Welcome to Workshop at the Ranch. Each month I will be writing an instructional article about photography. It might cater to sports coverage, new cameras and gear, techniques with Off Camera Speedlights or Large Strobe Systems, Lightpainting and more. These articles began in 2003. They are archived and available for you to revisit as often as you like. A broad pallet of my images with all camera data, equipment I use, special tricks of the trade, and my personal commentary will drive the content of each article. So, be my guest, settle back and “click” on any image you want to enlarge, and enjoy learning each month here on Workshop at the Ranch. Adios, Dave

Workshop at the Ranch - May 2010 - Little Lights, BIG Arena - PART 2

Workshop at the Ranch
May, 2010 Edition

Hi and welcome to PART 2 of Little Lights, BIG Arena. Last month was a mammoth article that really sparked the interest of many sports photographers and generated lots of email requests for a continuing lesson at different venue. Well, here we go again. Let’s look at another sports facility where I strobed action using my Nikon SB-900 Speedlights, but this time with a different purpose in mind as I’ll only need 4 Speedlights in a classic rectangular arrangement.

For those not familiar with arena sport strobe lighting this paragraph should help bring you up to speed. The basic principal behind arena sport strobe lighting using traditional strobes is to install sport strobes (large flash units) capable of flash duration’s ranging from 1/1100-1/4000 of a second in the catwalks of the sports arena high above the competition floor. This 1/1100 or faster is not a shutter speed, but is the duration or length of the “FLASH” itself. This is what stops the action. With traditional sport strobe lighting units the restriction is that the camera’s shutter sync speed must be set at a slow 1/250 of a second and the available ambient arena light exposure needs to be at least 3 stops under (darker) than the strobed exposure. That takes a lot of light from any sport strobe system. This 3 stop exposure difference would (in the film days before digital cameras) insure all the action to be stopped by the strobes fast flash duration of 1/1100-1/4000 depending on make and model of the strobe. Unfortunately, today’s combination of the modern digital camera and sport strobe can sometimes leave a slight ghosting along the edges of some of the fastest action elements in the picture, example the rapidly moving puck and hockey stick during a slap-shot or the hands and basketball during an aggressive jam. As mentioned, the camera’s shutter sync speed for off camera flash has traditionally been a slow 1/250 … until recently. Many of today’s cameras and dedicated flash units like the Nikon SB-900 Speedlight allow the photographer to use their flash from off camera locations at any shutter speed they choose. This is accomplished in many Nikon cameras (check your camera’s manual) by using the Auto FP setting in the Custom Functions menu located under Bracketing/Flash. With Auto FP selected I can use my Nikon Speedlights either on or off camera at any shutter speed I choose, like 1/500, 1/1000, 1/4000 or even up to 1/8000 of a second. I can now stop the action with a fast shutter sync speed and have a beautiful strobed flash look whether shooting indoors or outdoors.

The United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado plays host venue to Rich Clarkson’s Sports Photography Workshop each summer including this year’s workshop dates of June 27, - July 2. (www.sportsphotographyworkshop.com). As one of the workshop’s instructors I plan on teaching this technique of lighting an arena and lighting sports action with Speedlights during the week of instruction. So, with lighting a sports arena using Speedlights as my goal and the USOTC as my venue let’s learn how today’s digital camera with dedicated flash can make great strobed sports imagery.

Image #1 Heavy Duty … My assistant Brad and I have been transporting my Elinchrom sport strobes to and from sports arenas for some 25 years. There is plenty of lighting power in all these equipment cases and it does an good job, but it is a lot of equipment to pack-up, ship to location, and install in the catwalks above the arena floor, or in this case water.

