Best Way to Photograph Tennis Action

[roundsquare1]

I have been asked to photograph Tennis for a website. It will NOT be during a game but a controlled shoot on a professional court. I need a few action shots which the clothes and shoes are visible and in focus.

I have about a $1500 budget for lighting and was going to rent some Profoto 7b heads and packs but the more I think about it, I doubt this will be fast enough to keep up with the action.

I also thought about a continuous light source and use some bounce to allow me to fire off a number of frames without having to wait for recycle time.

I have never shot Tennis and ideally I'd like to go into this with some sort of practice but it came up really quick and the money was pretty good.

I'll be shooting with my Mark 2n and a 300 2.8, 70-200 2.8 and a 24-70 2.8.

Any suggestions or advice would be great!

Thanks,

[eigga]

Is this during the day? Any reason you need more than just fill light... like are you going for a specific "look"

Seems like a couple White Lightning's and a Vagabond or 2 will do the trick.

[roundsquare1]

The first athlete is going to be photographed at 9 am and then every hour until 2 pm.

The images will be used for web/promo/print.

I wanted to make sure that I had what I needed even if I don't use it.

Better to be prepared than not get work from the client again.

The look is a professional advertising shot where the clothes and shoes are clearly visible.

[dawiyo]

I'd think less about the light right now and more of the angles you want to shoot to get both the shoes and the clothing. I'm guessing you couldn't really get anything from the front because of the net.

[roundsquare1]

Thanks,

I have been watching Tennis, looking at Tennis publications, etc. I am going to remove the net so I have full access.

I am going with a few Profoto 7b heads, a number of reflectors, scrims and an overhead silk for the shots later in the day. Will also shoot a number of natural light.

Will post next week with the results.