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Basketball: Triggers/TTL/Fill Flash

MDalbyMDalby Registered Users Posts: 697 Major grins
edited December 5, 2011 in Sports
OK, basketball shooters... I am a little disappointed with my flash for basketball. I am committed to using flash so we can get that point established right off the bat and not waste efforts convincing me against flash.

BUT... My flash look is too harsh. I am shooting manual for both my camera and flash settings and I don't have enough flash units to bounce. I am pointing my flashes directly at the free free line but I am still getting too much flash.

I had some good results changing my setup for my football to use HSS and fill flash on my monopod flash unit. I was thinking of doing the same thing for basketball with my remote flashes on my light stands. Currently I am using RadioPopper JrX units that are not TTL compatible. If I had triggers that were TTL compatible, I htink I could use the same approach with my basketball that I am using for my football.

I just wanted to pass this by you and get your thoughts on if there is anything I am missing before I take the dive.

Any thoughts?

Shot #1
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Shot #2
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Shot #3
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Shot #4
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Shot #5
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Shot #6
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Nikon D4, 400 2.8 AF-I, 70-200mm 2.8 VR II, 24-70 2.8
CBS Sports MaxPreps Shooter
http://DalbyPhoto.com

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    JimKarczewskiJimKarczewski Registered Users Posts: 969 Major grins
    edited December 2, 2011
    How do you think TTL is going to "soften" these images? I mean, when I hear Harsh and Lighting in the same sentence the only thing I can think of to make things softer is to diffuse..

    If you are getting too much flash, why don't you lower your ISO, Stop down your aperture, change your zoom on the flash (affecting the distance it covers), etc, etc. I can think of several things I can do to lessen the power. My problem is typically not enough flash...
    Jim Karczewski - http://www.jimkarczewski.com
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    MDalbyMDalby Registered Users Posts: 697 Major grins
    edited December 3, 2011
    Jim,

    I will play with the ISO some. I really wanted to adjust down my aperture but when I did, I got blur. I hadn't thought of the zoom. I will play with that a little maybe.

    Thanks,

    MD
    Nikon D4, 400 2.8 AF-I, 70-200mm 2.8 VR II, 24-70 2.8
    CBS Sports MaxPreps Shooter
    http://DalbyPhoto.com
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    onesickpuppyonesickpuppy Registered Users Posts: 245 Major grins
    edited December 4, 2011
    I would not say your flash is "harsh" by any means......but yes, you can see in some and at certain points the "flash effect".
    By looking at your shots...you have a lot of ambient light in the pics...which is or isn't what your after....this is what will be
    lost if you go too far on the aperture....thus inducing blur or blacking out the background.

    You didn't mention what body your shooting...and what I have found is that you need to find the "sweet" spot of higher ISO
    and your flash....to create the "natural" look that it appears your looking for. I think that it appears your gym setup is giving
    off great light...just trust your bodies higher ISO performance and you may find the happy spot :)
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    nipprdognipprdog Registered Users Posts: 660 Major grins
    edited December 4, 2011
    When I used remote flashes a couple years ago, I used an Omni bounce diffuser on both flashes.

    http://www.stofen.com/store/omni.asp

    They reduced the harshness a little.

    482771890_TNRdc-O.jpg
    Jim

    http://www.knippixels.com
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    JimKarczewskiJimKarczewski Registered Users Posts: 969 Major grins
    edited December 4, 2011
    onesickpuppy wrote: »
    I would not say your flash is "harsh" by any means......but yes, you can see in some and at certain points the "flash effect".
    By looking at your shots...you have a lot of ambient light in the pics...which is or isn't what your after....this is what will be
    lost if you go too far on the aperture....thus inducing blur or blacking out the background.

    You didn't mention what body your shooting...and what I have found is that you need to find the "sweet" spot of higher ISO
    and your flash....to create the "natural" look that it appears your looking for. I think that it appears your gym setup is giving
    off great light...just trust your bodies higher ISO performance and you may find the happy spot :)

    Reason for flash is to overpower the crappy ambient colors.. Not to balance the light.. last thing a basketball shot would need is balanced with background lights. It's more for highlighting the subject.

    I got crap about shooting strobes from some crusty old dude shooting for the competing paper in town.. "Why would you shoot with flash, see, I can just crank my D3s up to 12,800 and I have no problem." Awesome, but you still have to deal with the same sh*t lights. Strobes are the way to make a bad environment look nice. Besides if it didn't look better, why would the pros that shoot NBA/NCAA stuff just shoot all natural? I mean, the lighting in any D1 is more than enough to shoot available light, but you don't see them using just the available.

    ok, back to the topic at hand. :)
    Jim Karczewski - http://www.jimkarczewski.com
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    mattdan12mattdan12 Registered Users Posts: 43 Big grins
    edited December 5, 2011
    Mark, let me know if you want to try out the Einstein strobes sometime during the game. I think it would be an interesting test and they would possibly have more power to bounce rather than going for direct lighting.
    http://mattdaniels.smugmug.com/
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