Posts Tagged ‘Sport’
Monday, August 17th, 2009
I shot the 2009 Go Natural Multisport yesterday, and for it’s versitility, I used my 28-300. On a day where I had to move quite a bit and carry a variety of set-ups, the 28-300 really excelled.
Image Courtesy of Canon.com.au
I needed to be able to shoot cyclist, Kayakers, and Runners with the smallest set up possible. This lens, and a fish eye, are all I used all day. Some people have been quite harsh on this lens for not being as sharp as others (70-200), but for it’s range and size it does a really great job, and I can’t fault the results. Would I use it for a studio magazine cover…..not likely, but I’m not shooting for that. I’m outdoors lugging my
fat arse backpack up hills.
Even with a hot-shot or wireless flash the lens performed admirably. I’ll definitely use this lens again when shooting adventure races.
Tags: 28-300, adventure, australia, Canon, Flash, lens, Multisport, photography, photos, running, setup, Sport
Posted in Adventure Race, Flash, Multisport, remote, Sport | No Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
I had a great week last week with Duane, Lucas and Matt from Sporting Images.Duane has a great attitude towards trying remotes and he let me give some shots a go.
The first shot we tried was from the under-pool port holes. I’d never been down under the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Center, so this was a great thrill.
This shot was not without it’s problems. My camera (1DMK2N) worked ok, but had to shoot at a challenging ISO3200. Duane’s amazing 5DMK2 was shooting at ISO6400 and the shots were amazingly clear, however, I couldn’t stop that set-up from falling asleep after a few minutes. My remote cables are home made and I hadn’t tried them on a 5D MK2, so they were likely the problem.
The second shot was a high shot of the starting blocks. It was a 1DMK2N at ISO3200 in TV Mode at 1/400th Second. The shot is part of an image montage product that Sporting Imagessell. This shot worked well……when I had it focussed correctly (I’ll get to that issue in a later post).
Images are from the 2009 Australian Age Championships. Images for sale through Sporting Images.
Tags: 2009, Age, Aquatic, Australian, Center, Championships, duane, focus, Hart, Olympic, pocket, remote, Sport, sportingimages, swimming, Sydney, underwater, Video, wizard, Workshop
Posted in Pocket Wizard, remote, Sport, swimming, Video, Workshop | No Comments »
Friday, November 14th, 2008
It was a blast to spend the day with some of Australia’s best Triathletes. Normally I watch them wizz past me on the course!! The shoot was by FusePhotography and Christian Blanchard was directing the action. I was the #2 shooter getting different angles and candid shots.
The constant heavy showers made the day quite a bit harder. I’ve never been keen on letting my cameras get wet….perhaps I’m a big sook, but these stuff is not cheep so I look after it. Rain covers, plastic bags and the good-old postie elastic band kept everything dry.
I’m pretty happy with the results. I used the ST-E2 and a remote flash (Camera left). Next time I’ll use a 580-Master on the camera with a 580-Slave off-camera for fill. Many of the shots were not clearly lit and given the brand is all important, basic front lighting is kinda important. Everything fixed up ok in post processing, but I’d prefer to get it right on-camera where possible. Given the gloomy day we used 1/2 CTO warming gels on the flashes and set the WB to cloudy. This warmed up the “models” nicely.
I’m looking forward to see the final results. I’ll start stalking Scody shops to see if my shots made the swing-tags etc… Sad I know.
Tags: Blanchard, Christian, clothing, commercial, CTO, Flash, Fuse, Half, Ironman, models, photography, rain, Sport, ST-E2, triathlete, Triathlon
Posted in commercial, Flash, Half Ironman, Multisport, product, publishing, Sport, Triathlon | No Comments »
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
I’ve been wanting to do the whole multi-pop flash thing for a while now, so with the upcoming MTB world cup I though it would be time to get it sorted. The problem with most multipop exposures is that they all look washed out. There is no MAIN exposure. To get around this I am using 2 fashes – one for the multipop and the other for the main exposure. You do need to have a very dark background like the night sky.
Here’s the idea :
1. Have a guess at the exposure time for the frame. In this case 1/2 a second.
2. Work out how many pops you want in the shot. In this case 4
3. work out the timing for the pops = 8 hz, 4 pops in half a second.
4. Work out the main pop exposure, remembering that shutter speed is not important only aperture.
5. Set the camera for ISO 200, f5.6 0″5 exposure (manual of course)
6. Put a Multimax on the camer hot-shoe. Multimax’s are able to hold the exposure open for the 1/2 second. The PLUSII units only send 1 pulse at the start of the exposure.
7. Connect a PLUSII to the multipop flash and set the 580 for 4 shots at 8hz
8. Connect another Multimax onto the Main flash and set the delay to fire on the 3rd of the multi-pops.
Take a test shot…..
You will see there is ghosting on the 3rd exposure. This is caused by the main and multi not firing together. Hmmmm don’t forget that the PWs have a 0.002 sec transmission delay. Back the delay timer on the main off by 0.002 sec and test again.
NOICE!!!!
SETUP Geeky stuff….
* Exposure Time = .5 Sec
* Flashes per exposure = 4 = 8hz
* Main Flash delay = ((.5 / 4) X2 ) – .002 = 0.248 (NOTE – Delay starts at the first POP so the first shot is 0, then 1, then the main flash on 2 or after 2 delays – Make sense??)
* Main flash exposure = f5.6
* Main flash power = 1/64, Multi is 1 stop down at 1/128th. (This ratio works all the way up to 1/8th power – Multipops abive this are not recommended/possible)
Now I just have to do the same thing with a MTB flying through the air at 60km/h…..Worth a try though!!.
Tags: delay, effects, Flash, geek, Mountain Bike, Multimax, multipop, pocket, Sport, strobe, Studio, wizard
Posted in commercial, Flash, Mountain Bike, Pocket Wizard, remote, Sport, Studio | No Comments »
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Saturday 16th August saw the 4th running of MaxAdventures Go Natural Multisport. I was working for Aus Triathlete Mag and also to produce some marketing shots for the race organiser. My plan was to have shots look more commercial than normal event photography. Here is the final result.
I wanted to light the subject with the Sun as the main light and 2 x 580EX as balance. Here is the lighting plan in minute to-scale detail (NOT!!)
The sun is the main light as front 3/4 to the camera right, so to balance that out I used 1 x 580 as front 3/4 to camera left. For fill I used a second 580 at 180deg to the sun. To have full control over the flashes I wanted to use ETTL from the ST-E2. I have not used this unit nearly enough, and in this application, it was just perfect. I needed to be able to change camera settings without having to run around changing flash power. Bike riders are hardly going to wait for me!!!
Notice that the IR modules on the front of the 580s are pointed to where I was standing and the heads are pointed to the subject. This is to the IR receivers can “see” the ST-E2. The IR signal is line of sight so if they can’t “see” each other, then it just doesn’t work. The 580s are both set to SLAVE and one is A and the other is B. I have a ratio set on the flashes of A:B=2:1. With the ST-E2 I have full control over the flashes from the camera; Exposure, High speed sync, ratios etc…all from where I’m standing.
So what’s the down-side? These units MUST have line of site. If the flashes were in different locations, I might not be able to use this set-up. I have seen shots where flashes are hidden behind trees….not possible with the ST-E2s. However for this sort of thing….Brilliant!!!
Tags: 580, adventure, Canon, commercial, Flash, GoNatural, Multisport, pocket, pocketwizard, race, remote, Set-up, setup, Sport, ST-E2, wizard
Posted in Adventure Race, commercial, Flash, Multisport, publishing, remote, Sport | No Comments »
