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"Light On the Run"Workshop at the Ranch Hi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch.
If you have read this month's June issue of On the Road you
get a sense of what I look for when covering the day of the
Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, but, the Derby week offers
much more than just Saturday's race coverage. One of my projects
involved portraits of the jockeys. I wanted to do something
different by using some off camera lighting on location in the
paddock, on the track and around the winner's circle. Extreme
caution must be exercised when using flash around horses. They
can easily be spooked by the sudden burst of light, but my experiences
with the Nikon SB800 Speedlight system has grown this past year
and I felt I could discretely and effectively light up the jockeys
without disturbing any million dollar race horses. My technical
approach would be similar to the images I have been making of
NFL players emerging from the locker rooms and running onto
the field, the basic formula being underexposing my background
scene by about -1 stop and increasing the power output of my
SB800 by about +1 stop ... give or take a little on exposure
and power output depending on how subtle or stylized you want
the picture to be ... ( see February 2006
WATR article "My Moody Blue Formula" and May 2007
WATR article on "SB800 Location Lighting in Mexico."
) I also have learned how to use a LumiQuest Snoot on my SB800
to add just a "pinch" of light across my subjects
face. It was my intention to use these techniques to simply
add some "Light On The Run" .........................
Well, I hope you all have enjoyed this Light
On The Run style of portraiture. A lot can be done with a little
light in a short period of time. I really enjoyed making these
pictures. Something new for the magazine. I'm always very cautious
and careful when working around race horses. Positioning the Speedlights
in close proximity to my subject and using the flash only after
the horse is turned away or out of range gave me confidence to
pursue something new and unique at the race track. For me, the
confidence to use lighting in the manner that I have just discussed
came from many hours of practice at smaller sports situations
before applying these techniques at a championship event. I wanted
to make certain that my use of flash would be acceptable and not
an intrusion. Practice ahead of time will always pay off and most
likely keep a photographer from over stepping their boundary or
causing an uncomfortable situation for athletes, fans and even
horses.
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Image
#1 Jamie Theroit ... The rain soaked Churchill Downs race
track provided plenty of mud kicked up by the leaders into
this jockey's face. His race horse is about 10 feet behind
him being escorted back to the barn area and is out of visual
range of my SB800. I've positioned myself a few feet onto
the track where Jamie is quickly walking off towards the
the weigh scale that is about 8 feet behind me. I held one
remote SB800 with Warming Gel in my left hand and positioned
it off camera to the left and slightly above the level of
the brim of his helmet. I've placed a LumiQuest Snoot on
the remote SB800 and I have "pinched" the opening
of the snoot with a paper clip that allows only a narrow
shaft of light to illuminate a portion of his goggles and
face. I shot one frame as he passed by me close enough to
position the SB800 less than 2 feet from his face. I underexposed
the scene by about 1 1/3 stop and increased the power of
my SB800 with a power output of +1. I used a cool/blue WB
of 3200K and then used the Warming Gel that comes standard
with the SB800 Speedlight to counter the cool/blue WB and
add a warm skin tone to my subjects face. Nikon D2Xs, ISO200,
1/500 at f4, Nikon 17-55mm Lens, WB 3200K, Nikon SU800 Commander
to trigger the remote SB800, Nikon SB800 as a Remote in
i-TTL mode with a power output of +1, Lexar 8G Flash Card.
This, in general, is the basic formula I like to use ....
give or take a little by varying the amount of underexposure
with the camera and the increased power output with the
SB800. This formula is not absolute but a guideline to help
you get started. Each picture in this article makes "general"
use of this basic formula with slight "gives and takes"
in camera exposure/power output which makes each picture
unique. The most difficult task was to place the strobe
in a position so the shaft of light would illuminate his
eye and a portion of his face and a bit of the goggles while
he was briskly walking by me. It was like threading a needle
with light but the more jockeys I photographed the better
and more comfortable I became with my Light On The Run quest.
Image
#2 Robby Albarado ... Albarado would be riding Curlin
in the Kentucky Derby and then go on to win the Preakness,
the second leg of the Triple Crown. Here Robby wins a
stakes race on Oaks Day and avoids being plastered with
mud by leading the race wire to wire. He gives the thumbs
up sign while walking from the winner circle track side
at Churchill Downs. With his race horse turned towards
the barn area I used Two remote SB800 with warming gels
rubber banded together on top of one another tandem to
form a single hand held package of Speedlights, no snoot
was used because I wanted a broader spread of light. The
overcast skies really work well when using the cool/blue
white balance setting at the lower end of the Kelvin scale.
