Saturday was the Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix - held in of course, Wilmington Delaware. This race is only 25 minutes from my house so I always take a venture over to shoot some photos. This is the first criterium I've shot this year so I wanted to takle the opportunity to shoot some strobed cycling - criteriums are great for this. So I dusted off the SB800's and my cheap-O ebay remotes and headed over to the race. I did shoot a lot of typical photos but set up my strobes on one corner for about 15 lapes each of the Pro men and womes races. The tough thing is you really only have the opportunity to fire off maybe 3-4 shots per lap. They are going by so damn fast, plus recycle time waiting.
I shot these with the Nikon D300 and the 14-24 f/2.8. I really should have used the D700 as I could have used a bit wider angle at times, but I wanted to give the "not used some much" D300 some much needed love. Fash set up was one SB800 to my left on the ground (you can see it in a photo or two) which I use for some back lighting - manual, around 1/4 to 1/2 power. The other two SB800 as set up on a mini light stand to my right about 3' off the ground. The stand had an adapter for mounting 2 heads. Both of these SB's were at full power as I was shooting directly into the sun.
Being a bit rusty at this, the photos are not exactly what I wanted, but hopefully I'll remember a bit more as the year progresses. I generally like a bit more wheel blur which I should have had the backlighting flash zoomed in a bit tighter and pointed upwards a bit more - too much light on the wheels froze them a bit too much.
#2
of course I don't like the cone in this photo, but wanted to post it to show the back lighting flash.
One of the very tough things about strobing cycling is you have to set a target zone for the rider to be in so your aimed strobes hit perfectly. Shoot before or after any you shot is a dud. Here the shot was taken about 2' too early and the main flashes did not hit the front of the rider (face and chest area) and the back lighting strobe is too close to the rider. Timing is real key here, which is difficult due to the speeds.
#10
...last one - I've never shot any skate boarding (althought I was a skater myself back in my youth), but they had a small area set up on a side street promoting the building of a new skate park. Had to stay and take a few images. http://www.mlkimages.com/photos/539685840_2dkhg-L.jpg
and as always - a slide show is running of some of my favorites from the race on my home page - www.MLKimages.com
I can't tell you how much I look forward to your posts. I especially appreciate your willingness to help educate the slower members of the class such as myself.
Great images and I learn something each and every time.
Great as usual , dont think number 8, Womens Shimano team trying for a mid race break, is right , I think they are using sram equipment . but may be wrong , could be a new shimano groupset
sian21 wrote:
Great as usual , dont think number 8, Womens Shimano team trying for a mid race break, is right , I think they are using sram equipment . but may be wrong , could be a new shimano groupset
I'm trying to figure out the bike shadows on #4 and #5. How did you get a strobe on the other side of them? Is it mounted to a post in a median, or on an extended lightstick?
I'm pretty sure the shadows you are talking about clarence3 are caused by the big strobe in the sky that Michael was trying to overpower with his two headed flash set on the right.
Excellent photos Michael as usual, it's nice to see the experiment gone wrong pictures as well as the great ones.
banjopete wrote:
I'm pretty sure the shadows you are talking about clarence3 are caused by the big strobe in the sky that Michael was trying to overpower with his two headed flash set on the right.
I originally considered the sun, but judging from the dense cloud cover, the high buildings, the lack of similar shadows from the bales and poles in the background, and the lack of similar natural shadows in the other pictures, I thought they looked way too harsh to be solar.
I guess I was trying to overthink it. But sometimes the simplest explanations are the best. Thanks for the clarification.
dtfuzzy wrote:
Nice work I have got to do some of that strobing
Michael the bracket you talk about how far apart are the flashes when mounted?
The head I am using is made by The Morris Co. Model MBH-203 (umbrella Tilt Head). You can mount up to 3 strobes on it - max distance would be just over a foot apart.
The shadows you see are the sun. It was a very cloudy day and the sun was popping it's ugly head in and out all too fast. I was having to quickly adjust my exposure to compensate - that is why you see some with the ambient well over powered by the flash and some less over powering. I think I'll make my next attempt at balancing the flash with the ambient to barely freeze the action to get more of a panning effect. The tough thing with the sun out is I can never get the shutter speed slow enough to get a decent panning effect. I have a ND filter, but it won;t work on the 14-24 lens. I'll need to use the D700 and a 24-70 lens with an ND filter to get a slower shutter speed.
Michael
clarence3 wrote:
I originally considered the sun, but judging from the dense cloud cover, the high buildings, the lack of similar shadows from the bales and poles in the background, and the lack of similar natural shadows in the other pictures, I thought they looked way too harsh to be solar.
I guess I was trying to overthink it. But sometimes the simplest explanations are the best. Thanks for the clarification.
