p.1 #4 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
gman1339 wrote:
Nice work Paul. With that crazy stage lighting and shooting JPEG as Hammy said, I guess you just set the WB to Automatic and let em rip.
We single tap everything. Rarely motor drive anything. No one sits on the shutter. WB is set to kelvin which we all do on the morning of the event. The routine is...
1) Morning meeting to discuss particulars, compostion, etc.
2) Report to stage.
3) Walk the stage for exposure and WB. Set kelvin. Set exposure.
4) Sync camera times.
5) Go over workflow and push procedures.
6) Go over any last minute details.
7) Constantly communicate and tweak throughout the day.
Besides knowing how to shoot, you need to be thoroughly versed on how your camera works. Going through 100 images in less than 30 seconds to eliminate bad or OOF stuff is a must!
p.1 #5 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Wow, those are some amazing shots. But I have to agree with James, the makeup is awful; and those girls are way to skinny. But still the shots are great.
Mar 01, 2010 at 06:05 PM
glort Offline • • • • [X]
p.1 #6 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Fantastic work.
Really an inspiration to look at knowing the level of difficulty shots like this have.
p.1 #7 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
keisi wrote:
But I have to agree with James, the makeup is awfult.
They need to take a page from the gymnastics judge's handbook. In gymnastics, the girls do their hair, so it doesn't fall in their face, but that's it. No makeup is allowed. No eye shadow, no lipstick, not even nail polish. Not allowed. All emphasis is focused on the atheticism of the girls as it should be. It should be the same for cheerleading.
They are trying to make some changes though. "Facials" are supposed to be on the phase out and replaced with genuine smiles although many are still doing facials. Some teams are taking unified stands on the makeup issue and not wearing any. You have to start somewhere, I guess.
Glitz aside, the ability of these girls should not be dismissed. It's amazing to watch the sport at this level. The biggest difference I saw at the nationals was the synchronization. Lots of teams can stunt, but to be in sync takes years of practice. The teams are so in sync, it's ridulous. Also, teams aren't hiding their weaker touch touchers in back. All are versed in hitting their toe touches and in sync to boot. Hopefully, some of the wide anglers caught that.
It was a two day blast. A lot of work, but a blast. Due to the numbers of staff, we were not all able to hook up at once, but some small groups broke off and went their own ways after hours and in the process new friendships were formulated.
p.1 #8 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Paul,
Outstanding shots. The colors really pop. Were they all available light? With the high iso capability of the D3's its really hard to guess the iso on these shots. Did Hammy provide chiropractic/massages after handholding 35,000 clicks?
p.1 #11 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
P Alesse wrote:
Going through 100 images in less than 30 seconds to eliminate bad or OOF stuff is a must!
Yeah, but sometimes we didn't have 30 seconds! Now, after an injury, we had more time, but I didn't care for that.
Quick aside:
For those of you who don't think all-star cheerleading is a sport, these girls (and boys) put it all on the line with minimal safety and complete trust in their teammates. Whether it's being thrown 30 feet into the air and being caught, standing on someones' hands 8 feet in the air, or doing a high-speed tumbling pass while your teammates are threading their tumbling passes through yours, it's a dangerous sport.
With Paul and Tammy on day 2, I saw one broken ankle, one broken arm, two probable ACLs and a several other bumps and bruises. The most dreaded thing to hear over the PA while shooting was "STOP ROUTINE", as that meant someone was seriously hurt.
That said, these girls and boys train so hard to compete safely that we shouldn't be amazed that most routines go off with no injuries at all.
What they do out there is nothing short of amazing, and I'm always happy to capture their achievements for them to cherish.
p.1 #12 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
P Alesse wrote:
We single tap everything. Rarely motor drive anything. No one sits on the shutter. WB is set to kelvin which we all do on the morning of the event. The routine is...
1) Morning meeting to discuss particulars, compostion, etc.
2) Report to stage.
