Sport Shooting At Night With a Flash
Do you want to take pictures of sporting events at night but don't want the dreaded redeye or hard shadows that cover up the eyes?
Here is a simple lighting setup that eliminates those issues:
This photo shows the superclamp attached to the monopod and the swivel mount mounted to the superclamp
The off-camera cord is screwed onto the swivel mount stud and the flash is then connected into the off-camera cord hotshoe.
Mount the flash backwards if the head turns 180 degrees. This configuration allows easy access to the flash and the controls stay unobstructed.
As you can see, a flash set up in the above manner will not only give you great light without redeye, it also puts the light under the helmet, hat, etc. which is preferable because traditional flash setups will produce a shadow across the face.
You can also see that this setup places the shadows higher and off the field.
This photo demonstrates the great lighting effects on the action on the field while making it difficult to discern if and where flash was used. As shown, the shadows cast by this technique fall towards the background in an upwards direction.
With a traditional flash setup it would have been nearly impossible to get the light up in his helmet to see this player's eyes because the helmet would have cast a strong shadow across the upper face.
Here is a simple lighting setup that eliminates those issues:
- Mount your camera on a monopod.
- Mount your flash upside down onto the monopod using a Bogen superclamp. This reversed configuration adds more distance between the light and your lens axis.
- Use a Photoflex Heavy Duty Swivel Mount to keep the flash from sticking straight out when mounted on the superclamp stud.
- Connect flash to camera via off-camera cord. You may need to use more than one cord to cover the extra distance
This photo shows the superclamp attached to the monopod and the swivel mount mounted to the superclamp
The off-camera cord is screwed onto the swivel mount stud and the flash is then connected into the off-camera cord hotshoe.
Mount the flash backwards if the head turns 180 degrees. This configuration allows easy access to the flash and the controls stay unobstructed.
As you can see, a flash set up in the above manner will not only give you great light without redeye, it also puts the light under the helmet, hat, etc. which is preferable because traditional flash setups will produce a shadow across the face.
You can also see that this setup places the shadows higher and off the field.
This photo demonstrates the great lighting effects on the action on the field while making it difficult to discern if and where flash was used. As shown, the shadows cast by this technique fall towards the background in an upwards direction.
With a traditional flash setup it would have been nearly impossible to get the light up in his helmet to see this player's eyes because the helmet would have cast a strong shadow across the upper face.
Randy
0
Comments
I think that if you had all of the components it would be more obvious how they interconnect.
The following video may help to show the 2 - relevant possibilities; 1) the threaded holes on the clamp's base and 2) the threaded stud with male and female threads.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PjDZYTvznzM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Did you use High Speed Sync (HSS) for these shots? If not, what was your shutter speed?
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