A different kind of sport

[trippy64]

I spent Saturday with a couple hundred very talented and intelligent kids. My oldest nephew is on a robotics team, which competes in some regional competitions before going to Atlanta for the finals. The orginization is called FIRST (http://www.usfirst.org/), and you can watch the competition live on the web. It is pretty cool, and amazing what these kids come up with.

This is what your playing field looks like:
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814441-M.jpg

I have linked to the challenge and how this plays here (http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Section_0-Introduction.pdf), so you can see what these teams are trying to do.

They have a pit area:
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814446-M.jpg

Some pits are neat and tidy:

http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814455-M.jpg

Some not so much:
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814454-M.jpg

They all bring a of sense of humor:
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814450-M.jpg
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814448-M.jpg
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814453-M-1.jpg
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814445-M-1.jpg

In between rounds, which last about 2 minutes, they frantically go back to the pits, and make minor adjustments before their next round, trying to improve their machines on the fly with what they learned in their previous round. Or trying to repair a damaged piece. There is constant activity, and teams help other teams, everyone learning how things were done by others, so that next year, their robots will be even better.

http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814443-M.jpg
http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814469-M.jpg

The competition is fierce, and brutal. Some robots get pretty banged up, as they race around the field trying to load their tetras on top of the opposing teams tetras, and stopping the opposing team from doing the same.

http://trippy64.smugmug.com/photos/17814451-M.jpg

In the end, three teams that formed an alliance after two days of competition reigned supreme. There was a long battle, but team 71 (http://hammond.k12.in.us/TeamHammond/) The Beast, 1024 (https://www.mckenzierobotics.org/) Kil-A-Bytes and 269 (http://www.cooneyrobotics.com/) Cooney Quest came out on top. There was just as much cheering as in any high school sport. You couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement. I had a great time watching, and taking some shots. The rest can be seen at my website, trippy64.smugmug.com

I am looking for critique ofthe lighting challenge that faces a photographer in these situations, and any advise you can give would be great.

[Steve Cavigliano]

Trippy,

Nice colors. These students sure go all out with their entries.

As far as a critique, many of your pics look to be under exposed (dark). I don't know what gear you were using, or what settings you used. The last shot looks OK, exposure-wise, but the BG is pretty dark. I don't know if you wanted it that way, or not? If not, a strong external flash would help here, as well as with some of your other shots.

This was interesting, thanks for sharing,
Steve

[trippy64]

Trippy,

Nice colors. These students sure go all out with their entries.

As far as a critique, many of your pics look to be under exposed (dark). I don't know what gear you were using, or what settings you used. The last shot looks OK, exposure-wise, but the BG is pretty dark. I don't know if you wanted it that way, or not? If not, a strong external flash would help here, as well as with some of your other shots.

This was interesting, thanks for sharing,
Steve
I don't have an external flash to use yet, I am still a student to all of this. I was using a D70, and using Apeture priority and hoping to not move while taking the shot. I had the ISO at 200 (I think) and tried to get the shot as best I could from where I was allowed to go. Whenever I used the flash< didn't get deep into what I was trying to show, it was darker that what you see. I went through 200 shots to get about 25 - 35 decent ones. Most were too dark, too loight, or way OOF.