Strobing my first HS Basketball Game

[leyva62]

I just got the ok from the Athletic Director to mount flashes on columns in the gym to shoot basketball.

I will try to explain my set up and am hoping to get some suggestions. Please ask any questions and I can provide some clarification. I also have some pictures of the flash rig I put together as well as the gym.

I have 2x2 pillars that I am going to strap regular flashes to. The pillars are about 2 feet behind the baseline, 5 - 8 feet beyond the side line, and I will probably be able to go about 10 feet high.

As for where I will be aiming the flashes, if you divide the court in half from the foul line to the base line and side line to side line, I will be aiming right in the middle of that area on each half, possibly aiming a bit closer to the baseline, and a bit closer to the side line. I feel that this is where I will bet more of my shots due to the potential for crowding the middle (paint).

I have two LumoPro LP160 Quad Sync Flash that I will set at 1/4 power and 24mm zoom (The widest). I also plan on putting the diffuser that came with the flashes to soften the light a bit. I am using Cybersync units on the flashes and camera of course. I have not had the chance to purchase the rechargeable batteries yet, so I will be using brand new Duracell's which is why I want to shoot at 1/4 power.

Although these pictures show the flash on a stand, I will be mounting at about the height of the backboard in the picture.

Here is a picture of the rig, followed by pictures of the gym.

[boxofrocks]

How about some shots of the results?

[leyva62]

I just got the ok to shoot, the game isn't until Monday. I'll post the results or my comments about the results after the shoot.

At this point, I was looking for some thoughts / pointers on my setup.

Thanx in advance

[mchong75]

If you have the flashes pointed directly to the court, wouldn't that affect the players?

[arich]

Originally Posted by mchong75

If you have the flashes pointed directly to the court, wouldn't that affect the players?

That's why you generally have them higher than eye level, I usually set mine up anywhere from 10-20 feet above court level. When I played high school ball I was never bothered by flashes going off, though a couple weeks ago I did have a freshman B team coach freak out when he saw me setting them up

[dminton]

Zoom in the strobe heads, don't use the diffusers, and aim the strobes at the top of the key.

[leyva62]

David,

If I aim both at the top of the key, wouldn't I have too much light there and not much between the key and the baseline? Especially if I zoom the light.

If these questions seem obvious, I apologize because I just don't have much experience at this point.

Perhaps I need some course in lighting techniques.

[arich]

Mine are always zoomed at the top of the key but as you can see from my examples I still get really good light all the way down to the baseline. Juust because your flash is zoomed doesn't mean that the light is not dispersing as it goes out

Originally Posted by leyva62

David,

If I aim both at the top of the key, wouldn't I have too much light there and not much between the key and the baseline? Especially if I zoom the light.

If these questions seem obvious, I apologize because I just don't have much experience at this point.

Perhaps I need some course in lighting techniques.

[bobcool]

If you haven't seen this before, check out David Hobby's Strobist blog where he goes into detail on his preferred lighting setup in a gym.

Link here.

[leyva62]

Bob,

Being that I got the OK from the Athletic Director and I am friends with the coach, I expect this to be okay.

I just hope that the ref and the other team don't complain.

[bobcool]

don't forget to feather the light by mounting them no less than 10 feet high. This should provide some good fill as the light spreads out from the flashes. Good luck tonight and share your results back with the thread - looking forward to seeing them...

[leyva62]

BobCool,

Thanks for the tip(s). I decided to go with a different setup. I have two 13ft stands that I plan on strapping to the posts instead of strapping the flashes to the post. This will give me an opportunity to make some adjustments if I have to, by lowering the stand. Also note that I will not open the legs to avoid any tripping hazards.

For now, I will be shooting at 1/4 power and zoomed to 85m aiming at the top of the key from both tides. I hope to keep my f/s close to 2.8, if possible for the DOF affect, firing at about 350SS which is what the flash will allow me to sync to, but most important, I want to stay around 400ISO. If I have too much light, I will lower my ISO or even up the f/s. If I don't have enough light, I would be willing to go up to 800ISO, but beyond that, I will have to increase my flash power to 1/2 or even 1/1. Not sure how the distance of the zoom will offer. And of course, how long the batteries will last or how long the recycle time will be.

Am I a worry wart or what, lol!

Do you think it is better to have the lights coming from behind the baseline straight to the half court, or from the sides as my original post states? I may be able to mount them behind but it will be about 20 feet behind the baseline.

As you can tell, I am still not sure of my setup and there are only a handful of games left in the season so I want to weigh all my options and pick the best.

[bobcool]

I could be wrong, but I think the Canon 1D Mark II has a maximum flash sync of 1/250, and not 1/350...

For me, I prefer to have the lights near the corners at each baseline shooting towards half court. The players are, for the most part, going to be always facing the basket when on offense, so having the flashes on the end baseline would light their faces up nicely without a lot of deep shadows. I can see the advantages of side lighting, but you may get complaints from the fans since the flashes will be essentially pointing straight at them.

Heck, just try the cross-flash method tonight and the baseline method during the next game and see which placement gets you better shots - it could turn out that the cross-flash method works better for your gym conditions.

[leyva62]

Well, the shoot went well for a first my first time. I think I need to work on either lower the lights to get more coverage, or raise them to get less shadows caused by arms.

Also perhaps lowering the Shutter speed to 250 to get some more light in the background.

Let me know what you think.

Did some corrections but no cropping.

[Flea77]

Do you have enough strobes, or enough power, to bounce them, that will make them look a whole lot better.

Allan