Image #2 My Arena Lighting Gear for 2010 … As illustrated in last month’s article I can now fit all I need to strobe an average size college sports arena in the new prototype Lightwalker II that I have been testing. This new soon to be released roll-aboard travel case holds it all. For lighting the USOTC Aquatic Center the prototype Lightwalker II contains: 8 SB-900 Speedlights (note: I will only need to use 4 Speedlights for the Aquatic Center), 4 FourSquare Blocks each with the Hand Grip attached, 4 Manfroto (formerly Bogen) Super Clamps, 4 Manfroto 5/8-3/8 Rapid Adapters, 4 Manfroto #155 RC Double Ball Joint Head (a.k.a. Double Ball Tilt Head), 4 Safety Cables, 2 Nikon SU-800 Commanders, 2 Radio Popper PX Transmitters and 4 Radio Popper PX Receivers, SANYO Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries for the Speedlights, AAA batteries for the Radio Poppers, and Safety Cables. A few odds and ends like Gaffer’s Tape, extra batteries, small tools, and a FourSquare Soft Box all fit into the prototype Lightwalker II. The smaller bag is my carry-on backpack. Rather than a deep volume professional camera backpack with thick dividers I like to use my old unassuming Eagle Creek backpack that fits easily on any plane either under the seat or in the slimiest overhead compartment on the smallest regional jet. For this job I pack the Eagle Creek with 2 camera bodies, Nikon 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm G VR II lenses, Nikon 200-400mm G VR lens, Nikon 1.4x and 1.7x teleconverters, several Lexar Flash Cards, and my waist pouch. There is no divider padding, but each item has its own thin padded case which is far less space consuming than a camera pack with foam core compartments. It works well for me.

The USOTC swimming pool measures 164 feet x 75 feet. I will only use 4 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights to light the pool. WHOA! This is almost the size of an ice hockey rink. How can an area this size be sufficiently lit using only 4 Speedlights? Just as I illustrated with the college ice hockey rink in last month’s article I really only need to light part of the venue. Why light only part of the venue? Well, for this job and many projects that I do, I only need to produce strong action images of “my athletes” therefore I really only need to illuminate a section of the competition area where the action is. If I were covering the event for the newspaper or Sports Illustrated I would most likely need to light-up the entire arena to cover all the game action, coaches, and peripherals for the news coverage. But, I suspect many of you who will read this article shoot for your local college, high school, or city team and need only strong action images of “your athletes” or “your team”.

Image #3 A Speedlight Bank is Easy to Carry … Here is 1 Speedlight Bank as I call it. For this job it contains 1 SB-900 Speedlight in the Remote mode and set to Manual with Full power output controlled by the Nikon SU-800 Commander on the hotshoe of my Nikon camera. It’s easy to carry up to the catwalk thanks to the FourSquare Block with accessory Grip. The FourSquare Block holds up to 4 Speedlights but only 1 SpeedLight per Bank is necessary for the Aquatic Center. I have placed 4 of these Banks in a rectangular arrangement at one end of the pool. This image illustrates how my 4 Speedlights add illumination to only my 1/3 end of the pool. The area being illuminated with 4 Speedlights is nearly the same dimensions as a basketball court which is 84 feet x 50 feet. So, for those curious, can 4 Speedlights effectively light a basketball court too? Yes, but that depends on the distance from each Speedlight Bank to the court. I am about 25 feet above the pool deck and about 60 feet from my center swimming lanes where my athletes will be. I will zoom each Speedlight to 135mm to help spread the light to cover my end of the pool. Each Speedlight is mounted to a FourSquare Block and Grip. I’ve attached a Manfroto 5/8-3/8 Rapid Adapter to the bottom of the grip. The Rapid Adapter then mounts to a Manfroto Double Ball Joint Head which then mounts to the Manfroto Super Clamp. I use the Radio Popper PX Wireless Transmitter and PX Receiver system to fire my Speedlights. There is 1 PX Receiver placed over the sensor of each Speedlight. As I mentioned in last month’s article I sometimes use the Michael Bass Design Fiber Optic Bundle which allows me to connect up to 4 Speedlights on one FourSquare block using only one PX Receiver. But for this job each Bank contains only 1 Speedlight so I chose to connect the PX Receiver directly over the sensor. The Radio Popper PX system allows me too wirelessly fire my Speedlights from anywhere in the venue up to hundreds of feet away.

