Making do with what you have available.

10/11/2008 10:23:56 PM · #1

Today I tried something new, I normally strobe this Junior College gym, but lately they have been running two courts, and I dont have a good position to place my light stands, or super clamp them in place where I can get decent coverage and not have dark spots and odd shadows. Besides moving them from one court to another is a PITA sometimes. So todays assignment was shooting at Junior College Volleyball while they had two courts up. I wasnt going to take my AB and lights there and fight and not be happy with the shots. So I put my head to work, and I decided I'd either come up with a new method or blow the assignment.

So I put a kit together

2 580EXII
16 rechargables
2 super clamps
2 Flash mounts
1 1DMKIII
1 70-200F2.8
1 85 1.8
2 AB Cybersyncs(battery powered)
2 Cybersync transmitters
1 5D

Got to the gym 40 minutes early and scoped out a few places I could shoot from, and clamp the lights, mounted them in position one, set power and zoom settings, set camera and fired away for a game.

Got done with game one, moved to a new position with the lights, set power and shot one game, swapped batteries and shot the third game.

Things I learned today. The 580EXII flashes are pretty powerful. I dont like some of the shadows and I need to learn to aim and play with the zoom to get better coverage. Anyway here are the results, no misfires with the Cybersyncs, I was shooting at ISO 800, 1/320th, and F2.8 to F4.0 depending on where on the court I was shooting, shot with the 70-200.

BTW Ambient at this gym is 3200 ISO F1.8 and 1/400

Matt

Moral of the story.........if you cant do it your normal way........try again you might find the results surprise you.

10/11/2008 10:43:59 PM · #2

I'll leave the persons name absent, but maybe my wording isn't so good post, perhaps I should have said when you need too, sometimes improvising with whats available is the best way to go.

Comment through PM

"Poor baby, if I only had that equipment available to me to "make due" I could probably make decent photos to."

OK I get it................

Matt

see

Canon PowerShot S95

10/11/2008 11:12:28 PM · #3

Matt, nice shots, I have to ask I see some reflection off the floor on many of the shots, are the flashes pointed at the floor so as not to disturb the players?

Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di for Nikon

10/11/2008 11:25:14 PM · #4

No the flashes aren't pointed to the floor, they just reflect that way, they are actually pointed towards the players, but are higher then the playing surface. They put one heck of a finish on this floor this past summer when they did some improvements to them. Unfortunately that didn't include the lighting system. Shame as this is actually a nice gym and they have a great Womens volleyball and Basketball program.

Matt

StOlafPhotographer

Nikon D200

10/12/2008 12:28:33 AM · #5

Hey matt,
I was taking a look through the images you posted and I think you got some really good stuff. The best one is where you caught the moment where that girl was spiking it from above! Here are some tips that I have found work very well when I am photographing indoor volleyball.
-It looks like you are using some sort of cross lighting and that's what's giving you the unusual and undesirable shadows. I would suggest not using this method and instead using a single flash to light one side of the court. That way you don't get the odd shadows. Here are some example shots. If you need more clarification by all means ask and I'll try and explain better!

Hope it helps, Evan

PS All were shot with 70-200 2.8 or 50 1.8. Some have been adjusted and some not.

Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di for Nikon

10/12/2008 01:19:49 AM · #6

Originally posted by StOlafPhotographer:

Hey matt,

-It looks like you are using some sort of cross lighting and that's what's giving you the unusual and undesirable shadows. I would suggest not using this method and instead using a single flash to light one side of the court. That way you don't get the odd shadows.

How in the world would you get photos of both teams with one flash lighting one side of the court? All of the images you posted are too dark for the profiles that are needed for the newspaper I work for to print, they would all need recovered quite a bit. I'll post my normal results from this gym with the AB's in a bit, I have the desktop working on a Pano at the moment. Biab.

Matt

StOlafPhotographer

Nikon D200

10/12/2008 02:45:49 AM · #7

Maybe i didn't explain myself or maybe you don't like my methods. Maybe you can learn from me or I from you so let's talk about this because I always want my photos to be the best that they can be. This last game here did have to be recovered with a bit of PP but that's a lack of proper in camera settings and my fault, not the fault of the lighting setup (maybe?). I still think that this method of lighting will provide better lighting results than shooting with cross lighting because I doubt that any newspaper would want that sort of distracting shadows; even mine. While I only shoot for a school newspaper at the moment it seems to be good enough for them; albeit, there are differences between a "real" newspaper and college paper.

You can't see it in the sketch but I have these up above the area where people are seated and shooting down a bit. I have the freedom to shoot anywhere with good consistent lighting results, the exception being directly across from the lights. Thoughts ways I can improve? Let me know.

Evan

Message edited by author 2008-10-12 02:48:36.