3) Walk the stage for exposure and WB. Set kelvin. Set exposure.
4) Sync camera times.
5) Go over workflow and push procedures.
6) Go over any last minute details.
7) Constantly communicate and tweak throughout the day.
Besides knowing how to shoot, you need to be thoroughly versed on how your camera works. Going through 100 images in less than 30 seconds to eliminate bad or OOF stuff is a must!...Show more →
My comment was specific to WB, not sitting on the shutter. I guess you can set kelvin for when the colored lights are not on, but it doesn't seem like the colored lights are off in too many of your shots. Some of the shots you posted the color balance looks good but most are on the cold side color balance wise.
p.1 #13 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Paul these are awsome images as per your usual and always gives me something to aspire to.
Thanks for sharing these.
Jeff
John Patrick wrote:
Yeah, but sometimes we didn't have 30 seconds! Now, after an injury, we had more time, but I didn't care for that.
Quick aside:
For those of you who don't think all-star cheerleading is a sport, these girls (and boys) put it all on the line with minimal safety and complete trust in their teammates. Whether it's being thrown 30 feet into the air and being caught, standing on someones' hands 8 feet in the air, or doing a high-speed tumbling pass while your teammates are threading their tumbling passes through yours, it's a dangerous sport.
With Paul and Tammy on day 2, I saw one broken ankle, one broken arm, two probable ACLs and a several other bumps and bruises. The most dreaded thing to hear over the PA while shooting was "STOP ROUTINE", as that meant someone was seriously hurt.
That said, these girls and boys train so hard to compete safely that we shouldn't be amazed that most routines go off with no injuries at all.
What they do out there is nothing short of amazing, and I'm always happy to capture their achievements for them to cherish.
+ 1 on what John said on the atheletic ability of these kids. I only had to hear the "Stop the routine" and "Clear the floor" once and it was when I was taking some random/backstage photos over in the Arena after Dance was done on the second day.
And I dont think I ever had more than 10-15 seconds to cull images prior to the next routine. I've shot a bit of cheer and it always moves quick but these stages were smokin fast.
Jeff
p.1 #14 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Paul, I see soooooo many Cheer shots a year that nothing really impresses me anymore. That said #2 is something I haven't seen before. Outstanding job.
p.1 #15 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
mmcatee wrote:
Great job Paul, they look great love the expressions. Long days I am sure but fun too.
+1
Just outstanding stuff Paul as always. Great framing too. Did you mix back and forth between long glass and wider or did you have multiple shooters at each stage? Regardless, this tight is right, and I hope sales were brisk for the whole "crew".
p.1 #18 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
Sssssssmokin images! and some great tutorial stuff in this thread and here: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/872495
for those bold enough to take on a big production. Impressive, indeed!
John
p.1 #19 · 15 of 335,000 images... NCA Cheer Nationals
gman1339 wrote:
I guess you can set kelvin for when the colored lights are not on, but it doesn't seem like the colored lights are off in too many of your shots. Some of the shots you posted the color balance looks good but most are on the cold side color balance wise.
gman,
We generally set the lights to the the main lights on the stage:
3100-3200 for the par-cans in the main arena (over 300 of them)
and 5000-6000 for the HMI lights in most of the other halls.
However, with this level of show, they add alot of other elements. LED walls in every hall - usually off to one side, but larger and dead center on the arena (as seen in some of Paul's pix - with one panel out during parts of the show)
Then they have more LEDs in the backdrop - usually custom colored per team to the team's colors - sometimes cycling through a variety of colors. Also, there are more LEDs shining on the curtains.
Direct LED's toward the crowd - and the photographers -are a favorite AF target for the sensor - but also they tend to blow out the colors quite a bit if aimed down the lens. There are some color abberations between shots - without the photographer moving or changing anything.
It definately plays havoc on the WB, but we can only set to the majority lights and let the others pass as they are too dynamic to keep up with.
- so kudos to Paul for anticipating it!