Using Flash to "Freeze" Moving Subjects - Help and Input Appreciated and Encouraged

I've began working as the photographer at 2 local greyhound tracks over the past month. During that time the racing has been during daylight hours. Starting this week one track is back to night meetings.

Lighting at the venue is average to poor and flash photography is required. I've shot many sports but almost exclusively used ambient light.

Now the challenge is to freeze and object moving at 60km/hr in low light.

Luckily the week before I started I got the opportunity to practice on 2 night events at the track, I have posted the photos. These were shot at f/8, ISO 200-250, 1/250 - 1/300

My question is, am I using the best method? ie under exposing ambient light and using the flash to "freeze" the subject, I'd love to hear how shooters on here would approach it. The examples posted do closely resemble photos from the track taken by past photographers.

All ideas/advice/help will be greatly appreciated

#1

Yes, but it looks like the sign and brick wall in the background have motion blur... I doubt they were moving so you were probably panning to track the dogs.

So you can underexpose the ambient even more (drop ISO from 200 to 100) and/or use a narrower aperture (e.g., f/8 to f/11).

What settings are you using for the speedlite? If you have plenty of range, you can decrease the flash duration by decreasing the flash power... if you can get away with 1/2 or even 1/4 power from the flash, you'll really freeze motion.

Plus, decreased flash power means you can fire off multiple bursts as you track the dog.

Yeah definitely panning and at a fair speed.

These shots were slightly lightened in post processing so I'm not sure how much more I could underexpose and get away with it.

I was shooting with the flash in ETTL. The flash is a 430 EX II.

Another question to that, is it possible to "over=power" the apeedlight for such shooting?

Eg. If I shot with the flash in manual at full output 1/1 or used flash compensation, would it be possible that it would not freeze the subject as well? Or is it a case of the more light the better?

All help appreciated.

Do you by chance have a shot at the same camera settings where the flash did not fire? I would be curious to see how much of the light is coming from ambient.

Oh yes, if you don't use ETTL it's very easy to get too much flash power if you just set the speedlite at M 1:1... a lot like cheap P&S cameras

Thanks Clarence, thats very good to know, I think I'd best stick to ETTL then?

Kevin, I do not have one from those exact shots but here is one that fired as a second shot after the flashed one with an ISO of 400, it should still give you an idea of how dark it is at ISO 200. Virtually pitch black, the light eminating from the left is from the lights right on the line used for the photo finish system, hope this helps.

The problem Rob is that it isn't pitch black. Anything that you can see in the image above will show up as motion blur depending on how you are panning, but the legs most definitely. It is a balancing act trying to get the right settings. One important setting most never mention in zoom. What zoom are you shooting on your flash?

Thanks Danny, I will definitely factor that in, and meter for complete darkness. The first 2 photos I posted were at ISO 200 as opposed to the one without flash which was an ISO 400 with the same settings so it would be half the light of the photo posted which I'm guessing is closer to the right metering. As for zoom, these are shot between 70mm and 90mm roughly.

Freezing the dog will be the easy part with some trial and error but shadows are going to be tough with the angle and the background so close.

Rob,

Thanks, that does help better understand your conditions.

The light that is at the finish line, even at a stop less than the example, is going to be enough to create some ghosting, especially at the speeds your subject is moving. You can notice the motion blur on the white paw of the dog with the red.

You would have better luck if you can move up track a bit so that you are shooting the dogs before they get to the finish light area.

If you tend to do most of your shooting from the same spot I would suggest a couple of things.

Assuming there is not a reason you can't do it, I would use both of your flashes off the camera and mount them left and right of where you are standing with the 430 on your right. This will help keep their eyes from looking so odd and will help with how the shadows fall off the dogs and the background. If you have total flexibility on where you can mount the flashes, I would experiment and treat it like you would a portrait shoot to get the best overall lighting, albeit a portrait shoot with 60km models.

I suggest both flashes mainly to give you a bit larger area that is lit but if you can easily catch them in the light field from one flash, use the second to throw some light on the background or backlight the dogs to give them a different look that what others might be able to get.

Since you are also only getting realistically one shot before they are past you, I would suggest trying 1/2 power on both flashes with the zoom set at around 50mm (Not sure your exact options on those flashes) and adjust your exposure accordingly and see what you get. If you are still getting too much ambient, increase the power to full power. If 50mm is wasting light outside of your frame, zoom in more. The more zoom, the brighter your flash and it might allow you to remain at 1/2 power which will give you a much faster flash duration.

Personally, I don't think the shots you originally posted are bad at all in terms of ghosting. The dogs are flat out hauling so a bit of motion in the photo is not bad at all. I just don't care for the direct flash look.

Thanks Danny, that is my basic nessecity, to freeze the dog, I can accept all the other things, my main concern was metering correctly so that I get it right, the input so far has been great and much appreciated.

Thanks Kevin. At this stage I only really have the one flash, the 430EX II. (I have na old 380EX but it can not be adjusted manually) Looking at a 580EX very soon so it may be an option then.

I plan to shoot them just past the post in future so that hopefully the finish line light does not come into play as I had imagined it could cause trouble.

Again, I cannot thank you enough for your input and advice.

You are welcome.

I would still try shooting with it off camera and just to your right to help with the shadows if possible.

Even if you keep it on camera, I would recommend still shooting with manual flash. There are lots of things that can throw off the ETTL settings when you are covering moving objects of various colors. Once you get it dialed in, the manual settings will give you good consistency from shot to shot.

It does not appear you getting a lot of fall off at the edges so you might be able to zoom the flash even more. The more you can get by with the better. Like the previous post, if you can get by at 1/2 power and eliminate the ambient, that would be your best option because of the flash duration. At full power you are probably getting a flash duration around 1/800 so anything you can do to improve flash duration would be a plus.

Good luck.

Dunno if anyone's mentioned it, but flash durations come in to play here. I dunno what flash you're using, google it to find the durations though. Generally 1/1000th or faster is nice to freeze motion.
Use your flashes on manual, too, you're exposing all with flash so there shouldn't be any reason to change power between shots.