The warming gel counters the cool/blue WB and illuminates
my subject with warm light. This time I chose a slow shutter
speed of 1/15 of a second with rear curtain sync and simply
panned with Robby as he walked by me. The 1/15 shutter
speed created a nice motion pan blur while the SB800 flash
froze my subject. The tandem SB800s were held by one of
my assistants for the Oaks and Derby day, Sierra. Sierra
positioned herself across from me as each of the jockey's
would dismount and make there way to the weigh scale or
winner circle adjacent to the track. Sierra is a fine
young photographer and was a quick understudy who grasped
the "Light On The Run" concept immediately.
Nikon D2Xs, ISO160, 1/15 at f11 (approx.: 1 1/3 stop underexposed),
Nikon 17-55mm Lens, WB 4000K, SU800 Commander, Two Nikon
SB800 Speedlights each with a power output of +1.3, Lexar
8G Flash Card. Sierra kept herself about 3-4 feet from
each jockey as the walked between us. She and I would
sometimes take a side step to keep pace with the jockey
so as to keep our light on the run mobile studio with
our subject.
Image
#3 Jesus Castanon ... Jockeys are more likely to stop and
pose for a photographer after a win. Castanon came from behind
to win this pre Oaks race. The rain soaked track again produced
terrific mud packed faces. The winning race horse is being
lead out of the winner circle and Jesus is on his way to a
TV interview when I politely asked him for one picture to
which he was kind enough to stop for about 1 second and then
continue on his way. Sometimes all you get is 1 second so
make it count. I held one remote SB800 with warming gel and
"pinched" snoot in my left hand so that a narrow
shaft of warm light would accent his muddy face. Nikon D2Xs,
ISO250, 1/200 at f4 (approx.: 1 2/3 stop underexposed), Nikon
17-55mm Lens, WB 5000K, SU800 Commander, One remote SB800
with warming gel and LumiQuest Snoot "pinched" with
a power output of +1.3, Lexar 8G Flash Card. I used a White
Balance of 5000K and the warming gel to warm up the picture
more than usual. Athletes are so accustomed to a TV camera
pressed into their face that Castanon did not seem concerned
that I was only 20 inches from his mud covered nose.
Image
#4 Garrett Gomez ... Winner of this years Kentucky Oaks is
on his way from the jockeys locker room to the Paddock area.
My assistant, Sierra, is positioned across from me holding
the tandem remote SB800s with warming gels. She is about 5
feet from Garrett. When I use two SB800 Speedlights working
in i-TTL mode I don't get twice the power but I do get half
the recycle time which allowed me to photograph each of the
fast approaching jockeys with fully charged Speedlights. Nikon
D2Xs, ISO100, 1/13 at f16 (approx: 1 1/3 stop underexposed),
Nikon 17-55mm Lens, WB 3600K, Nikon SU800 Commander, Two remote
Nikon SB800 Speedlights banded together tandem with warming
gels power output +1, Lexar 8G Flash Card. This image is similar
to the Image of Robby Albarado in that it makes use of a slow
shutter speed to create a pan blur and then rear curtain sync
with flash to freeze areas of my subject that are illuminated
with the Speedlight. The cool/blue scene, warm light and panned
motion make for a very stylized picture of winning jockey
Garrett Gomez.
Image
#5 Edgar Prado ... Last year's Kentucky Derby winner aboard
Barbaro, Edgar is a primary figure in the horseracing industry
and someone who makes a strong portrait. He won a late day
stakes race and so I made use of the winner circle again
and asked Edgar for one picture before moving on to the
TV interview area. One second was all I was given and all
that was required to make a stylized portrait of a great
champion. Nikon D2Xs, ISO100, 1/250 at f4 (approx: 1 2/3
stop underexposed), Nikon 17-55mm Lens, WB 3200K, Nikon
SU800 Commander, Two Nikon remote SB800 Speedlights with
warming gels and banded together in tandem with a power
output of + 1.3 held by Sierra about 3 feet away, Lexar
8G Flash Card. The late day overcast sky really enhance
the cool/blue 3200K WB while the warming gel illuminates
Edgar with warm light. 