Hey guys - Long time reader, but I rarely post. I shoot a lot of college basketball games (mainly for VCU) and have recently started considering strobing them and would like some suggestions on positioning. Like many of you, I am on a fairly tight budget. I would like to do this with 2 strobes (B800's?) if possible to keep the cost down, and I could move them at half time.
I sit in the bottom left, and top right corners of the court and am currently working with two ideas.
1 - Mount the strobes over the tunnels in each corner.
2 - There is also a video stand right above the "C" section that i could mount one strobe at if need be. I was thinking that when I sit in the bottom left corner i could put one strobe over the tunnel behind me, and the other on the video stand. However when I move to the top right corner that leaves me stumped. Perhaps I could use the one on the video bounced off the ceiling? Do these ceilings look like they'll be too "busy" to bounce?
Here are a couple pictures of the venue.
I'd really appreciate any input you guys could provide.
I haven't set up strobes but at Magness arena where I primarily shoot there are strobes set up in the rafters. I cant tell from the pictures but are there catwalks you can access? If you can put the strobe in the rafters I think that would be ideal.
skyvan wrote:
I haven't set up strobes but at Magness arena where I primarily shoot there are strobes set up in the rafters. I cant tell from the pictures but are there catwalks you can access? If you can put the strobe in the rafters I think that would be ideal.
Unfortunately there are only catwalks on one side of the arena.
Oh, thats unfortunate. Though i did just get an idea. I see there are hoops set up for a sideways court on side of the arena. Maybe you could place a strobe on one of those before they raise them?
The good... the ceilings are nice and white.
The bad... those tunnels seem quite aways off the court and I'm fearing two strobes might not be enough even for half court shots. I think you'll have to try it out and see. I mean even if you're able to freeze stuff at ISO 1250-1600 and still be the necessary 3-4 stops under ambient, you'll be fine. I wouldn't want to move them around at the half if I were you though. I'd want to set it and forget it. Too much work and liability to move it around with fans in the seats.
If you can, clamp your lights on to the railings at the top of the stands in opposite corners. Super clamp and safety them, and be sure to tape down any cables. You want your lights to be out of the frame when you're shooting. To avoid a shadow from the net, make sure to place them in between the end lines.
Here is an image shot with a similar arrangement, just 600 w/s Elinchrom lights in the rafters where I work.
I'd try positioning a strobe on stands at the green dot location on each side of the gym behind you. Use 11" reflectors or you'll end up with too much light in the seating areas.
Too bad you couldn't get in the rafters.
The ceilings look too high to bounce the 800's.
As good as the cameras and noise reduction software is getting these days, I don't think I'd bother with setting up lights unless they were permanently installed. A lot of the newspapers that were setting up lights a few years ago at HS games aren't bothering anymore lately either.
Pixel19 wrote:
As good as the cameras and noise reduction software is getting these days, I don't think I'd bother with setting up lights unless they were permanently installed.
Yeah, noise is the easy part. Cycling lights and all the white balance/color issues are more time consuming to deal with. We can have our strobes up in twenty minutes and down in ten in our worst gyms and up in ten and down in five in the others so we plan to keep using them regardless of ambient.
John I would up the iso to 3200 adjust the shutter speed, run noise reduction if necessary (I would do a custom NR shot at the iso/speed/F stop you are running at). I think the shot you posted above is pretty darn good if you ask me.
clarence3 wrote:
Our HS girls might be there Thurs and Sat for State VB Finals.
This thread disappeard for a month, but now that it's been bumped I thought I'd mention that our girls did win the state championship on that court. However, I didn't shoot it due to State Tournament exclusive rights restrictions.
