto fix your prints? What about EPSON Vivid or adobe rgb setting...

I tend to use adobe rgb and NO to auto fix. My prints come out just about as close to what's on my screen.

Prints are usually always going to come out a touch darker than what your screen is showing as your screen has light coming from behind, while prints are reflective light.

I would recalibrate your monitor to adjust for that and you should be all set.


Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.....I will give the adobe rgb and NO auto fix a try. I think the auto fix is what got me.

[Sauk]

Ok I final report on this whole situation.

I decided to shoot ambient and fire away. Do I have regrets, yes, am I ok with the results, yes.

In the end I think I should have shot strobed or at least half of the game. But I decided to go for quantity instead of quality at that point. I got a ton of pictures and ones which will print to 12x18 just fine. In fact I would say that 98% of prints ordered are no larger than 8x10.

But as a "professional" I don't think I will ever choose that over high quality again :)

I will be posting some of the images from the game here shortly.