Basketball. 1 light vs 2...

JimKarczewski

Well, in my case it's really 2 lights vs 4, but it's all the same considering in this sequence the left lights didn't fire in the first shot but did in the second. Shows what a little separation light will do for an image.




FYI, before anyone asks I use 2 lights on each side so I can lower the power, most of the time I'm shooting 1/8 power on each light. Rarely I'll have to hit 1/4. Now that I have 4 PiXeL battery packs I should be able to go down to 1 light on each side, if I really need to, but considering I also aim them different directions (one toward the baseline, one freethrow line) I probably won't unless absolutely necessary (can't think of a reason.. LOL)

Photosbychuck

Hi JimKarczewski

Nice photos

What lens did you use?




Take Care,
Chuck Cassidy,
www.icurdigital.com

kdog

Cool shots. Two lights is better, but even your one-light shot is good. It's interesting you're still using a 20D for this purpose. If it's not broken, why fix it I guess. I always found my shots to be hit or miss with my 20D. But it was my first SLR (D or otherwise), so it could have been just my inexperience.

Dreadnote

Judging from the way Santa's beard is glowing in the second one I'm assuming your lights are up in the stands not on light stands on the floor?

JimKarczewski

@KDog- My assignment for the night was the girls championship game, not the boys. My 5DII which is at CPS being repaired is what I normally use. As a backup I was using my 5D for my assignment.. but then I thought, lets see how my lights keep up with some speed and used my 20D. They worked pretty consistently with the power packs which were both on my right, so explains why my left light was so sporadic. I definitely notice the 20D can really miss, but I was using center point focusing only. Images don't look nearly as sharp from them as they do the 5D, but it also could be the lens.

@Dreadnote- Since I was using the 20D, I had to switch to my 24-70. 70-200 which is my default lens on full frame was just too close for the near baseline. The lights were on light stands, not in the bleachers. I've learned my lesson (well, I didn't but fellow news photographer did) about lights in the bleacher. People love to stand these days and a lot of blockage occurs. From now on, I'm going to be using the stands, which were right next to the rail of the bleacher, but not on them. I'm going to make something up though to attach the top of the light stand to the bleacher as someone nearly took out a light stand last night walking by and not paying attention. I came back just as others were holding it up.

Moving Pictures

Just as an aside, I've shot a lot of basketball - particularly Canadian college on the West Coast - where strobes/flashes were *strictly* controlled. For those who might be delving into basketball, always assume and prepare for the fact that you will NOT be allowed flash. And most certainly, no flash from the baseline.

There are a wealth of sports where flash is a no-no. Gymnastics is another. (Pause for influx of memories of "you have to get an action shot" assignment from gymnastics competition inside dismal arena, with piss-poor fluorescent lights, in the not-at-all-what-they-say-it-was-like "glory days" of film. Oh, and the powers-that-be call after the fact, on a Sunday morning, when there's not a suitable source of film to be found, that they want colour, but you only have one roll of 1,600 ASA on hand.)

Oh, and swimming. No flash on starts, because high-end events also use a strobe to co-incide with the starting gizmo.