First Time Flasher/Strober Needs Help

I'm trying to upgrade the quality of my indoor sports pictures. Information from this forum and the Strobist has caused me to try adding flash or strobe light to the available gym light. My daughter has a two day volleyball tournament this weekend and yesterday I took pictures with a 30D, 70-200 2.8L, and a Speedlite 580 remotely triggered with a couple of Pocket Wizards. I've got a second flash on order (580 II) but this weekend I've only got one off camera flash in operation.

I'd like to get some suggestions for improving the pictures this weekend with the limitation of the one remote flash. Here are a few examples of what I'm seeing.

The flash is mounted on a rail at the back left corner of the court about eight feet from the floor. It's about six feet outside of the left court line and around 15 feet behing the rear court line. I initially had the flash set at 1/4 power & 50MM. The pictures seemed a little hot so I changed to 1/8 power & 50MM. The camera settings were; 250 shutter, 2.8 f-stop, and I experimented with ISO from 500 to 800.

This is the first time I've shot with strobes so I know that I've got a lot to learn. I'm hoping to get some good tips to apply to today's volleyball matches which start at 2PM CST today. Thanks in advance!

Is there any way you can set the flash to full power and then bounce it off the ceiling? That way, you'll be able to eliminate the distracting harsh shadows that are in your sample shots.

You should check out this thread by regular POTN flash forum contributor MT Stringer:

http://www.flickr.com …iscuss/72157603​924064553/

Enjoy! Lon

PacAce wrote in post #4934697
Is there any way you can set the flash to full power and then bounce it off the ceiling? That way, you'll be able to eliminate the distracting harsh shadows that are in your sample shots.

I don't think that bouncing off the ceiling would work in this venue. The tournament is being played in a pre-modern era (or old) coliseum. The ceiling is very high and made of dark wood. The first shot that I took was with the flash pointing up, but it was waaay too dark. The flash wasn't effective at all.

I assume that the second strobe will fix or reduce the harsh shadows...correct?

jharms1 wrote in post #4934763
I don't think that bouncing off the ceiling would work in this venue. The tournament is being played in a pre-modern era (or old) coliseum. The ceiling is very high and made of dark wood. The first shot that I took was with the flash pointing up, but it was waaay too dark. The flash wasn't effective at all.

I assume that the second strobe will fix or reduce the harsh shadows...correct?

No, unfortunately. The 2nd strobe will provide more lighting but it will also add a 2nd harsh shadow. If you can't bounce the flash off the ceiling or a wall, you could use some type of softbox to increase the apparent size of the light and diffuse the lighting although I'm not sure how practical that would be.

PacAce wrote in post #4934827
No, unfortunately. The 2nd strobe will provide more lighting but it will also add a 2nd harsh shadow. If you can't bounce the flash off the ceiling or a wall, you could use some type of softbox to increase the apparent size of the light and diffuse the lighting although I'm not sure how practical that would be.

Thanks for the help! I don't think for this location that more light is what I need. Again, I'm pretty new to the artifical lighting thing...but I'm eager to learn. I take photos at multiple locations, however, so hopefully my recent purchase of a 580EX2 and additional Pocket Wizard won't have been unnecessary.

One thing that I tried yesterday that I neglected to mention was pointing the flash up slightly so as to shoot just over the girls head. This seemed to reduce the shadows and the tendency to overexpose the white jerseys.

Again, I welcome any CC on technique, settings, or anything else.

jharms1 wrote in post #4935151
Thanks for the help! I don't think for this location that more light is what I need.

A softbox does not create more light. It makes the light source larger.

epatt250 wrote in post #4935174
A softbox does not create more light. It makes the light source larger.

I'm sure that this is a stupid question, but what is a soft box? Our next match begins shortly so if this is something that I need to purchase from a local camera store, I need to get moving!

I tried the defuser on the flash but it reduced the flash effect too much. I didn't try at full power, however.

Is the defuser anything like a softbox or is it totally different?

You would be suprised how high and how much light a flash will produce bounced off a ceiling. Did you try it? Direct flash will very seldom produce quality light.

Also, I would use 1600 ISO to help the ambient light in the background.

jharms1 wrote in post #4935255
Is the defuser anything like a softbox or is it totally different?

The principal is very much alike, the design is totally different. The size of the light source impacts how much shadow contrast you have and how hard edged they are.

Ever notice how window light is always so soft and enveloping. Thats because the light source is as large as an entire window.

On a bright sunny day you get dark dark shadows and hard edges because the sun is the light source and from this distance is small. On a cloudy day you get subdued light with little to no shadows. Because the entire cloudy sky is now the light source. This is why ceiling bounce is effective. Your small flash head is to the sun as is the entire ceiling is to the cloudy sky.

Umbrellas do the same thing, enlarge the light source. You dont have anymore light than you had before, it just now a larger source.

A softbox is similar to an umbrella except you load the strobe in the back and shoot thru it. They basically try to mimic window light.

I am not sure how much affect it would have in your situation though because you would have to be a good distance away and they makes the light source smaller. Softboxes are generally used very close to the subject to make them a very large lightsource.

Have you tried shooting at ISO 1600 or 3200? Get a custom white balance though, or shoot raw and white balance off a white jersey.

jharms1 wrote in post #4935255
I'm sure that this is a stupid question, but what is a soft box? Our next match begins shortly so if this is something that I need to purchase from a local camera store, I need to get moving!

I tried the defuser on the flash but it reduced the flash effect too much. I didn't try at full power, however.

Is the defuser anything like a softbox or is it totally different?

A diffuser like the Stofen OmniBounce on a flash really doesn't do much to increase the apparent size of the light. All it does is spread the light everywhere so that the light can be bounced off the ceiling and walls. Without a ceiling and walls for the light to bounce off of, all you're basically doing by using the diffuser is reducing the light intensity of the flash.

A softbox, on the other hand, has a large diffuser front and reflectors on the back and sides within the box to spread out the light and diffuse it coming out of the softbox. The major drawback to a softbox is that it is relatively large compared to other flash modifier accessories.

I don't how practical is to set it up, but place the flash higher and closer to the net will help some of the side shadow problems, specially if it's on the same side and behind the shooter.

In this image you can see the crazy ceiling I was bouncing off. It has tons of angles and is made primarly of wood. There are a few hot spots on the floor due to the angles but otherwise it works.

Also, at this church gym they only use 1/2 of the bay lights to save electricity so the lighting is extra horrible!

There's not much you'll be able to do with 1 580 either direct or bounced. The effective range for a small flash like that is 10-15 feet. The only way to light a large space is to light the whole space.

Creative blessingsNeil

I'd be a bit more optimistic about the range of a 580EX.

For 14mm coverage you should be looking at 15m or about 50 feet. For 50mm coverage that rises to 42m or about 147 feet.

It's a big hall with high dark roofs but you might get enough bounced light to loose the harsh shadows.

Bounce off the walls instead ?