skate park session (bmx)

saxk

saxk

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Brad 'Electron-Don' Foster
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hi all, i went to my local park with a few mates today to try my hand at flash work, ona dn off camera.

most of my shots were with 2 off camera flashes (older cheap ones jsut used for remote) and a metz on camera flash.

now although im very happy with how most came out, they werent exactly what i was after, i wanted to darked the back ground much more but didnt have the flash power to get through the narrow app.

most were taken with 2/3 flashes and 1/200sec and f12-f16, any higher and i see nothing.

where am i going wrong, or am i jsut lacking flash to overpower the daylight, what flashes could i use to get a better result ?

All images can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradfoster/sets/72157612906090113/

here are a few of the best

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3223859852_8bafbc2ba5.jpg

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3223848480_41ee2212f7.jpg

3222797775_280e780eaf.jpg


one a bit different

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I am no expert on lighting but have a look at the Strobist website on the discussion forums (http://strobist.blogspot.com/) and this should give you some good pointers.

I am sure somebody will be along here shortly though who can give out the required technical advice.

I think you caught it nice in No2 and I really like the last one!
 
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cheers rob , #2 is my fave also, i have another one like it, well a few actually.

i keep meaning to get over to strobists, but i find the place confusing
 
Hey man, nice set. I guess what you need to do here is to drop your ambient light level a stop or two but keep the flash levels what they are. Try increasing your shutter speed to 1/250 and see if you flashes till sync okay. If you are struggling to have your flashes throw out enough power at your chosen aperture try moving the flashes in as close as possible to the edge of the frame.

Also, I read a cool trick in strobist, set your white balance to tungsten to turn the sky a neon blue. Gel your flashes with CTO to have your flash at the correct colour. An underexposed cobalt blue sky will look as cool as.
 
that sounds like fun, i got some gels the other day but what is CTO. ill give it ago, my only concern is that the gel will reduce and already inadequately powerful flash
 
oh and have you got any examples of that cobalt sky thingy ?
 
cherryrig has alot of his done in low light or night time, as i see surrounding street lights etc are lit up. point worth noting
 
CTO is the orange gel, it turns flash (which is daylight balanced) into a tungsten colour so it will balance with the white balance setting.

Do you have your flashes set correctly, you should be able to get something reasonable with them set on full power. You may have to open that aperture a bit which will effect the sky, making it brighter which you do not want. How about shooting with the sun lower in the sky so your ambient isnt as strong and opening up your aperture to pull in a bit more of that flash?

Sorry, don't have any example pics of the cobalt sky trick, read it on strobist tonight but will post something when I get a chance to try it.
 
yer shooting later in the day would be a good idea, it was a very bright clear day.

another idea i had was to use my two tripods to get the flash closer to the riders, giving a more dense flash burst.
 
dude i think 1,2,3,4 work awesome my favourite is 2 but the light works its all crisp, textbook (y)
 
as 2 is quite popular here are a few others of same guy and spot

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3222862999_2af18b63f3.jpg
 
last ones sweet dude...
 
Im no expert but crop no 1 abit tighter to the bottom to loose the treeline it would look like hes flying.

just an opinion thou.

rob
 
You need to make the subject substantially brighter than the background. Give a meter reading on the background and make sure you have a shutter speed/aperture faster/smaller than that.

So for example - the sky is 1/100 at f/8
the background is 1/40 at f/8
fire the flashguns at the subject (get rid of the on-camera flash) at a high enough power so that you can get the subject evenly exposed at around 1/200 of a second f/8.
Any faster, and the flashguns possibly won't sync correctly (look up flash sync on google).

If you can't get a shutter speed fast enough, get yourself a neutral density filter. Either a screw on or a cokin set (screw on will be less hassle). This is basically sunglasses for your lens, which will darken everything, meaning you'll have to expose for longer to get a correct exposure.

Therefore, if you get a 1 stop ND filter for your lens, and the subject needs a 1/400 ss at f/8, whack on the ND filter and that will reduce the necessary ss to 1/200.
similarly, a 2 stop ND filter would reduce it to 1/100.

Hope that makes sense, and hope it's all correct! If I'm wrong though, someone correct me :)
 
robhullfury said:
Im no expert but crop no 1 abit tighter to the bottom to loose the treeline it would look like hes flying.

just an opinion thou.

rob
Click to expand...

i tried that but i wanted some relevance to how high he was
 
foodpoison said:
You need to make the subject substantially brighter than the background. Give a meter reading on the background and make sure you have a shutter speed/aperture faster/smaller than that.

So for example - the sky is 1/100 at f/8
the background is 1/40 at f/8
fire the flashguns at the subject (get rid of the on-camera flash) at a high enough power so that you can get the subject evenly exposed at around 1/200 of a second f/8.
Any faster, and the flashguns possibly won't sync correctly (look up flash sync on google).

If you can't get a shutter speed fast enough, get yourself a neutral density filter. Either a screw on or a cokin set (screw on will be less hassle). This is basically sunglasses for your lens, which will darken everything, meaning you'll have to expose for longer to get a correct exposure.

