Arenacross

Zerodog

As some of you know, arenacross is indoor MX. Usually in a horribly lit horse arena. I shot one a couple weekends ago and decided to give my Einsteins a workout to provide some more light. I used 4 of them, one in each corner of the arena. 3 were set up to bounce off of the wall, 1 was set up as a direct flash shooting diagonal across the arena. This proved to be an interesting light. By the end of the weekend I was really using it to add punch in certain areas of the track. My goal was to #1 stop action, #2 blend the ambient light, #3 not be annoying with the lights. I used my SB900 to fill under helmets and to control the Einsteins with my PocketWizards. In the end I learned a lot about using lights in such a big area. It was amazing the output of them using longthrow reflectors. I was mostly around 1/8 power. Sometimes down to 1/128. It all was dependent on where I was on the track.

I have shot arenacross in the past with only using on camera flash and 12,800iso of my D3s. These I think yeilded some more consistent shots and overall better color and detail. Still far worse than outside or even a well lit stadium for something like supercross.

Grabbed some random stuff off my site. What do you think?

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4. This kid looks so small in these whoops!


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Mike J

I think you accomplished your three goals quite nicely. The strobes really do make the colors pop. I would love to see a BTS shot of your setup...

mercphoto

Nicely done. The strobes I think worked out very well.

ian408

Nicely done!

Zerodog

Thanks guys. I think I really like strobes. It is whole new deal shooting with them. 1/250 is hard to wrap your mind around at first.

LRussoPhoto

Very nice, not sure I understood but was the sb900 mounted on camera?

Zerodog

Yes sb900 on camera. I use it to control my strobes and as a fill for under helmets.

LRussoPhoto

Thought so, just wanted to make sure.

Icebear

These are really well exposed. I'm surprised you didn't get more ghosting at the exposure settings you used. ISO6400, f/4ish, 1/250th. The ambient must have been near dark???

jmphotocraft

Am I the only one who thinks the flash was too hot in all but 5 and 2? I've looked at these on 3 different machines. They just scream flash to me. 5 is great.

Zerodog

Yes icebear it was very dark. But I also only used a splash of flash. Keeping the power 1/8 or less. I did get some ghosting. But once I got the light up enough, not so much.

Jm, I don't think too flashed at all. That was the look I was after. But it isn't a straight on deer in headlights flash from on camera flash. #1 for example was from day 2 on the track. I moved the light so it bounced off a wall directly left of the riders. It gave a more intense light than the day before. I like it much more. #5 needs just a tad more light IMO.