First go at shooting indoor sports - Roller derby

[photoaffinity]

Hi, i was lucky enough to be asked to do some shots for the Sydney roller derby league recently. having never shot indoor sports before, i thought it would be a challenge, and i was right.

For those that don't know it, the sport is basically full-contact speed skating, very rough, very fast and lots of fun. i can't wait until the next bout.

The hall was lit by yucky mercury lights, and a bit of diffused sunlight thrown in for good measure. In order to get a shutter speed of 320 or 400 at f2.8 to capture some of the action, i needed to be at iso 3200. depending on where i was pointing the lens, i was either at ISO 3200 or 4000 the whole time.

thankfully the noise is acceptable on the 5d mk ii at these settings.

The glass i used was a Canon 70-200 2.8, and a Sigma 15-30mm.

To help with the lighting i had a 580exii on camera, dialed 2 stops down and set on either high speed sync mode or rear curtain and 1/200 shutter speed if i want to introduce some more blur.

here's a selection of images. any tips for next time?

[Glen]

The first is a great action shot which showcases the essence of the sport well. It may even have more impact by cropping top and bottom, it would add to the being squeezed feeling. Two seems a fraction soft for a non action shot and Three is very appealing to me. Looks like a fun time!

[Killakoala]

And I always thought rollerball was just a crappy movie.

Good images taken in difficult circumstances, so well done with that.

I would prefer to see the first one with a tighter crop. There feels too much above and below that is superfluous to the action.

The second one is excellent

The third could also do with a tighter crop.

The last one looks painful. It suffers from a bit of softness too, which is a pity because it's pretty good.

EDIT: BTW, What is the point of rollerball anyway?

[Mitchell]

This is a fun series - well done under the conditions.

The expressions in the first are great, while the second is soft it almost feels like a futuristic war photo - have you tried it in B&W? I think the third doesn't quite work because of the pole behind her.

Why did you dial the flash down 2 stops - were the subjects looking over-bright? For the tight frames that are shot at a bit of a distance, full flash may have given you a bit more flexibility with aperture or iso. Just some thoughts.

[chrisk]

these chicks are bad ass man.
loving the silhouette and the last one shows great expression.

[ian.bertram]

C/mon, this isn't really a sport! Surely this is just an excuse for beating up people (sounds like rugby league). Nice action shots. Number one is clearly the best but as mentioned maybe running your flash at full might have hepled yo lower your f stop annd increase your DOF. Number three is a great idea. If I were shooting there again I'd try for it again and move yourself 1m to the left or right to avoid the pole.

Great shots, lots of colour and action.

[aim54x]

Nice work, not much that i can add to what has already been said.

If possible maybe try to get tighter crops on those facial expressions in #1....maybe faces only?

I love #3!

[Doctor]

Nice work, im a big fan of all this old school style and sports that are starting to reappear these days, ive been hanging to get down and shoot when they are in Adelaide, they are only 5 mins from home, but they always happen to be on Sundays when i work, now ive seen someone else have a go, ill make more of an effort to go and try!

I agree with most of the comments allready made too, moving slightly to avoid the pole would have made the silhouette perfect, and the tighter crop would work well on the first one...

[photoaffinity]

Wow thanks for the response and all the feedback!

1. A tight crop will work a lot better, i was unsure on that to begin with but you guys have given me some perspective there.
2. i like the idea of it being a futuristic war time scene. i might add a bit of a vignette and a high contrast b/w conversion.
3. this one was a 'wow look at that - snap' type moment from across the hall, couldn't even see the pole from where i was standing, just a huge white blinding light with a cool silhouette. i might set up a similar shot next time and do it right.
4. this girl broke her wrist or something. it was pretty intense. usually they would fall, spit some blood and get up to keep racing, this one just shook on the ground until first aid came over.

As far as the flash being two stops down, that was because anything more and it would give me a horrible 'on camera flash' look, you know the one, bright subjects that are in front of the camera and everything else dark. if they were off axis it could add a totally different dynamic to the image.

i would like to next time use a couple of other 580's on high speed sync slave mode acting as slaves mounted across the hall.
this time i could have used a standard wireless trigger and some manual flashes, but the sync speed was too low and it gave a yucky 'flash-blur' look.

What is the point of rollerball anyway?

ah i remember that movie... might watch it tonight.

you can find out about roller derby at http://sydneyrollerderby.com/

[ozimax]

And I thought Rugby League was a tough sport? James Caan would be proud.

I'm very interested in seeing how you used the flash in high speed mode for sports images. Haven't tried that before.

Ozi.

[surenj]

i would like to next time use a couple of other 580's on high speed sync slave mode acting as slaves mounted across the hall.
this time i could have used a standard wireless trigger and some manual flashes, but the sync speed was too low and it gave a yucky 'flash-blur' look.

If you increased the shutter speed with high speed sync, would it not make the background really dark? [unless you were using the flashes to light the background as well?]

As far I knew, the canon system can't do 2nd curtain flash sync... That would help if you trying to capture a bit of motion blur etc

Also check out the article on strobist on this very issue about cross lighting a basketball game with two speedlights. [you may need reliable triggers like the microsync, ?STE2 or pocket wizards however]

[Big V]

The canon does do rear curtain sync push the plus and minus button at thye same time to select rear curtain or high speed sync - try it you will love the world of creativity you can gain from this..