Therefore, if you get a 1 stop ND filter for your lens, and the subject needs a 1/400 ss at f/8, whack on the ND filter and that will reduce the necessary ss to 1/200.
similarly, a 2 stop ND filter would reduce it to 1/100.

Hope that makes sense, and hope it's all correct! If I'm wrong though, someone correct me :)
Click to expand...

ill have a proper read and understanding of this later but cheers, was looking at ND filters to help.
 
but if i fit a ND filter, surely that will jsut reduce the amount of light both the sky and flash are producing
 
saxk said:
but if i fit a ND filter, surely that will jsut reduce the amount of light both the sky and flash are producing
Click to expand...

Your flash will allways produce the same amount of power, the ND filter will just even out the hotspots, and darken down the ambient. If you have a look at my flickr, some of the pics of guys doing the wallrides were shot in December when we had all the cold, dry weather with good amounts of sun. To overcome the ambient light, i just cranked up the flash power, and then went to a higher apperture, most of them were shot on iso400, at about f11. This let's the power of the flashes, overpower the ambient of the sun allmost, so you can make the sky and surroudings darker. I hope i am making sense:LOL:(y)
 
cheers addict, i think my old, i mean old flashes arent relaly powerful enough. my metz 44 is, so might use it remote not on camera, and invest in some nd filters.
 
saxk said:
cheers addict, i think my old, i mean old flashes arent relaly powerful enough. my metz 44 is, so might use it remote not on camera, and invest in some nd filters.
Click to expand...


TBH mate, i mainly use older flashes. I have a couple of Cobra 400D's and a Nissin 3600 Hammerhead that i use the most, these are backed up by a couple of cheapy Sunpak and Minitar jobbies. I find with Skateparks, you need more power than adjustability, because most parks are quite dark and dank. For adjustment i just use diffuser GGels or move the flashes around. I have found lately it is a real trial and error sysytem, but i seem to be getting there, i think:thinking::LOL::LOL:
 
yer i have an old sunpack, but not that old, butny other is a really old viv that must be like a gn24 i recon, its great indors as a fill in flash, but i think i might need a second more powerful one. unless i use my metz 44 as a remote. im going back at the weekend to try again
 
ok ive now got an adapter for the sunpack, which is old but very powerful.

now i have three remote and a metz on camera, have that for enough light :D
 
saxk said:
ok ive now got an adapter for the sunpack, which is old but very powerful.

now i have three remote and a metz on camera, have that for enough light :D
Click to expand...


Bloody hell, you wanna shoot photo's not burn out their Retinas:LOL::LOL: That should be enough to overpower the ambient:thinking: Try messing around with your apperture using that much light, you should get some great results. I'll see them when they go up on flickr(y)
 
newyorkaddict said:
Bloody hell, you wanna shoot photo's not burn out their Retinas:LOL::LOL: That should be enough to overpower the ambient:thinking: Try messing around with your apperture using that much light, you should get some great results. I'll see them when they go up on flickr(y)
Click to expand...

:naughty::naughty:

ive also ordered a 4 stop ND filter.

lets jsut hope that the weather can hold out for a dry day.

i have a whole bunch of tips ive printed and are now in my camera bag(y)

i might go to some other local parks after work this week and have a try, not so sure on shooting strangers, but you can only ask and try.
 
TBH mate, if i see a good rider or skater, even blader for that, i will just ask if they mind me shooting some pics. Usually you find they are cool, i also give them my flickr address, if they want it, so if they want a look after they can. Good idea on the ND filter, another one that is good for sky's is a Circular Polariser, they bring out different highlights in the clouds that can give some good effects. That was something i picked up off here.

I know what you mean about a dry day, we had about a 2 hour ride Sunday night, first time in about a month, it was heaven. I'd almost forgot what it was like to be on my bike:LOL:
 
good idea about giving your address, so they can have the pics if they want, think ill try that approach.

yer ive been after a CP for a while, ill get one one day lol.

we have some trails in some local woods, roll on summer when there dry enough to ride :D
 
We've just started our second winter of digging on some private trails, thanks to my mate's old man, he donated us 1 1/2 acres of land to build on. It's all fenced off etc, we can park right up by the trails, we have a massive oil drum BBQ, seats, hammocks, the works. It is like a little slice of trails heaven in a field:LOL::LOL: Roll on summer to ride, we are working on a dirt bowl/spine mini section at the moment, got a digger coming in this weekend to shift a load of dirt for us, then it is just a case of shaping it all. Can't wait to start shooting some pictures over there. If you are ever Devon way, PM me, we could meet up(y)
 
oooh man that sounds sweet, thats what me and my mates always fantasize about.

im pretty lame at ridding but im getting there (surfing,skiing is my mains), i used to ride alot of trails on MTB when i was younger but im trying to get back into it. im always yup for helping my mates out though, and shooting them.

well we head to devon alot in the summer for surfing, we usualy go north, where abouts are you ?
 
sweet, i go surfing at wollacombe most times, so i drive right past your place.
 
Really like number 4!
1 would look good without the trees in the corner I reckon...
 
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