Here are two swim meets I shot last week. One had to be shot ambient, the other I was allowed to use strobe.
1) Swim meet in DE. Coach refused to let me use strobes. I was running late due to traffic, so I didn't have time to argue. The light wasn't completely terrible at around 1/400th, f2.8 @ 6400iso. However, the was a VERY old pool, and the lights cycled terribly! As well as these new cameras are able to shoot in "available darkness," they can't compensate for cycling lights. These photos don't really give an accurate depiction of just how bad the lights cycled. I had to delete over half of my shots just because of the white balance alone.
2) Swim meet in VA. This was a relatively bright pool, but once again the lights cycled. There weren't nearly as bad as the DE swim meet, but it still made achieving an accurate, consistent ambient white balance impossible. Fortunately I got the OK to strobe the meet. I superclamped two speedlites to the 2nd floor railing on the left side of the pool. Set at 1/4 power, this gave me a setting of 1/250th, f3.5 @ 640iso. It also allowed me to introduce some direction to the light.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like the ambient. You're more mobile and can get those great quiet moments. I love the reflection shot!
ReplyDeleteAmbient is definitely my preference for being able to cover the entire area... from any angle. And you're right, sometimes the best shots are the ones away from the action! It's just those damned cycling lights!!
ReplyDeleteUsing strobes, especially direct strobes... while the overall image quality is usually better, your shooting area and angles are much more confined. But at least your strobes don't color cycle!!!
Notice a pattern of hatred here!? HA!