Need Help

[rob52575]

Can anyone explain to me how the photographer achieved the technique in the pictures below? I would like to see if I too can take pics like this. Please help. Thanks!!

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome!
He used a really powerful strobe! Cranked up his shutter speed to limit the ambient and closed down his aperture to maximize the light fall off... He may have also enhanced it more with some post work but the essence of the shot is he underexposed the ambient and let the flash light the player
very cool shots

[scootermcq]

Do you think there was also a grid on the strobe to focus the beam?

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Do you think there was also a grid on the strobe to focus the beam?

I would hazard a guess that there was either a grid or snoot, but likely the former.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Do you think there was also a grid on the strobe to focus the beam?

considering the light is way up in the rafters I would venture a narrow beam reflector on the strobe head is doing the majority of the work (maybe with a grid as well)

[i speak in math]

Basketball courts are dark enough, no need to crank the shutter speed. A typical sync speed should suffice. Just need to expose for the flash and not the ambient. 1/180th, ISO 100/200, f/8 or f/11 would be plenty to knock out the ambient inside. Hook a high powered strobe or speedlight to the rafters with a narrow 1/4th or 1/8 grid

here's some more discussion about the images
Flickr: Discussing OT: Nathaniel Butler Shoots the Knicks v Magic in Strobist.com

[Frank Wang]

I used to shoot intramural basketball with a Vivitar 285HV attached to a pocket wizard mounted in the corner of the basketball court. Court lighting was bad but the Vivitar wasn't enough to achieve blackout of the ambient.

Here's how I would shoot it:

- a strobe mounted on a light stand triggered with a radio trigger some distance behind the basket. by some distance, i mean a SAFE distance, but not too far because your strobe has limited power. your example shots look like the strobe was mounted pretty high up.

- generally speaking, the better the ambient lighting, the stronger your strobe needs to be. NBA courts have pretty good lighting, most other venues are pretty dimly lit. if you have a monobloc & extension cable (or a portable generator/battery), that's probably your best bet. second choice would be a speedlight (or three!)

- shoot at a high shutter speed to drop out the ambient light, but keep in mind your sync speed may only be 1/250 or less depending on your equipment.

OR

-Use high speed sync if you have a capable speedlight. Then you can shoot with really high shutter speeds.