Image #4 Speedlight Bank Mounted to the Catwalk … I will use four Banks of 1 Speedlight each and I will position my four Banks in a rectangular arrangement that illuminates just my 1/3 end of the pool. In this image the Speedlight Bank is now secured to the catwalk with the Super Clamp and a Safety Cable is attached. Even though I own 8 SB-900 Speedlights I will only use 4 for this job. Why not use all eight? This is a morning training session for the US athletes and not a competition. Coaches are walking the pool deck, working with and talking to the athletes for 3 hours. By using a high ISO of 4000 and Nikon’s Auto FP setting I can use a fast shutter sync speed like 1/1250 at f5.6. I can now combining the available ambient light and my Speedlights thus minimizing the distraction of the strobe flashes. Just because I can “blast them out of the water” with 8 Speedlights doesn’t mean I need to. Sometimes it is wiser to be discrete. I want the coaches and athletes to hardly be aware of my presence. By only using 4 Speedlights I will “fill flash” my athletes rather than blast them which is a definite advantage over the traditional sport strobe systems. Using this more “friendly” style of arena sport lighting keeps coaches and athletes greeting me with a smile rather than saying I’m not welcome if I use flashes. With SANYO Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries and my SB-900 Speedlights at Full power I have a recycle time of about 2.3 seconds. Interestingly this is about the same recycle time as larger traditional sport strobe systems like Elinchrom, White Lightning, and Dyna-Lite. At the ice hockey games last month the fully charged SANYO Eneloop’s lasted 7 hours including set-up, testing, dinner break, and game time with a total of 430 images shot. This swimming session was 3 hours long and yielded 295 images with plenty of Eneloop power to spare.

The KEY POINT is FILL FLASH: Combining the available ambient arena light with the Speedlights and using my Nikon camera’s Auto FP custom setting to achieve a fast shutter sync speed is a great technology break through. Because I am using a dedicated flash system (Nikon Speedlights with Nikon cameras) I can combine the available ambient light with the Speedlights and have a fast shutter sync speed. My exposure must be made Manually. With a correct available ambient exposure in this venue being ISO10,000, 1/1250 at f5.6 I will purposely underexpose the ambient exposure by 1 and 1/3 stop (-1.3) by reducing the ISO to a clean ISO4000. Then I will use my 4 Speedlights to illuminate only my end of the pool with perfectly White Balanced strobe light. In effect I have “fill flashed” my 1/3 end of the pool. My final base exposure setting is ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6. Let me point out that the light from the Speedlights cleans the ISO4000 to look more like an ISO2000. This super clean file allows me to easily crop a picture and still be published or printed large.

Image #5 Overview with only the Available Ambient Light … Here is an image of the Aquatic Center using only the available ambient light and no Speedlights. As mentioned, I have purposely underexposed the picture because I want to use my Speedlights to add illumination and perfect WB at only my end of the pool. This facility like so many sports arenas and gymnasiums has pulsating ceiling lights. The WB (color) of the pulsating ceiling lights will shift with every picture. One frame is too blue, the next frame is too magenta (pinkish) and next frame is too green. It’s frustrating to be sure. You can see how the pulsating ceiling lights cause blue, magenta and green color problems throughout the venue. My base exposure for this job is still ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6, WB 5000K.
Image #6 Overview with Available Ambient Light and Speedlight Light Combined … This image shows my 1/3 end of the pool lit with perfect Daylight White Balanced (WB 5000K) strobe light from my 4 Speedlights while the far 2/3 of the pool is lit only by the available ambient arena light. The 2 Speedlights on the far catwalk are set to Group A while the 2 Speedlights on the near catwalk above me are set to Group B. You can see that I have purposely allowed the far 2/3 of the pool be slightly under exposed by 1 and 1/3 stop (-1.3 stop). Remember that I want to “fill flash” my athletes during this training session and not blast them with light. Keep in mind I did not need to achieve a 3 stop difference between the available ambient exposure and the Speedlight exposure as would have been necessary with traditional sport strobe systems as mentioned earlier. This again is my base exposure of ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6, WB 5000K (Daylight).

I want to make note that safety is a priority. All the installation of my lighting gear or any remote camera is done early in the day before any athletes, coaches, or patrons enter the venue below the catwalks. You must also have permission from the college athletic department and, or venue director to install any equipment in an arena. Liability insurance is also a requirement.

