One BBall Shot...

[livin4lax09]

just one from tonight, as I don't have the ability to heavily edit, because my computer is in the shop to get the superdrive repaired. Got the slaves working tonight, so the light is much better, and I am much happier with it.

ISO 640, I believe f/4 and 1/500

Shot with the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8

Lightly edited and WB corrected with Adobe Lightroom Beta

[dhyravy]

Really nice! I shot a game last night using available :cryin: light. My PWs are on the way and I plan to use a flash setup I picked up from Strobist. There really is no way to get the kind of results you got from ambient lighting in a HS gym. The shot below took a fair amount of sharpening due to the relatively slow shutter speed.

Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 @ 86mm
1/160 shutter
ISO 1600
~100% crop

[livin4lax09]

yeah, there really is no way to get the same shots with ambient, like you said. I've shot ambient for the past 2 years in that gym, and with cycling lights it is a serious pain. the best way I found was to just sit at the baseline, shoot with a 50mm f/1.8 at f/2, and use AWB. then color correct in PP. Do you have the original file from that shot? I'd like to see it if you do!

[dhyravy]

I'm afraid I only have the post-processed version. For some reason last night (at 1:00 AM) I neglected to do a "Save As" and over wrote the originals. However, my triggers arrived this afternoon and I look forward to trying them out when my travel schedule permits.

[specradio]

It looks like it's very very overprocesseed with noise ninja. (Not livin4lax's picture)

I saw livin4lax's picture last night and I was amazed . I wish I could do that. F4 and ISO 640 with 1/500 :blush2:

[dhyravy]

No Noise Ninja, just Unsharp mask and some brightness/contrast with AutoLevels.

[JSPhoto]

This one is unaltered other than resizing for here. Shot with available light. Settings:
ISO 1250 Shutter 200 f2.8 (70-200 lens). At this gym, if I am shooting from up top down onto the floor I can set the ISO to 1000 and get the shutter from 250 to 300 with no extra lighting.

JS

[dhyravy]

Man JS, it must be nice!! The one I shoot in on a regular basis is a cave. But I have some ideas to make it a bit more liveable.

[Old Timer]

Just to be sure Friday night before the game I shot I went onto floor before the game to try and get as acurate light reading as possible off a gray card at the foul line. In my home gym that reading came out at ISO 3200 at 200/f2.8. Now you want to guess what images look like on a D2h at that reading.

If I had the buck I'd have three strobes and PW's. But than if frogs had wings.

Ok I lhate it but here are a couple of examples from the first half that I shot at those settings.

[livin4lax09]

OT, as I have mentioned before, the bb-200's cost 50 bucks each, and a package of one transmitter and two receivers from ebay will go for about 50. Then you can get clamps from amvona.com on ebay for about 20 dollars each, and you're all set to shoot. Less than 200 on an entire lighting setup. Then bounce both off the ceiling, and you're good to go.

[Old Timer]

I'm a little slow Brent so what are bb-200's. I'm familiar with the Alien Bee's but you lost me on bb-200.

[JSPhoto]

Man JS, it must be nice!! The one I shoot in on a regular basis is a cave. But I have some ideas to make it a bit more liveable.

This gym is in the smallest and poorest school district in the county. So small they have k-12 in one building. The high school gym is great to shoot in, but the k-8 gym is aweful, it's the worst one in the county..
This school also has the best lit football field and pool in the county. Never shot at the pool but been in there and it's just awesome lighting. I could probably shoot ISO 800 and shutter 500-640 no problem in there.....too bad they don't have a better swim team.
JS

[livin4lax09]

I'm a little slow Brent so what are bb-200's. I'm familiar with the Alien Bee's but you lost me on bb-200.

the bb-200's are what I use. They are from briteklight.com. They're not as durable or powerful as AB's, but if you use 2 or 3, as you can see from my shot and settings, they do the job well. I usually shoot about 1/250 f/2.8 ISO 1600 in that gym. They are most definitely the best value for the money, as they are some of the least expensive strobes you will find too. I find the recycle time fine. You can't shoot continuous, but it just means you have to plan your shots more, which I actually like and haven't had any problem with yet. And it makes you shoot a lot less. I only had about 70 images from the last game I went to, but about 3/4 of them were usable.

[Old Timer]

the bb-200's are what I use. They are from briteklight.com.

Thanks Brent looks like that setup may be in my price range.

[JBPhoto]

My Alien Bees B800's arrived last Tuesday and these shots from Friday night are my first results using them. I am very happy with these strobes, not $50 but a good value at $279 nonetheless. The first two are ISO 400, 1/250 at f/4, the second two are at f/3.2.

[JBPhoto]

Sorry, another duplicate. How come everytime I load photos it posts twice :confused5:

[Old Timer]

My Alien Bees B800's arrived last Tuesday and these shots from Friday night are my first results using them. I am very happy with these strobes, not $50 but a good value at $279 nonetheless. The first two are ISO 400, 1/250 at f/4, the second two are at f/3.2.

Very nice results. Now the magic question is what is your total investment in your lighting setup?

[JSPhoto]

JB,
The top one is the one that has proper color and lighting, the rest are all off either color or lighting wise. Whatever you did on that one is the way to go, it looks more like fill flash, thats what you want.

JS

[livin4lax09]

Very nice results. Now the magic question is what is your total investment in your lighting setup?

yeah, im interested in knowing this too. do you clamp or use lightstands? I thought I remembered you saying you used clamps. The first shot is right on, and the strobe helps provide a nice rim light, but the other ones your WB looks off. Not very hard to fix if you shoot RAW. Also, try not shooting direct, and bouncing both into the ceiling. You won't get nearly the same shadows because all of a sudden your light source is becoming the ceiling, not the strobes, and as your light source grows in size relative to your subject, your light will become much softer.

[Old Timer]

Also, try not shooting direct, and bouncing both into the ceiling. You won't get nearly the same shadows because all of a sudden your light source is becoming the ceiling, not the strobes, and as your light source grows in size relative to your subject, your light will become much softer.

Very good point Brent. I have done that with some success with on camera flash. Don't every underestimate the value of bounce lighting. It does sap a lot of energy form a battery powered flash however.

[JBPhoto]

I agree on the shots. I was playing around with different settings including WB, just can't remember what these were. The strobes are in opposing corners at one end of the court on 13' stands, aimed at the top of the key and bounced off the ceiling , full power. I was thinking I'd try shooting in RAW on Tues just so I can play with the WB in PP. I'll get there, this was the first outing.

As for my investment, lets see...

Two B800's, three PW Plus II's, two 13' stands, two sync cords, and carrying bags... about $1,350. Then I bought a light meter and PW chip for $289. Getting great shots of my kids... priceless.

[JBPhoto]

Oh, forgot to mention... the AB's came with 7" reflectors which have an 80 degree beam spread. I think the 11" reflectors which have a 50 degree spread will yield better results.

[JSPhoto]

JB,

That top shot is one where you can't really tell there was a flash used, thats how it should look. You get your settings easy enough by right clicking on the photo from windows explorer and selecting SUMMARY, then ADVANCED and it will show the shot settings or go through Photoshop under File and select INFO. Thats more of a pain though.

JS

[Old Timer]

JB,

You get your settings easy enough by right clicking on the photo from windows explorer and selecting SUMMARY, then ADVANCED and it will show the shot settings
JS

John I've never done this and when I try I don't get a SUMMARY. Tell me more.

Larry

[JBPhoto]

Thanks JS. I understand that, my settings are referenced in the earlier post. What is not in the EXIF however, is what the WB setting was. That's what I can't recall.