TIP --> Sport Shooting at night w/flash

rwells

Hey guys/gals,

Thought I would share a setup for shooting night sports with flash. (if allowed) This setup will keep you from having the dreaded "red eye".

Take your monopod and mount a superclamp on it. I prefer not to have the flash sticking straight out, so I also use an elbow on the superclamp.

I connected 2 Canon off-camera cords to give enough length. (you can get by on the very edge of no red-eye with one cord) I used my 580EX in ETTL mode, varying the FEC as needed via camera control.

Mount the flash upside down to give that much more distance from the lens.

Here are a couple of pics:





Here are some pics from last night with this setup...


NOTE: Sorry for the strange 8x12 crop. That's what the company I shot these for wanted :dunno











Ha... Look at those shadows!








Another tough loss in the last 2 minutes -- happened last week too :cry

jonh68

That's a great tip.

i_worship_the_King

Geez - those shadows have to be 50 meters away - that flash is BLAZING up the night air. Great shot of the look of defeat, one I haven't been able to get although it's definitely deserved around here :cry

Excellent work!

Nimai

That would have been an interesting excercise to try and figure out how you were doing that, looking at those shadows!
Great idea! Now, I need to start using a monopod, or I'll be strapping the flash to my ankle!

rwells

This setup will definitely get you some great shots.

The pics also show how "smart" Canon's ETTL II setup is. I set it and only have to use FEC on really far away shots (150'+), or really close shots (about to get run over).

I shot these pics:
camera manual - ISO 1000 - f/4 ~ f/4.5 - 1/250 - 580EX --> ETTL



Have fun! Hope this helps...

i_worship_the_King

rwells wrote:

This setup will definitely get you some great shots.

The pics also show how "smart" Canon's ETTL II setup is. I set it and only have to use FEC on really far away shots (150'+), or really close shots (about to get run over).

I shot these pics:
camera manual - ISO 1000 - f/4 ~ f/4.5 - 1/250 - 580EX --> ETTL



Have fun! Hope this helps...

What lens are you shooting with?

rwells

i_worship_the_King wrote:

What lens are you shooting with?

Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS + Canon 1.4TC

schmoo

Hi Randy, this is great! Do you mind if we add this to the Dgrin tutorials?

rwells

schmoo wrote:

Hi Randy, this is great! Do you mind if we add this to the Dgrin tutorials?

That would be great... It will certainly help photogs get better "non-redeye" pics.

Do I need to load the pics somewhere else? I don't plan on it, but sometimes I get into the mood to rearrange/delete pics without remembering which ones I've linked to some post.


Thanks,

schmoo

rwells wrote:

That would be great... It will certainly help photogs get better "non-redeye" pics.

Do I need to load the pics somewhere else? I don't plan on it, but sometimes I get into the mood to rearrange/delete pics without remembering which ones I've linked to some post.


Thanks,

I can take care of that and load them into the Dgrin galleries, so no worries about moving them.

Mr. 2H2O

Thanks for the explanation - I was going to do about the same thing this coming weekend at an event I'll be shooting in the dark. I had planned to rig the flash around waist height upside down while using a remote flash sync. My F2.0 camera does not have TTL on flash so I'd just use whatever experience I've gained for manual settings. Nice to see a fine implementation work so well in your shots. It gives me hope.

- Mike

rwells

Mr. 2H2O wrote:

Thanks for the explanation - I was going to do about the same thing this coming weekend at an event I'll be shooting in the dark. I had planned to rig the flash around waist height upside down while using a remote flash sync. My F2.0 camera does not have TTL on flash so I'd just use whatever experience I've gained for manual settings. Nice to see a fine implementation work so well in your shots. It gives me hope.

- Mike

Glad I could help you out Mike.

Make sure you post some of your pics after the shoot


Have fun!

donek

Awesome tip Randy. Too bad my football season just ended. I guess I know what to do for next year.

rwells

donek wrote:

Awesome tip Randy. Too bad my football season just ended. I guess I know what to do for next year.

Don't wait until next year to use this setup...


Just carrying it around will amaze and scare everyone

pathfinder

This setup worked very nicely indeed. Great series of shots. I like the EOS Speedlite system also

I have one question though - do you find you get a green cast from the light being bounced off the playing field onto the white uniforms?

The lack of shadows of the band, and the shadows on the stands are very cool.
This technique gives great shots of the players faces also - the light gets in so much better than with lights higher up.

rwells

pathfinder wrote:

This setup worked very nicely indeed. Great series of shots. I like the EOS Speedlite system also

I have one question though - do you find you get a green cast from the light being bounced off the playing field onto the white uniforms?

The lack of shadows of the band, and the shadows on the stands are very cool.
This technique gives great shots of the players faces also - the light gets in so much better than with lights higher up.