Image #7 My 1/3 End of the Pool, Speedlights OFF … This image is made using only the available ambient light in the Aquatic Center. To make a comparison, I have correctly exposed this image as if I was photographing the athlete for my client but without the use of my Speedlights. I did so by raising my ISO to ISO10,000. Nikon D3s, ISO10,000, 1/1250 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400 G VR zoom lens, WB Auto, Lexar 16G Flash Card. As mentioned earlier, the pulsating ceiling lights are causing continual WB color shifting with each image made. This frame has an obvious green cast. I made several WB tests for the available ambient light including Pre-Set WB, but because the ceiling lights are pulsating, each frame still has a green, magenta or blue cast. For those who shoot regularly in High School gyms you know what I’m talking about. As good as the new cameras are whether Nikon or Canon, these all too common gym lights are the cause of dreadful WB problems. I even tried Auto WB but found it could not correct the color shifting either. Also note that the “top lighting” from the ceiling lights directly overhead flatten the image and leave my subject without crisp definition. Well, let’s see how the 4 Speedlights do.
Image #8 My 1/3 of the Pool With 4 Speedlights ON … During the next lap the athlete is now “lit” by my 4 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights. The difference is dramatic. I’ve now returned to my original base exposure of ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6 which would underexpose (darken) the image by 1 and 1/3 stop (-1.3), accept now my Speedlights provide the dominate light and create a beautiful fill flash or “strobed” illumination. My ISO4000 now looks more like a super clean ISO2000 with perfect WB thanks to the Speedlights, and I have stopped the action completely thanks to the camera’s Auto FP setting allowing a fast 1/1250 shutter sync speed. Also, the angle of “my light” striking the water and swimmer really helps define my subject. If I only use the available ambient light that is directly overhead the image is dull, flat, and undefined as illustrated in Image #7. But, when my Speedlights are positioned up in the catwalks and off to the sides of the pool the angle of light illuminates all the contours of the water and my athlete including some terrific illumination of her mirrored goggles. A sub-par image has now become much more colorful and dynamic, with greater file quality that I can crop very tight if need be. Same base exposure: Nikon D3s, ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6, 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 5000K, 4 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights in Remote mode at Full power each with a wireless Radio Popper PX Receiver, Nikon SU-800 Commander with Radio Popper PX Transmitter attached, 4 FourSquares with Grip, 4 Rapid Adapters, 4 Double Ball Joints, 4 Super Clamps, 4 Safety Cables, Lexar 16G Flash Card.
Image #9 Can I Get By With Only 2 Speedlights? … My 1/3 of the pool measures approximately 55 feet x 75 feet, about the same dimensions as a basketball court. Using only 2 Speedlights reduces the once dominating “clean” light produced by the Speedlights and forces me to increase the available ambient light exposure by raising the ISO up to 8000. My fast shutter speed of 1/1250 still stops the action but now the perfect WB and crispness of the image is diminished. It is a weak fill flash. While it is an improvement over just using the available ambient light it is not as impressive of an image as the one with the Speedlights dominating. Nikon D3s, ISO8000, 1/1250 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 5000K, 2 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights at Full power, 2 FourSquares with Grips etc, 1 Radio Popper PX Transmitter and 2 PX Receivers, SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card. Using only 2 Speedlights helps and it’s a good start to making better pictures, but it’s not quite enough light for 1/3 of the Olympic pool. However, I could use 2 Speedlights to illuminate 1/2 of a basketball court (42 feet x 50 feet), or the center court net zone for volleyball, but this of course depends on how far the 2 Speedlights are from the court. My advice is to get started even if you only have 2 Speedlights.
Image #10 Freestyler … This image is shot from deck level and makes use of my base exposure of ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6 with 4 Speedlights at full power again. I only take pictures of athletes when they enter my 1/3 end of the pool where my Speedlights are located. For this image I wanted only the athletes face to fill the entire frame. I used a Nikon TC-14E 1.4x Teleconverter on my 200-400mm G VR zoom lens. This gives me a 560mm focal length that I can hand hold. Nikon D3s, ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon TC-14E 1.4x Teleconverter, WB 5000K, 4 SB-900 Speedlights Remote mode at Full power, 4 FourSquares with Grip etc, 4 Radios etc, SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.
Image #11 Bubble Man … Having control over the lighting that you use to illuminate your subject whether it is a vase of flowers, a beautiful model, or an athlete in action is key when making interesting imagery. So, as the team’s training session continued I began making more creative pictures using “my light” to my advantage. You might recall from Image #6 that the 2 Speedlights on one catwalk were set to Group A while the 2 Speedlights on the other catwalk were set to Group B. This was so I could independently increase or decrease the power output of light from either side of the pool to create some creative lighting on my swimmers. I can use the Nikon SU-800 Commander with Radio Popper PX Transmitter attached to adjust the power output of the Speedlights wirelessly from my location anywhere in the facility. In this case, I’m on the center catwalk directly above my subject. By reducing the power output of the Group A Speedlights to 1/2 power I can enhance the definition of this athlete’s face and created some interesting light and shadow patterns across his body. Also more defined was the cool looking exhale bubble trail that occurred before he broke the surface of the water to begin the backstroke. I compensated for the decrease in Speedlight power output by decreasing my shutter sync speed to 1/1000 and by increasing my ISO to 5000. These changes also helped me to achieve an aperture of f6.7, which allowed me to use a 1.7x teleconverter with my 200-400mm lens (now a 650mm focal length) and really get tight on his face. Nikon D3s, ISO5000, 1/1000 at f6.7, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon TC-17E 1.7x Teleconverter, WB 5000K, 4 SB-900 Speedlights (Group A (left side) at 1/2 power and Group B at Full power), 4 FourSquares etc, 4 Radios Poppers etc, SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.
Image #12 Edge Light Backstroke … After most of the team had finished training one lone swimmer remained. The pool staff had turned off some of the Aquatic Center lights and so the far end of the pool became even darker than before at 2 stops (-2.0) underexposed. My lone athlete is just on the transition area from Speedlights to available ambient light. I like the beautifully lit swimmer and the 2 stops darker unlit background. The red reflections are from the digital timing clocks at the far end of the pool. If I had been using my traditional sport strobes I would have needed to be 3 stops brighter with my strobe light exposure. That would mean the far end of the pool would be completely dark and my timing clock reflections would not be visible. This was a nice image to finish the job with. Nikon D3s, ISO4000, 1/1250 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 5000K, 4 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights at Full power, 4 FourSquares and Grip etc, 4 Radios Popper PX system etc, Nikon SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card. All said and done, the coaches and athletes said they hardly noticed the flashes going off even though I made 295 strobed pictures. I accomplished great pictures and kept good PR with coaches and athletes.

