Technical Perfection vs. Passion

[Photo-John]

I'll take the passion.

Olympus E-5 and 12-60mm lens. ISO 200, 1/200th second @ f/5.6.

[Chris350]

I'll go with passion every time with sports photography. The Olympus does an interesting color rendition.
HTis is probably my favorite form the day, far from technically perfect, but captures the moment... I'm forever plagued by slow sync speeds (1/250 just doesn't stop motion well) when using fill flash, and constantly working to make it work....

A slight pan might have helped but since the rider is moving oblique to the camera, maybe not...
1/250, f/8, ISO 100, ITT Fill flash, +1/3 Exp Comp.

[Photo-John]

That's a good one, Chris. I didn't get any good bunny hop barrier photos. Well, I got some sharp ones but they just aren't very interesting to me. Your angle here is better than my straight-on one. I like that guy's kit, too.

Does your Nikon flash offer high-speed sync? The Olympus does. The E-5 also has syncs at 1/250th but I was able to push it up to 1/400th and still get some fill. And sometimes you just have to pan. The photo I posted here has a lot of motion blur because the rider was moving all over the place. The chain stay is sharp and that's about it. That's what I meant by passion vs perfection. I had to stare at it a while before I decided that I wanted to use it even though it wasn't as sharp as I'd like. The expression on the rider's face was just too good. Plus, the blur does add a sense of chaos to this photo.

[fidgety]

I think technique is definitely important since if you have a poor image it just isn't going to work but passion is what makes sports photography. Of the golden rules for shooting sports - clean background, fill the frame, peak action and tack sharp, the one my editor always puts first is faces and faces with emotion are even better.

[Photo-John]

I think technique is definitely important since if you have a poor image it just isn't going to work

Absolutely. In this case it was a question of whether I could let overall sharpness slide a bit in order to use that face. And the answer is, of course - hells yeah!

[Chris350]

John
The Nikon will do high speed sync, but it cuts the usable distances drastically. I haven't done much with it since I moved up to an SB-800. It was a useless feature on the SB-600. Time to revisit I suspect.

[Photo-John]

The Nikon will do high speed sync, but it cuts the usable distances drastically.

They all do that. But with improved high ISO performance and close-up shooting, it does work well in some situations. It's definitely worth experimenting with to when you need some more speed. and some fill.

[Chris350]

They all do that. But with improved high ISO performance and close-up shooting, it does work well in some situations. It's definitely worth experimenting with to when you need some more speed. and some fill.

yeah well I gotta say I'm less than thrilled with the high ISO on the D-200... I'm stuck in the doldrums of wanting to update but not being able to justify the cost.

[Harold Davis]

i'll go with passion any day.....and it's not because i'm technically challenged!!!