JeromesPOV
Looks interesting, but...
Netherlands, Rotterdam, Maasboulevard, along the route of the last Wednesday Night Skate of 2007.
This is the setup with which I intended to make at least one interesting photo of the long queue of skaters passing by this photogenic spot. However, let's not beat around the bush: I failed miserably. I made a whole series, but all shots were horribly blurred.
What you see is my modified Telesteps telescopic photo ladder. It has a modification (not clearly visible here) that allows me to screw a Manfrotto ballhead onto it, making this a very high 'tripod.' An engineer friend of mine designed and constructed the mod.
For this occasion, I had also taped my Manfrotto monopod (right) and tripod (left) onto the top part of the ladder. My old manual Metz flash in the softbox on the left, the Canon Speedlite 580EX on the right. Both flashes triggered with a dual ETTL cord from the 1D (the first) in the middle.
I received great cooperation from the skaters when they passed by. Many cheerful faces and waving. So my sign seemed to work. People really enjoyed that somebody was taking their picture at this location, almost near the finish.
My intention was to make shots with the dusky, cloudy sky in the background and the skaters lit by the 2 flashes in the foreground.
This setup seemed to work. The 2" LCD of the 1D showed quite evenly lit takes.
However, what I did not notice during the shoot was that I had chosen an exposure time (1/60), which was WAY too long for this type of action.
At 9pm, tt had gotten dark much faster than I had hoped, also because of the overcast sky. ISO 800 and aperture 5.6, and 1/60 seemed to be the only option for the shot I wanted to make. When I got home and reviewed the photos, I had to hang my head in shame. The results were disastrous. Every single take was terribly unsharp from extreme motion blur.
Skaters (like e.g. marathon runners) go very.fast. I could and should have known this, but was too eager to realize my original idea for the shot.
A series of shots of the skater parade taken one hour earlier with 1/250 already showed unacceptable motion blur.
This was the story of my failed (first) attempt to make a cool Rotterdam Wednesday Night Skate photo. I shall not give up. Next year, I want to give it another try. With more experience, a hopefully bit more light and exposure times of 1/800 or shorter.
Learn how to light at Strobist.
Looks interesting, but...
Netherlands, Rotterdam, Maasboulevard, along the route of the last Wednesday Night Skate of 2007.
This is the setup with which I intended to make at least one interesting photo of the long queue of skaters passing by this photogenic spot. However, let's not beat around the bush: I failed miserably. I made a whole series, but all shots were horribly blurred.
What you see is my modified Telesteps telescopic photo ladder. It has a modification (not clearly visible here) that allows me to screw a Manfrotto ballhead onto it, making this a very high 'tripod.' An engineer friend of mine designed and constructed the mod.
For this occasion, I had also taped my Manfrotto monopod (right) and tripod (left) onto the top part of the ladder. My old manual Metz flash in the softbox on the left, the Canon Speedlite 580EX on the right. Both flashes triggered with a dual ETTL cord from the 1D (the first) in the middle.
I received great cooperation from the skaters when they passed by. Many cheerful faces and waving. So my sign seemed to work. People really enjoyed that somebody was taking their picture at this location, almost near the finish.
My intention was to make shots with the dusky, cloudy sky in the background and the skaters lit by the 2 flashes in the foreground.
This setup seemed to work. The 2" LCD of the 1D showed quite evenly lit takes.
However, what I did not notice during the shoot was that I had chosen an exposure time (1/60), which was WAY too long for this type of action.
At 9pm, tt had gotten dark much faster than I had hoped, also because of the overcast sky. ISO 800 and aperture 5.6, and 1/60 seemed to be the only option for the shot I wanted to make. When I got home and reviewed the photos, I had to hang my head in shame. The results were disastrous. Every single take was terribly unsharp from extreme motion blur.
Skaters (like e.g. marathon runners) go very.fast. I could and should have known this, but was too eager to realize my original idea for the shot.
A series of shots of the skater parade taken one hour earlier with 1/250 already showed unacceptable motion blur.
This was the story of my failed (first) attempt to make a cool Rotterdam Wednesday Night Skate photo. I shall not give up. Next year, I want to give it another try. With more experience, a hopefully bit more light and exposure times of 1/800 or shorter.
Learn how to light at Strobist.