Friday Nigh Football - Flash below

1) Canon 7D; 1/250; f/2.8; 300 mm; ISO 800; 0 EV; Flash On; fired below

Try shooting at a much higher shutter speed. 1/250 is not fast enough, try 1/800 or 1/1000 at least when using a flash. I shoot at those speeds not using a flash on Friday nights with the 300 f 2.8 is.

Hockeytown wrote in post #10989820
Try shooting at a much higher shutter speed. 1/250 is not fast enough, try 1/800 or 1/1000 at least when using a flash. I shoot at those speeds not using a flash on Friday nights with the 300 f 2.8 is.

anything faster than 1/250 gives the black dead spot on the 7D; 1/250 is my max;

I thought 1/320 was the max with the IV

Your shutter speed is irrelevant to flash exposure only ambient. The flash exposure is stopping the action not the shutter speed. Shooting at max sysnc is all that is needed.

Dan-o wrote in post #10989869
Your shutter speed is irrelevant to flash exposure only ambient. The flash exposure is stopping the action not the shutter speed. Shooting at max sysnc is all that is needed.

Dan-O or anyone, what is the cause of the blur on the arm/hand of #3 and still the head /body of the player is sharp. What adjustments can be made to minimize that ?

I see that alot on flash football but don't fully understand why it's said the flash freezes the motion ... well why do extremeties not freeze all the time ?

IN photo #3: I was actually pretty proud of myself as #2 broke this Kickoff return and I locked on him. To be honest, I did not intend to get this effect, but was very happy that its there. Would have rather a sharp player on a bokeh background, sure ... but I'll take this one too.

To answer your last question, the shutter speed is (at 250 for me here) is just too slow to move the faster moving parts in the frame.

DoubleL wrote in post #10996446
what is the cause of the blur on the arm/hand of #3 and still the head /body of the player is sharp. What adjustments can be made to minimize that ?

This is a slow shutter panning effect. This effect is usually (or best) made when the camera/lens is stationary an locked on a moving object at one focal point.

INFO: http://www.thephotoarg​us.com/tips/an-introduction-to-panning-in-motorsports/

Example from a photo class:

Lloyd it is ghosting from the flash and ambient being too close together. The blur you are seeing like in #3 is the ambient exposed hand. The shutter duration is a lot longer (in terms of milliseconds) then the flash duration so once the flash duration is over the shutter is still open and any movement can be seen moving outside the flashed exposure.

Think of it in it's extreme with long exposure second curtain sync exposures that you always see. Like this example that I found with a quick Google search. http://oreilly.com/pub​/h/1771

Thanks Dan-O, I was confused about the panning reason from Vinny after I read it twice. What's the best way to minimize that ... would you lower ISO to 400 ?

DoubleL wrote in post #10996590
What's the best way to minimize that ... would you lower ISO to 400 ?

ISO has very little to do with motion blur, the shutter speed is your dominant factor in motion blur.

VinnyC01 wrote in post #10996953
ISO has very little to do with motion blur, the shutter speed is your dominant factor in motion blur.

Interesting. My experience differs...

With flash at a night game, the key factor seems to be the delta between ambient and flash exposure.

If you're <2 stops delta, you get nice background, but risk motion blur. Especially on fingers, ball, and feet.

To increase this delta between ambient (and thus decrease motion blur), you can decrease ISO or increase aperture.

If you're 3+ stops delta, you get zero motion blur, but your ambient background is black.

So IMHO, a stop of ISO or a stop of aperture are interchangeable to decrease motion blur. If anything I'd say shutter speed becomes much less dominant with flash photography... set it at xsync and forget about it.

@Clarence:

Now I think I understand the point you guys are making - and - that it completely differs from what I was talking about in shot #1;

The blur (no-sharp) of the RB's lifted leg is blurry; This would come from the higher ISO I used. at 800 I also had more grain than I expected;

I was happy with the motion blur effect you see in the backfoot and you get from the bleachers and ref gaining that panning effect; Not easy to do even with a tripod.

VinnyC01 wrote in post #10996953
ISO has very little to do with motion blur, the shutter speed is your dominant factor in motion blur.

Well ISO/Aperture has everything to do with it. Basically you trying to increase the difference between ambient and flash exposure with flash exposure higher than ambient. Ways to do it:

1. Stop down
2. Lower ISO

Edited: Sorry just saw clarence explain it.

That is the reason one can shoot jumps/movement in studio at sat 1/100 or lower where ambient is not present.