# Football season begins.. with a flash.



## Destin (Sep 6, 2011)

As the title hints, the high school football season has just kicked off in my area, and I decided that instead of just shooting the first quarter, and quitting once the light was gone, that I'd try using flash to see what would happen. 

So I threw my sb-600 on an L bracket, and used a hose clamp to secure it onto my monopod about 2 feet under my camera. Shot with a Nikon D80 and Sigma 70-200, at F2.8, 1/250th, iso 800. No major exposure corrections were made in post, just minor tweaks. Whaddya think? Using this gear (shot natural light for the first quarter) I only managed to pull out 21/85 keepers from this game. Last year it was somewhere around 40, but then again, my standards have gone up in the last year. 

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Those are really the only good ones I got using flash. Just for fun, here are a few from before the field turned into a black hole:

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This was literally RIGHT in front of me. Wish I would have been able to go wider. But I don't think the timing was bad, since I don't motor drive. There's just no point with a D80 lol. 





Can't wait to get my D7k in about a month. It'll make life a bit easier for stuff like this!


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## bogeyguy (Sep 6, 2011)

And then you went and f&%#ed everything up with those horrendous watermarks!!!!!


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## Destin (Sep 6, 2011)

bogeyguy said:
			
		

> And then you went and f&%#ed everything up with those horrendous watermarks!!!!!



Haha I'm sick of hearing that comment. I'm pulling these photos out of my gallery where they are for sale. I've seen watermarks that are wayyy worse! And I'm yet to have a single customer so much as mention them. And I've made about 300 sports photo sales this year


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## imagemaker46 (Sep 6, 2011)

While the flash isn't a bad idea, it's the way most night football was shot in the 50's-early 60's, if they aren't sharp or there is movement, or it's the backs of heads, it doesn't matter.  I'm guessing you were shooting at a slow shutter speed. The action is there but the focus isn't.  I think it's great that you made the effort to keep shooting and trying the flash, lots of people would have just quit.


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## Destin (Sep 6, 2011)

imagemaker46 said:
			
		

> While the flash isn't a bad idea, it's the way most night football was shot in the 50's-early 60's, if they aren't sharp or there is movement, or it's the backs of heads, it doesn't matter.  I'm guessing you were shooting at a slow shutter speed. The action is there but the focus isn't.  I think it's great that you made the effort to keep shooting and trying the flash, lots of people would have just quit.



I was shooting 250th of a second. Can't go any higher without upping the iso, which is not an option with the d80s high iso performance. But, the motion blur doesnt bother me too much because the flash still froze the action, and the players are in focus just fine. 

And football is still shot with flash, by MANY pro photographers. Obviously not college/NFL because the light is good there and they don't allow it. No matter how good your iso performance is, on a high school field at night, if you want to see faces, you better use flash. It's not something of the 50s and 60s, it's a currently recommended method.


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## dakkon76 (Sep 6, 2011)

Maybe if you hear about the ridiculous water mark enough, you'll get rid of it. Personally, I don't care one way or the other. As soon as I see your images, I just close my browser tab and move on. The water mark makes them painful to look at.

... I wonder how many of your potential customers do the same thing.


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## sierramister (Sep 6, 2011)

Seeing faces isn't dependent on flash.

Edit: I suspect your shooting style is going to change once you get your D7K!


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## Destin (Sep 6, 2011)

sierramister said:
			
		

> Seeing faces isn't dependent on flash.



Apparently the lighting at your fields isn't as steep as it is at the ones around here.


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## imagemaker46 (Sep 6, 2011)

Destin said:


> imagemaker46 said:
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I've been shooting professional football in Canada since 1969 and have never seen another professional photographer using a flash. I know that it is can be acceptable at minor league levels as long as it's cleared with the coaches, but I'd still never use a flash. I'd rather shoot at 1600-3200 iso and 320-400th, also using a 300-4002.8 it's pointless.

You'll have no trouble shooting at iso3200 when you get the new body.


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