"Wofford guard Junior Salters (3) scores a layup over Air Force guard Evan Washington (35) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game inside Clue Arena at Air Force Academy, Colo., Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008. Salters led all scorers with 28 points in the 74-61 win." JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE
A couple of months ago I blogged about using a remote(s) to capture multiple angles of the same play. Well I'm back at it again only this time I'm syncing up two cameras with only one set of strobes for basketball. The above two images show two completely independent angles of the exact same moment in time.
Remotes allow me to be in places that you just can't physically stand during the game, such as in the catwalk above the basket or on the stanchion. Additionally using strobes allows me to produce higher quality files because I can shoot at 200 ISO instead of 1600+ ISO. Clune arena is pretty dark for a NCAA arena (1/400 f/2.8 at 1600 ISO) so the strobes are pretty much necessary.
If you flip through the pages of Sports Illustrated you will see that nearly all of their basketball images are shot on strobes. Their images just pop out of the frame and if SI is going to do it then so am I. After all my goal is to be shooting consistently for them in no more than 8 years and to become a staffer in 15 or less. Sure, that may seem like an unrealistic goal or one that hundreds of shooters have but they're not me. I know how hard I push myself every single day in this industry to get better. That's not to say that I don't often fail, but I fail trying new things. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled blogging.
SI also triggers SEVERAL remotes (read: 15 for the final four) on strobes when they cover a big game. Considering that I'm just shooting little ol' Air Force, who lost by the way to Wofford (read: who?), and I don't have an army of assistants to help me I decided to keep my setup manageable. Then again I did shoot with all of the gear that I had with me so maybe if SI shipped me 11 more bodies, lenses, grip gear, wizards and cords I might give it a try. In addition to the two remotes I also had two cameras with me, one with a 70-200 and another with a 300. I triggered the remotes and strobes simultaneously with a foot switch that I made from a guitar pedal.
Now, it is important to note that my remote setup is a little more complicated and requires more precision and gear than if I were shooting the remotes on ambient light. Each camera has to be set to fire with a delay (read: lagged) based upon how long it takes the camera to complete a full cycle. This requires a Pocket Wizard Multi Max to be able to program in the delay and each camera as well as the strobes needs one. By lagging each camera it ensures that each cameras' shutter is wide open at the exact second (read: 1/2000) the strobes fire. Now I could really give you a proper explanation of this long and tedious process but that would take three pages of explanation and most of you would be bored out of the universe by then. See, all photographers are geeks. Instead, if you really want to know how this is done read SI Staffer Robert Beck's instructions here or give me a call.
I didn't get any mind blowing images from the setup tonight and that's fine, it's a learning experience. I already know a few different angles that I want to try for the next game. Regardless, this is still really cool. I'm obsessed with using technology to make better images so I guess it's no secret why my parents still call me MacGyver. I'm not going to lie, using 4 bodies/lenses, a set of strobes and a bag full of wizards to cover a game is heaven for me.
I wonder what I'll try next...
-JCE
www.jcedmonds.com
P.S. If Porter Binks or anyone else from SI is reading this and needs an assistant for the upcoming basketball season call me!
No comments:
Post a Comment