Flash questions for a grappling tournament

[GadgetRick]

So I've been shooting indoor sports for a short time. Had been going to my son's wrestling matches and shooting with a 50mm f1.8. Got enough light with it (usually) depending on the gym of course. However, I'd like to shoot with flash for a grappling tournament I'm going to tomorrow. I have a 580EX II. I can trigger it wirelessly as I have the AlienBee wireless setup. I also have a bracket.

My problem is this, I'm totally new to trying to do REAL flash photography. I've been reading everything I can find on the subject and it just adds to my confusion. So I'm not even sure what I don't know.

As you know, gym lighting is hit or miss. I won't know what this gym is like until I get there. I only have one flash so I'm not sure if triggering it remotely will be much of an advantage although I was thinking of either holding the flash in my hand or maybe putting the flash down beside me. Both ways to get the flash farther from the camera. I just don't think sticking it in a corner will get me much. Besides, a grappling tournament is PANDEMONIUM. 16-32 matches going on at once depending on the size of the tournament. So I'm not comfortable leaving my flash unattended.

Thought about bouncing the flash off the mat but the mats are usually colored (red for this tournament usually) so I'll get a red tint on everything. Not a good thing either.

If the lighting is good enough I'll just use my new (used) 28-70mm f2.8 L but I doubt it'll be quite THAT good to shoot sans flash unless I crank the ISO WAY up.

Anyway, looking for suggestions on how I can best utilize my single flash. Sorry if I'm not asking the right questions. As I said, I'm really just learning about flash photography--especially off-camera flash.

Thanks.

[i speak in math]

The ceiling in a gym is likely too high to bounce the flash off effectively. Direct flash is usually unflattering. Off camera flash is going to be your best bet, but like you said, you're not comfortable leaving it. Sounds like you may not have much use for the flash.

That being said, the gym is likely to have either tungsten or sodium vapor lighting. Tungsten is very red/orange while sodium vap are usually greenish. Make sure you set your white balance accurately when you get there.

If you do end up using the flash, you should gel it to match the lighting or you will have mixed color lights and no way to correct it in PP. A CTO or CTG gel, likely a full strength one, should do it; or bring two 1/2 filters of each and double it if you need full.

[Benji]

Most photographers think if they own 25 photo related items they must bring all 25 to every shoot "in case they need it." The truth is they really want to impress the other people that will be at the venue with all their gear. But guess what, the others will be more impressed by good photographs NOT lots of gear.

KISS is the name of the game. I would shoot in Raw, I would use on camera flash, and I would shoot a grey card first. These are documentary photographs of a grappling tournament not portraits that will be printed up in 16 x 20 size and hung over the fire place.

Benji

[zona5101]

It's too bad you don't have some other matches to "practice"' on before tomorrow... I shot a basketball game with an sb24 on a lightstand set at 1/2 power bouncing if off the ceiling that was 2 stories up. It worked perfectly. The range was limited, I could only shoot from 1/2 court in but it was a great way to stop action and keep the iso low. you should be able to get that easy as your 580 is more powerful.
Barring that, you may want to use a bounce card to soften and spead out the light...like a lumaquest. There are some diy examples on the internet. I built one from stuff at walmart for under $5.
Good luck and have fun.

[scootermcq]

Can you put a reflector on a stand or tripod & just bounce the flash from it? Set it up on a 45 to where you are standing and just aim the flash head at it and shoot from on camera.

[GadgetRick]

All great ideas. I have to get some gels for my flash...don't have any. Unfortunately, Unique Photo--where I usually go--is hard to get to right now with all of the flooding in the area or I'd shoot over there today.

Part of my other dilemma is, I'm trying to be (somewhat) inconspicuous for this match so I don't draw too much attention. I'm actually using this tournament more for practice than anything else since I'm injured and can't compete and only a couple of friends are competing. So I don't mind playing with this one.

Setting up a stand won't be possible as the mat layout just won't allow for that sort of thing. It's a tough setup (unfortunately). I've seen other photographers using those reflector things on their flashes before. I have a Gary Phong diffuser (as well) but I don't think it'll get me anything in this situation. Was going to give that a shot as well as the standard diffuser.

I think the gel will be more important for wb issues. I shoot RAW but I know those lights can be tough to shoot under. I don't want to use the flash to over power the lights. I just want to compliment available lighting as I don't want black backgrounds.

Does anyone think it'll make any sense to have the flash in my hand to get it farther away from the camera?

Ugh, flash is so confusing. I just have to get out and try some stuff and see what happens...

[zona5101]

[QUOTE=GadgetRick;933097]
Does anyone think it'll make any sense to have the flash in my hand to get it farther away from the camera?
QUOTE]
Yes although it might be ackward and difficult to manage shooting your camera one handed, you end up avoiding red-eye and you throw the shadows from the flash down and away (if you're holding the flash above the camera axis and to the side). This won't influence whether the backgrounds go black that will be a function of the amount of ambient exposure you allow.

[GadgetRick]

Ok, heading off to the tournament shortly. Was playing with flash with my friend last night (yes, I'm a photo geek now). Anyway, another thing I'm going to try is just laying the flash on the ground shooting parallel to the ground. It'll throw enough light onto the subject, shadows won't be there as they won't be against the wall, I'll get light from underneath so no shadows on the eyes and it will keep the color of the mat from influencing the subjects (at least in theory). We played with this technique last night and got great results.

I'm going to try a bunch of things--the things suggested here as well--and see what works best. I'll post up some pics when I get a chance.

Thanks a bunch!

[GadgetRick]

Ok, shot the tournament. Doing pp now and hope to have a few shots up soon. Here's what I learned:

-flash on floor there=bad--got a headlight effect with the bottoms dark. Didn't happen when we were practicing in my friend's house, probably because he has hard wood floors and got more reflection off the floor. Grappling mats weren't reflective at all.
-difuser=better.
-Gary Fong with top off pointed at ceiling=good--at least in that gym. Was well-lit and the ceilings were white. Got nice, even lighting. It sure looks funny but it does a nice job. I have the frosted one.

One question I have, however, is about freezing action. For some reason, I still got motion blur even though I was using flash. Now, from what I've read, shutter speed doesn't matter as much for freezing action when shooting flash. I was at 1/60th. Now, I was also shooting with the flash powered down to 1/4 power. Not sure if that has something to do with it as well. I'm puzzled at this point...but then again, I'm just learning flash photography.

Thanks.

[Photosbykev]

In an ideal world you would balance the ambient light with the flash light but if you want to stop the action you need to make sure the flash is the dominant light source and the aperture/shutter combination selected results in an underexposed picture in the ambient light without flash. The motion you are seeing is from the ambient light during the remainder of the 1/60sec shutter exposure. Setting it to 1/250sec will reduce the effect but will result in darker backgrounds.