Is it practical and cost efficient? …Yes, when compared to a larger and more traditional sport strobe system. Keep in mind what a dedicated flash system (Nikon Speedlights and Nikon Camera) can do. By using the Auto FP setting in the Nikon camera I can shoot using Nikon Speedlights with a fast shutter sync speed above 1/250. In this case 1/1250. And I can combine the ambient light with the Speedlights. The traditional sport strobe system uses only it’s flash duration to stop the action. With a traditional sport strobe I would be forced to achieve a 3 stop brighter strobe exposure over the available ambient. That will require more equipment and expense: 4 sport strobes, 4 Sport Reflectors, 4 super clamps, 4 safety cables, 5 Pocket Wizard Transceivers, 4 AC extension cords, larger and additional travel cases etc, etc, etc, the cost is about $5,900. I’m looking to use these newer cameras like the D700, D3 and D3s and their ultra high ISO capabilities, activate the Auto FP custom setting for fast shutter sync speeds, and travel much lighter. My 4 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights, 4 FourSquare Blocks with Grips, 5/8-3/8 Rapid Adapters, 4 Double Ball Joints, 4 Super Clamps, 4 Radio Popper PX Receivers and 1 Radio Popper PX Transmitter, Nikon SU-800 Commander and travel case prices out at about $3,800. For the High School gym to the midsize college sports arena, Speedlights are a great way to go.

Using Speedlights to photograph sports action is very exciting for me. And I’m just getting started. I’ve already taking this concept to outdoor sports action with great results that I will present in some of the summer articles of Workshop at the Ranch. The technology is here today, why not use it today.

I hope you enjoyed this extensive teaching. See you next time for some outdoor Speedlight work. Adios. Dave


There is a lot of equipment mentioned in this article. I thought it might be helpful to mention where to acquire these items.

The FourSquare and all FourSquare accessories: www.lightwaredirect.com

The Lightwalker II roll-aboard case (soon to be available): www.lightwareinc.com or any camera store that carries the Lightware brand.

Radio Popper PX Transmitters and PX Receivers: www.radiopopper.com

Michael Bass Designs Fiber Optic Bundle: www.michaelbassdesigns.com

Manfroto (formerly Bogen): #155 Double Ball Joint Head and the 5/8-3/8 Rapid Adapters: available at Robert’s Imaging in Indianapolis 800-726-5544 www.robertsimaging.com

Thank you for hanging in there to the end. Hope you enjoyed the article and learned something new.