some flash practice

[wilgk]

Thanks for having a peek at some 'oddments' of flash practice with my sports portraits to share...








I have a 'media day' coming up with 4 Basketball teams - a group shot then some individual ones of each player, so have been practising some different set-ups with the Pocket Wizards.

I hope on the day to leave 1 camera body/mini TT1 setup with 2 flash guns on FlexTT5 from either side & just leave that ready all day.
Then in between groups when a few players are doing the posed set-up stuff, I have another body/flash & flex ready to swing into action (borrow/hire gear time) but what I don't have is a second miniTT1
Does anyone know if you can just pop that off between camera bodies or do I need a second 1 of those to make sure only the set-up I want to have firing/lit will do so?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Colin Southern]

Does anyone know if you can just pop that off between camera bodies or do I need a second 1 of those to make sure only the set-up I want to have firing/lit will do so?

Hi Kay,

You can move it around between cameras just fine, but you may want to make some adjustments to the setup; basically you have 2 configurations available - you could set them to different channels so that the TT5's only responded to the right channel, but in practice, it can bite you in the bum if you don't understand the setup - so probably easiest just to switch off the other TT5 / flashes when you don't need them.

Be sure to test the TT1 on both bodies though - they SHOULD be OK, but there's a small chance some of the settings may have been moved from auto-detect. Have you checked their setup on a PC?

In terms of "hints and tips" - carry a pump-action water bottle to simulate sweat (for the athletes, not you!!!)

[Shadowman]

Nice images, magazine quality.

[kezmal]

Great photos. That first one really stands out for me

[wilgk]

Hi Kay,

You can move it around between cameras just fine, but you may want to make some adjustments to the setup; basically you have 2 configurations available - you could set them to different channels so that the TT5's only responded to the right channel, but in practice, it can bite you in the bum if you don't understand the setup - so probably easiest just to switch off the other TT5 / flashes when you don't need them.

Be sure to test the TT1 on both bodies though - they SHOULD be OK, but there's a small chance some of the settings may have been moved from auto-detect. Have you checked their setup on a PC?

In terms of "hints and tips" - carry a pump-action water bottle to simulate sweat (for the athletes, not you!!!)

Thanks Colin
I've had a look into the utility & switched the setting from autodetect to 7D, other than that left well alone for now.
I have had a couple of scary moments when they didn't work as expected, so I have set both configurations to 'basic TTL just different channels for both transmit/receive in each configuration, & for some unfathomable reason the set-up worked fine on Configuration 1 for 2 flashs/TT5's, but only fired on the other. So it was nice to have that other configuration to go to up my sleeve, knowing it wasn't too different from the other.
I also practised a full reset after which everything worked fine.
I will keep them setup around home over the week prior to the event & see how I go swapping between the bodies etc.
I will take your suggestion & not set them up too fancy, as what might work fine just at home, could desert me when faced with a crowd of bored big basketballers who don't want to wait around!
The website has some videos which are helpful as well, so I'll revisit them.
Thankyou again & I'll keep you posted!

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Hi Kay,

I love that first photo - absolutely fantastic. I'm not experienced at flash photography but I'll offer up my thoughts anyway for what they're worth on the second two.

The sharpness and DoF look spot on. However in both of the photos I found the way the flash hit your subject made the lighting uneven across her body. For me it looks a bit unnatural. The background is also significantly darker than your subject which also takes away from a more natural scene. I'm guessing this is because you're outdoors and I was curious to know if you were bouncing your flash off any umbrellas, diffusers etc?

Composition is fine for me in the second one. In the third one I would have liked to have seen your subject's feet to complete the perception of how very tall she really is. The lampost behind her for is also a bit of a distraction.

Just some thoughts for you to consider.

Cheers,

Mal

[speedneeder]

Hi Kay,
#1 is pretty good!
If this were my photo, I would consider reducing the bare flash on either side, particularly camera left. Or I might try to put the flashes a little behind the subjects's head. Or I might think wow, that looks pretty good! I would take another try at the eyes though, they look just a tad over done to me.
#2 is a great concept - love it. Somehow the color doesn't look right on her face? Do you agree? Did you use your grey card??? Her arm is clearly exposed more than her face too? Flash position?
#3 ... hmmm i like the low perspective, but I don't like the lamp post coming out her shoulder at all. As a sport photo, I don't like this image. As just a street portrait, definitely interesting. Why not a sport photo? The only thing lit well is her face I guess - loses the sport context?

I'm just a newb myself, so take my comments with a grain of salt. You are a better photographer than I am

[wilgk]

Cheers Brian
I don't need the salt at all! Your time taken to give insightful constructive comments is always appreciated.
& as for better photographer..... Well I think we're stepping quite nicely along the learning curve together
I agree the light is too close to the ball, & not diffused enough. It really amazes me just how much a step in or out by the person with the light changes things.
I had some more willing subjects last week, so when my swim carnivals are over, I'll share & see if they show improvement