Jim,

Thanks for the kind words. (and I know you know what good work is, I've seen plenty of it from you )

I didn't get any color cast from the grass. I was watching this like a hawk. This was a contract job and had to be spot-on. I think the reason it didn't is because the way I had the flash angled. It wasn't bouncing off of the grass much, just kind of kissing it. If you can invision it, I had the light low shooting somewhat up.

I did have to adjust the angle of the flash some to get the right "look". When the flash is pointing directly parallel to the lens, it lit the ground more than I wanted. So, I moved the flash angle upward until I got the ground lit the way I wanted and the shadows pretty much off the field.

Hope that answers your question.

gman33

Great tip...thanks for sharing

What were the lights on the field like? It looks like it was very well lit. I tend to shoot the smaller guys with lights that are not that great.

Thanks again

rwells

gman33 wrote:

Great tip...thanks for sharing

What were the lights on the field like? It looks like it was very well lit. I tend to shoot the smaller guys with lights that are not that great.

Thanks again

The field lights, while evenly dispersed, were not great.

ISO 3200 - f/2.8 - 1/200


Although I've shot several games successfully at the above settings, I found out before this game that I could use flash at this stadium. Since it was a contract job, I wanted them to look their best.

The flash also allowed me to "loose" one stop and use a TC1.4 for more reach.

pathfinder

rwells wrote:

Jim,

Thanks for the kind words. (and I know you know what good work is, I've seen plenty of it from you )

I didn't get any color cast from the grass. I was watching this like a hawk. This was a contract job and had to be spot-on. I think the reason it didn't is because the way I had the flash angled. It wasn't bouncing off of the grass much, just kind of kissing it. If you can invision it, I had the light low shooting somewhat up.

I did have to adjust the angle of the flash some to get the right "look". When the flash is pointing directly parallel to the lens, it lit the ground more than I wanted. So, I moved the flash angle upward until I got the ground lit the way I wanted and the shadows pretty much off the field.

Hope that answers your question.

Thanks, Randy, that is very helpful. This looks like a great tip to really help folks shooting sports in the dark of the night. I'll bet Zanotti ( George) gives this a try next time as well.

I was concerned, having shot a few white dresses on a golf course, that green can become prominent. Sounds like you've been there as well, and I can grok not letting the flash really light up the ground, but just skim along over it.

I see Schmoo has got your tutorial transferred already as well.

rwells

pathfinder wrote:

I see Schmoo has got your tutorial transferred already as well.

Your welcome Jim,


Guess my old age and bad eyes are catching up to me, but I couldn't find the tutorial posted. I was going to send it to someone when it was.

Can you direct me there?

schmoo

Tutorials have been updated with this one here.

Thanks, Randy!

CookieS

I wonder how this setup would work in daylight for getting under hats and stuff against harsh light ?? loks like some experimenting is in order.

ian408

Thanks for sharing!

jbr13

Where can you get that elbow at? and what kind is it??


Thanks

Jason

cmason

jbr13 wrote:

Where can you get that elbow at? and what kind is it??


Thanks

Jason

Superclamp
Swivel mount

djspinner2k

wow thats a great tip

rwells

djspinner2k wrote:

wow thats a great tip

Hope it helps you out

StarrToDowler

Night flash
I always liked the way shots like this come out... but I also worry that the flash may momentarily blind a player during an important play and change the outcome of the play. Since the LAST thing I want to do is have an effect on the game, I'd like to know if anyone has ever had any problems or comments from players regarding flash during a game.

Thanks!

KED

StarrToDowler wrote:

I always liked the way shots like this come out... but I also worry that the flash may momentarily blind a player during an important play and change the outcome of the play. Since the LAST thing I want to do is have an effect on the game, I'd like to know if anyone has ever had any problems or comments from players regarding flash during a game.

Thanks!

I worried about that too, but really wanted to try Randy's technique so I did, once, this football season. I think the low mount of the flash minimizes the risk of blinding a player just as he's trying to make a catch or whatever. Another mitigant is that you aren't necessarily shooting all that close up to the player. I don't know the physics of light fall-off, but it "feels" like it's pretty severe over, say, 30 yards of distance. Anyway, I got no complaints and, while my results could have been better (need to tweak some settings), I plan to use it in NCAA Div. I lacrosse next spring. If THAT doesn't elicit complaints, nothing will.

Give it a try!

cr8ingwaves

I have put this project onto the back burner long enough. Just placed an order for the three components and will use it next Friday night. Cheaper than buying the 70-200 2.8II right now. lol Thanks for sharing!

JimKarczewski

cr8ingwaves wrote: »

Cheaper than buying the 70-200 2.8II right now.

Even so, you should really make that 70-200 a priority, especially for sports...