'steel magnolias' roller derby bout

I wanted to share some photos from the last bout I shot.
This was my first time using some off-camera flash at a derby bout and
have to say that i'm hooked now. still lots to learn, but i love it.

It's certainly not at convenient as on camera, your mobility goes out the window,
but the results are more dynamic than my typical on camera flash shots.
plus the potential is there to add some more depth with the directional lighting,
as opposed to the flatness I've been getting with shooting with just crappy ambient.

i've been in some venues that had neat ambient, almost stage lighting around the track.
not the case in this place, so it was nice to play with some of my own:

1.

That looks like a fun shoot!

Really like the way those came out, much better than my on camera flash. Would you mind sharing how you placed the flash relative to your position, especially how high it was? I'm about to try the same thing in a few weeks and am looking for a good starting point. With the start line at 9 oclock, and the apex of corner 1-2 at 6 oclock,my shooting position would be about 5-6 oclock with one flash at 4 oclock shooting across the corner and another at 8 oclock pointing up the straight towards the start line. Figure I'd shoot half the bout this way, then shift it 180 degrees so I'm shooting down the back straight where the jammer often makes first contact with the pack.

bsmotril wrote in post #12266585
Really like the way those came out, much better than my on camera flash. Would you mind sharing how you placed the flash relative to your position, especially how high it was? I'm about to try the same thing in a few weeks and am looking for a good starting point. With the start line at 9 oclock, and the apex of corner 1-2 at 6 oclock,my shooting position would be about 5-6 oclock with one flash at 4 oclock shooting across the corner and another at 8 oclock pointing up the straight towards the start line. Figure I'd shoot half the bout this way, then shift it 180 degrees so I'm shooting down the back straight where the jammer often makes first contact with the pack.

I have a 9 foot stand, but didnt' have it all the way extended, i'd guess it was at like 7.5-8'.
I wanted to be low enough to light their faces without being too low as to be distracting, etc..
I was shooting primarily turn 3, so i had my light placed at about 1 o'clock.
These shots are from several different angles at that end of the track.

next time, i'm hoping to put a light at this same location, and another in turn 1 (pointing towards the starting line like your plan).
and put them on seperate channels, so i can shoot either end throughout the bout,
just switching channels depending on what i'm going for.

but crosslighting like you've mentioned could be pretty good too.
i usually socialize too much at half time to try and relocate stands haha