Strobes

Tonight we were at a WCHA hockey game. And few years ago at the X (Excel Engery Center) for the Frozen Four and the photo strobes high up in the rafters were very annoying at best. The photographers just keep on firing their cameras and the strobes just feel like they could set off a seizure.

Do, these strobes really help out? IMHO they are more bothersome for the fans than help the photographers.

Just my two cents.

Honestly, they should probably not be using strobes and be using high iso instead. That would be VERY annoying having those flash in your eyes constantly.

If the strobes are bothering you, then the photographers do not have them set up at the proper height and angles. When they are properly located, spectators have a harder time seeing the flashes.

The strobes help out a ton. Not only do they allow you to use a low iso, but if you have them setup right, it basically turns the place into a giant studio. With great lighting on the subjects. and like Staszek said, if they are placed in the correct way, its barely noticeable.

I first started attending San Antonio Spurs game with my wife in 2007, and I never noticed the strobes.

But in 09 I was in an accident that left me unable to go back to work(paralyzed left arm).. so while having nothing better to do, I decided to take up Photography, and I learned a lot...

while attending another Spurs game in the cheap seats I noticed the strobes on the rafters and began to notice the flashes. I think they are only bothersome to those that know what to look for.

I second that I never noticed strobes before getting into photography and most of the time I don't notice them now but if I go to a game/event and look to see if the photog is using them then I do notice them and once you do you can't un notice them lol

wysiwyg59 wrote in post #16436531
Tonight we were at a WCHA hockey game. And few years ago at the X (Excel Engery Center) for the Frozen Four and the photo strobes high up in the rafters were very annoying at best. The photographers just keep on firing their cameras and the strobes just feel like they could set off a seizure.

Do, these strobes really help out? IMHO they are more bothersome for the fans than help the photographers.

Just my two cents.

Those strobes have been standard equipment at major sports arenas for decades. Nearly all big wire service, agency, magazine and newspaper mages from NHL, NBA and major college games use those strobes. The overwhelming majority of people who attend these games never notice the strobes. Some arenas are equipped with four or five sets of the strobes.

The strobes are deliberately installed in the rafters of an arena. They're so high they they're barely noticed among a typical arena's other bright and flashingl ights.

DC Fan wrote in post #16437949
Those strobes have been standard equipment at major sports arenas for decades. Nearly all big wire service, agency, magazine and newspaper mages from NHL, NBA and major college games use those strobes. The overwhelming majority of people who attend these games never notice the strobes. Some arenas are equipped with four or five sets of the strobes.

The strobes are deliberately installed in the rafters of an arena. They're so high they they're barely noticed among a typical arena's other bright and flashingl ights.

That's not true, as a shooter for those publications and wire services, I can tell you that very few photographers use strobes. Typically only team photographers have the desire for that look, timing for flash recycle, and access to the rafters. A lot of it has to do with high ISO capabilities in new cameras, end use of the photos, and insurance liability.

Staszek wrote in post #16438595
That's not true, as a shooter for those publications and wire services, I can tell you that very few photographers use strobes. Typically only team photographers have the desire for that look, timing for flash recycle, and access to the rafters. A lot of it has to do with high ISO capabilities in new cameras, end use of the photos, and insurance liability.

There will be many photographers who will be surprised to learn that the arena strobes they installed are not being used.

http://thegazette.com …ing-up-wells-fargo-arena/

http://www.sportsshoot​er.com …ge_display.html​?tid=40527

http://www.prophotohom​e.com …-mount-strobes-arena.html

http://trenthead.wordp​ress.com …/more-arena-strobe-stuff/

http://blogs.tennessea​n.com …/06/10/lighting​-an-arena/

http://scaughtyphoto.b​logspot.com/2008/10/st​robes-in-bren.html

The busy contract photographer who works dozens of high school games and hauls a car loaded with White Lighting strobes from even to event will be surprised, along with the contract photographer who uses a half-dozen Alien Bees to light a large hall for horse shows, along with the newspaper that installed a pair of strobe sets in a Big Ten arena and often rents one of them to other photographers, and the people who installed four sets of strobes in a certain NBA arena that's frequently used for major college and high school games, and there's the small college that installed strobes for the use of the team photographer, and the high school that has strobes for the use of newspaper guys. I can even remember photographers who used strobes in a now-demolished arena in the era before Pocket Wizards who had to run a very long extension cord to the floor.

There are exceptions to "not true." Even photographers on this forum have tried using shoe-mount flashes in high school gyms.

Given the option, I would almost always use strobes. Not only do they allow you to get MUCH more accurate color, and avoid AC-cycling of the color of the lights, but you can also shoot stopped down to increase your depth of field, and shoot at a lower ISO.

Having said that, I've noticed the last couple NBA games I've worked where SI has been in attendance, they have been shooting ambient. Previous years they've rented the arena strobes, or in a couple instances, installed their own.

Staszek wrote in post #16438595
That's not true, as a shooter for those publications and wire services, I can tell you that very few photographers use strobes. Typically only team photographers have the desire for that look, timing for flash recycle, and access to the rafters. A lot of it has to do with high ISO capabilities in new cameras, end use of the photos, and insurance liability.

you are right, because very few know how, very few are allowed, and very few are insured properly.

The images you get, when shot properly, are much better then anything you can get with the new cameras. I don't care if you can shoot at 6400iso with out an ounce of noise, it will not hold a candle to a strobed image.

Strobes with proper flash duration should barely be noticed, nothing slower then 1/2000th of a second. They freeze action, and combined with the TT1's & TT5's ability for hypersync to grabbed shutter speeds of 1/1000th you have images that stand out. That is why the important people like the team photographers, and large agencies like Getty use strobes.

I, like most photogs, started off shooting ambient! High School gyms aren't the best when it comes to lighting so there was, what I call, post op work! Too much time spent on color adjustments and noise reduction, etc. Then tried on camera flash, which in MHO, is the worst. Hard, direct light...more bothersome to the players and RED EYE!! So, I moved up to strobes. I used a Norman Series lighting system but this was too much work, trying to move the lights at halftime, since I had to plug in to the Norman Power pack. Up my game to ABs 800 with PWs and it was night and day. Anyone I talked to, they didn't realize the strobes were going off. When I shot at the Breslin Center (Mich St), the ambient was quite a bit better than your average HS but I don't get there too often. Here are some differences!

Ambient

awesome pics!!

Thanks!