Joe Zimmerman wrote:
Great stuff as usual Michael. They don't mind stobes?
Joe,
Sorry missed your question. being a racer (actually ex racer) myself, you really do not even know strobes are being used. The only time I have had any objections about using flash was at a twilight criterium on a side street that did not have any streetlights. One of the marshalls asked me to move to the corner where there was a street light. This I can see and agree with as racing on a very dark street with a flash pop could mess with a riders twilight vision. Once under a lit area, a flash pop is not really all that noticible.
Michael H wrote:
Nice series Michael. It also gives me some ideas for a different type of event.
If I had to pick one, I'd jump right to #6.
Are you powering all three heads with a Vagbond or ??
Michael,
Heads are being powered by good ole rechargable AA's. I'm only shooting portions of each race so AA's work well enough (plus I don't have the $$ to buy larger power sources nor want to carry around the extra weight.
What type of event are you looking to strobe? I did an Xterra race last year (my first) that I did the same thing with. I was pretty satisfied with the results. I'm not sure, but from what I recall these were shot using 2 strobes (SB800's). One as back lighting and a second on a larger stand around 6-7' high shooting down. This kept the legs a bit under exposed and allowed for more motion blurring of the feet.
Michael, Thanks for an incredibly helpful tutorial for action strobes. I am really enjoying the effect you are producing with the backlight especialy. I have only shot one (downhill) MTB race, and love the mood that adding just a little light brings out! Lots of extra drama with such a simple step. Thanks!
I just love shot #4 and #5, I'm going to be doing something similar in the coming weeks. In regards to your skate stuff, street is SOOO hard to capture, I'm a fan of the big ramp stuff, but that was a straight up ollie so it is pretty obvious what is going on there..However when they start throwing in Tre'Flips or other board flips it just looks (IMHO) like a jumbled mess. just my opinion, but I love the big ramp, or even pool skating, a coping grind shot low to the ground looking up/back shot w/ a fish just makes me all woogy ! Great series though.. I'll have to play w/ this kind of technique ..never would've thunk to do the whole panning technique w/ a strobe/remote. Problem too is that crits are pretty short, so maybe have to take and do a day or two on the tour de California as well that week..
Pancrazio wrote:
Good stuff Michael. Can you describe your camera settings for these?
Do you use shutter priority?
Phil
Wow, this is an old thread that looks like has come back to life a bit...
anyway, yes - shutter priority. When panning, you want to control how much motion blur you want so I'll generally play around anywhere between 1/60 and lower. Since you BG will generally be blurred your DOF is pretty irrellevant (for these types of images.
On the other hand there are times when you do want a slow shutter speed for some motion blur and still want a shallow DOF. I've played around at times adding a ND filter to my 300 f/2.8 to get my shutter speed down under 1/200 and still keep my aperture under f/4.0 to keep the BG oof.
love the sharpness of the cyclists and the motion blur combo. they really jump out of the page.... might give this a go later in the year then the criterium hits melbourne town
! Great series though.. I'll have to play w/ this kind of technique ..never would've thunk to do the whole panning technique w/ a strobe/remote. Problem too is that crits are pretty short, so maybe have to take and do a day or two on the tour de California as well that week..