Well I have not been posting much lately, I took a break from shooting over the holidays and then worked on setting up my new website and developing some material to support it.
Yesterday I shot a large basketball tournament that runs for the next week, I was assigned to Colts Neck H.S and had to shoot 8 games, it was a long day to say the least, and on top of that I had to bury my head in the sand so as not to know the score of the Eagles game and watched it when I came home at 8:30.

I used four AB800 strobes bounce off the gym ceiling, I shot almost exclusively with the D3 and the 300 2.8, it takes a bit of getting used to shooting at this focal length but gives you some real tight shots.
I shot on manual at f 4.5 or f5 and SS of 1/250 - 1/200 ISO 400-800 depending on what gym I was in.

Here is the first batch
#1

If #5 was my kid, I'd have that up on my wall in a minute! Well done!

You shot with 4 bees. 2 front court, 2 back court?

anndecrist wrote:
If #5 was my kid, I'd have that up on my wall in a minute! Well done!
Thanks so much, I hope they do buy it.

msauk wrote:
You shot with 4 bees. 2 front court, 2 back court?
In the main gym two in the corners front court and then two in the rear court corners they were high enough to cut down on any glare. In the second a pair was mounted behind me and then two more at half court pointed to the other end, I liked this setup much better, the lighting was more even and better coverage.

Beautiful stuff, particularly #1 Mike which is just phenominal. Great job of getting even and natural looking lighting to these, and personally I love the tight shots - even more in a cluttered basketball gym. Very nice stuff.

Great stuff Mike. I'm going through my stuff now and will post some in the next day or two.

Sorry about letting the cat out of the bag when I saw you regarding the Eagles game. Hopefully I didn't ruin the experience for you like the Giants ruined it for me....

P Alesse wrote:
Great stuff Mike. I'm going through my stuff now and will post some in the next day or two.

Sorry about letting the cat out of the bag when I saw you regarding the Eagles game. Hopefully I didn't ruin the experience for you like the Giants ruined it for me....
No biggie I knew no details or the final score so my Tivo experience was great, now on to the bird bowl. Sorry about the Gmen....well maybe just a little.
Hope you were not there too late and even more upset we didn't get a chance to hang more well maybe next tourny. Hopefully we can tackle a wrestling tournament this winter.

Hey you're kind of by me! Great shots, I was going to say something about how nice the gym lighting was when I skipped the text for the photos.

There's something really nice about those D3 files too, I think the looser pixel density creates a beautiful feeling of depth to the photos.

Thanks for sharing!

-Will

P.S. if either you (or Paul) need another shooter, I'm always available

Man, two more strobes really make a difference...next season perhaps.

Very nice shots. Love the lighting in all of them and your shots in numbers 8 and 9 show the girls are not afraid to mix it up some.

I have a tourney to do this weekend and am really thinking of a way to get 2 strobes on one end..the results (well your resutls anyways) seems to make it worth the while .

Ron

Mike: Wow right back at ya! These are beautiful. I hope these parents can appreciate what you're offering them. If so, sales should be swift.

Looks like you found the perfect combo between ambient and the ABs. There's really nothing to nitpick here. WB, exposure, sharpness. all of it are on the money.

I'll be shooting several kids games this weekend for an Upwards Basketball league. Would you mind sharing some info? I have some AB800's I'll be using for the first time for sports. Where did you place the ABs....in relation to the basket? I assume you placed them on light stands. How high did you have them? How much power did you did you use from the ABs? Did you a PW on both ABs or only on one and allowed it to fire the other AB? Thanks.

Mike, great images with #8 being my favourite. How was it tracking the action for these younger age groups with the 300mm? The evenness and softness of the lighting is amazing, almost like you had huge softboxes surrounding the court.

Thanks
Glenn

Mike,

Outstanding images. I always enjoy seeing what you can do with your D3 and 300/2.8 combo. The lighting is very even.

WLSchnee wrote:
Hey you're kind of by me! Great shots, I was going to say something about how nice the gym lighting was when I skipped the text for the photos.

There's something really nice about those D3 files too, I think the looser pixel density creates a beautiful feeling of depth to the photos.

Thanks for sharing!

-Will

P.S. if either you (or Paul) need another shooter, I'm always available
Thanks for the kind words I appreciate it

Tim Speciale wrote:
Man, two more strobes really make a difference...next season perhaps.
The two extra alloow you to shoot the rear court also

Ron Hole wrote:
Very nice shots. Love the lighting in all of them and your shots in numbers 8 and 9 show the girls are not afraid to mix it up some.

I have a tourney to do this weekend and am really thinking of a way to get 2 strobes on one end..the results (well your resutls anyways) seems to make it worth the while .

Ron


Thansk for looking Ron

Russ Isabella wrote:
Mike: Wow right back at ya! These are beautiful. I hope these parents can appreciate what you're offering them. If so, sales should be swift.
Thanks Russ I appreciate the kind words, who know oen day we might be able to shoot together now that woudl be awesome

wilrobking wrote:
Looks like you found the perfect combo between ambient and the ABs. There's really nothing to nitpick here. WB, exposure, sharpness. all of it are on the money.

I'll be shooting several kids games this weekend for an Upwards Basketball league. Would you mind sharing some info? I have some AB800's I'll be using for the first time for sports. Where did you place the ABs....in relation to the basket? I assume you placed them on light stands. How high did you have them? How much power did you did you use from the ABs? Did you a PW on both ABs or only on one and allowed it to fire the other AB? Thanks.
On the left hand side of the court I had tow AB's clamped to the top to the bleachers and angled and bounced to shoot both the front and rear court. Ont heother side I had the two AB's on 13 foot light stand angled and bounced the same as the others. I used the AB cyber syncs to trigger the lights. Hoep this helps