Recently I was invited by a friend to help with a local Roller Derby league that has been growing for a few years on PEI, and I've been using it as an excuse to practice photography.
But things have been a little interesting due to the arena lighting. The girls are currently playing in a small hockey arena, relatively low ceilings with a dull gray semi-reflective insulation, wide spaced lights, etc. Another photographer suggested that the space was 2-3 stops dimmer than most of the other arenas in the area, and the space is plagued with dim spots due to the layout of the lighting.
Currently I'm using around f/2.2, ISO 800 to get to 1/200s for the action, and using direct flash has really increased the rate of usable photos. So far the girls seem happy with the images I've posted for them, but they're very much of the 'good enough' variety, and to me that isn't good enough.
I had meant to grab a few shots of the space itself, and some general measurements, but sadly I got distracted at the bout yesterday, so for now we'll run with a general discussion on lighting large dim spaces.
One of the more interesting challenges in lighting the space is the fact that it is roller derby on a track smaller than the rink space itself, and, it is roller derby. On roller stakes. Sometimes at fairly high speeds. So that means zero light stands on the floor for safety reasons, and you are a good distance from the safe walls of the rink where you could put up stands for part of the track
I'm really not sure what would be the best way to go about attempting to reliably light the track, or if it is even remotely possible on a somewhat limited budget, but personally I could settle for creating a few hot zones to shoot in, and then just ignore the rest of the track. (Which would make shooting from center easier anyway, rather than being stuck spinning in a circle the whole time.)
My first thought was attempting to use three to six cheap manual flashes lining the boards on either side of the rink, and either bounce them off the floor or ceiling for extra light. (They're both kind of dull gray, and the bounce from a single flash off the curved roof didn't have a hugely noticeable effect.)
My other thought was setting up a rig to hang the flashes from the ceiling with shoot through defusers. Possibly in pairs to either side of the track, slanted inward. More setup work, but would make far better use of the light. (Playing area is less than 1/4 of the total arena floor space.)
So, how would other people attempt to do the lighting in such a space while keeping their budget in mind?
