Basketball: To flash or not to flash?

I am fairly satisfied with ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/640 on my 50D. I have been experimenting with the 580 on a flash bracket, bounced a little forward from straight up, and the bounce card. Flash photos are ISO 1600, f/4.5 and 1/250. I'm looking for comments and critique on my results.

First two are ambient, last two are with flash.

Thanks!

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your flash is not doing much work to stop the motion. Get it off camera, go bare to the court and you can lower you settings a bit more in order to get you better results.

Off camera as in remote triggered? I have it on a bracket via flash cord for ETTL. I haven't (yet) experimented with manual flash. These were -1/3 FEC. Do you think I should drop ISO to 800 to lower the ambient? I did have some ghosting of the ball...

yes, rely more on your flash than on the ambient. that is the main issue i see here.

I thought of that when I was sorting through these-why am I still at 1600 and -1/3?

Well, it was my first flash basketball-can I blame it on that?
Should have known better.

Thanks for the tips!

Tim S wrote in post #11433812
I am fairly satisfied with ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/640 on my 50D.

If I could shoot at those kinds of settings, then I'd be satisfied too! Your ambient stuff looks good, by the way. You were probably having a difficult time with the flash because the lighting is actually pretty nice in that gym.

Going Baroque wrote in post #11434641
If I could shoot at those kinds of settings, then I'd be satisfied too! Your ambient stuff looks good, by the way. You were probably having a difficult time with the flash because the lighting is actually pretty nice in that gym.

Thanks! Our gym is actually very good for volleyball using the one net setup at center court. For basketball the ends are about 1/3 stop darker. As a plus, the lights don't have weird "cycles". I occasionally travel to other gyms and it's always a crapshoot as to what the lighting conditions are. I shot one location that the nice white walls were either white or pink depending on timing.

I started using off camera flash last year using my (2) 580 EX II on light stands triggered with a pocket wizard. The results were amazing... I actually used a slip on diffuser to soften the shadows a little bit. Yes I had to pump the power a littl more, but it was worth it in the end.