First Time Strobbing Bball

Well, after seeing some amazing pics of many people strobbing basketball games and seeing their amazing resutls, I finally managed to strobe my first basketball game.

I'm not 100% happy with the shoot mainly because I was expecting a higher keeper rate. Coming from 90%+ shooting Soccer I was only able to get about 60-70% shooting basketball. I think with experience I'll increase my keeper rating.

Show with a B800 with 7" reflector pointed 45 degrees up to the ceiling (painted a tan color, more like light yellow) to bounce the light down to the court.
Canon 20D, Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS. Camera settings were 250 @ F3.2 and ISO 400. I think I lowered the white settings in camera raw too low, it looks gray. Oh well, I'll fix that when I have more time. I just wanted to post these to get your comments.

Comments suggestions are welcome.







and also here:

http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9613.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9616.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9618.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9626.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9630.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9666.jpg
http://www.iusdsports.com/images/MG_9683.jpg



--William

Oh damn, William, just when I had pretty much decided I could live without strobes. You did that with a single AB? Very impressive. More details, please, on your setup.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Hi William,

Good work!

How did you power the Alien Bee 800B flash? Do they allow cables to trail you?

Do you ground the unit?

What about recycle time. Does it recycle fast enough for you to shoot off several at the peak of action?

I think you have had very good timing to have captured the actions as you have. Still, this raises for me the whole question of how one powers flash at basketball?

I'd use a 580 EX with a digital battery, but that's my first thought or else Pocket wizards that would fire off several strobes after another in sequence with the camera.

Asher

Nill Toulme said:

Oh damn, William, just when I had pretty much decided I could live without strobes.

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Nill, I gave up on shooting with speedlights since I wasn't getting the results I wanted.

You did that with a single AB?

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Yes, one B800. I think what made a huge difference was for me to set the color temperature [K] to 3800K and that gave me the great colors.

Very impressive.

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Thanks!

More details, please, on your setup.

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Well, the only thing I didn't mentioned was that I used the AB 13" stand at maximun height.
If there's something specifically you want to know let me know, I'll be happy to share it with you.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Asher Kelman said:

Hi William,

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Hiya!

Good work!

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Thanks!

How did you power the Alien Bee 800B flash?

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I'm not sure if all gyms have this but this HS gym has two wall outlets. One to the left and one on the right side of the basket wall (baseline) and about three feet away from (sideline) the court . I used a power cord from the right side of the basket and placed the stand and strobe against the wall.

Do they allow cables to trail you?

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No need to tape cable on the floor since wall outlet is so close to the strobe/stand and away from the court. The band has a long cord trailing to the keyboard and is not taped to the floor but again is not in someone's way, so I guess if I had to run a long cord it would be okay as long as is not in the way of someone.

Do you ground the unit?

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No. I don't think is necessary in this case since I'm not using a battery to power the AB800.

What about recycle time. Does it recycle fast enough for you to shoot off several at the peak of action?

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Recycle time was not a problem for me. It recycles fast but I wait for the right time to press the shutter for the peak action. I took time to see how the pros do it while watching the lakers games, I noticed that the flash is trigger one shot at a time and at peak action.

I think you have had very good timing to have captured the actions as you have. Still, this raises for me the whole question of how one powers flash at basketball?

Click to expand...

As mentioned before, I use the wall outlets. And as far as capturing the action, I just wait for the right peak time. Sometimes I get it sometimes I don't but the more I shoot basketball I hope I can improve my keeper percentage.

I'd use a 580 EX with a digital battery, but that's my first thought or else Pocket wizards that would fire off several strobes after another in sequence with the camera.

Asher

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I've tried using speedlights but I was not happy with the results so I gave up on it and started to use my strobes. I did used two PW Plus II to trigger the AB800, one on my camera and one on the AB800.

I hope I have answer your questions and got the information you were hoping to get, if not please ask away and I'll do my best.

--William

William Velasquez said:

please ask away and I'll do my best.
--William

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Very nice work, and the light is perfect for just one strobe .. I was wondering how you established the color temp? .. I think you mentioned 3800?
Cheers,
Mike

Yes.
I set the camera to 3800k.

--William