Flash & Action shots

Harvey_nikon

Harvey_nikon

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Hi all,

Last night I was trying to get some photos of one of our friends on a trampoline and he was really going for it, but small jumps meant I couldn't catch him at the top of the jump where he isn't moving as fast.

As the light was fading I had to resort to using the flash, however, with a max sync speed of 1/200 with the onboard flash I was still getting a lot of motion blur in the photos.

I had to resort to a low aperture, fast shutter and 800ISO which looks terrible on my camera :(

Any tips or tricks for being able to use flash in this case? Or isn't it possible?
 
I'm no expert but I believe you can get external flash guns with a High Speed sync mode which allow you to use higher shutter speeds.
 
have an ambient exposure thats way too dark then all the exposure will be flash exposure, which is much faster (like 1/1000)
 
grum said:
I'm no expert but I believe you can get external flash guns with a High Speed sync mode which allow you to use higher shutter speeds.
Click to expand...

but lower flash power because it has to expose twice or more times when normally it would just be one pop. So in this case, it's not actually a *vast* amount of use. You need the big guns to blow away ambient and solely light the subject with flash really (which will freeze the motion, because of the short duration of a flash burst) :)
 
itsdavedotnet said:
but lower flash power because it has to expose twice or more times when normally it would just be one pop. So in this case, it's not actually a *vast* amount of use. You need the big guns to blow away ambient and solely light the subject with flash really (which will freeze the motion, because of the short duration of a flash burst) :)
Click to expand...

High Speed Sync will fire more than twice. It strobes at around 50,000 times per second, so several hundred per exposure.

I think HSS is probably the best bet in this situation, provided you're not too far away. Most decent hot-shoe guns will do it. But wasn't it possible to catch the jumper at the top, ie effectively stationary? Might have taken a few shots to get it just right.
 
have an ambient exposure thats way too dark then all the exposure will be flash exposure, which is much faster (like 1/1000)
Click to expand...
That sounds like good advice. Close the aperature until 1/200 leaves the ambient dark, then flash away.

Wide open aperature at ISO800 and a fast shutter speed doesn't sound that gloomy, which probably caused the blur when you used your flash. The D40/60 will have set the exposure time to your auto-iso minimum, in case you used the P or A-mode.
 
It's taken me a while to get that but basically, they are blurry because I wasn't just capturing the flash image but also the ambient image together. Had I of eliminated the ambient light it would of left just the flash image which should of been sharp. Is that correct? :)

I am looking at getting a SB900 asap so I can really start playing with flash outdoors, although I should start using my 2 studio lights!!

As for capturing the jumps at the top, I managed one of the wife at the top, but the other subject was 2-3 years old, his jumps were about 3 inches of the ground and he was really going for it. The D60 doesn't really allow machine gunning and it was proving very difficult to catch him at the peak of the jump!
 
Harvey_nikon said:
It's taken me a while to get that but basically, they are blurry because I wasn't just capturing the flash image but also the ambient image together. Had I of eliminated the ambient light it would of left just the flash image which should of been sharp. Is that correct? :)

I am looking at getting a SB900 asap so I can really start playing with flash outdoors, although I should start using my 2 studio lights!!

As for capturing the jumps at the top, I managed one of the wife at the top, but the other subject was 2-3 years old, his jumps were about 3 inches of the ground and he was really going for it. The D60 doesn't really allow machine gunning and it was proving very difficult to catch him at the peak of the jump!
Click to expand...

Yes, but if you eliminate all ambient blur, you have to eliminate all ambient light, ie the background goes black.

The trick is to get the flash and ambient exposure balanced, but at a high enough shutter speed to freeze the movement. That's what high speed flash does - FP Flash as Nikon call it.

The drawback is that high speed flash uses a lot of power, so range is reduced. Not a problem if you're close, as I'm guessing you could be in that situation.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
I am looking at getting a SB900 asap so I can really start playing with flash outdoors, although I should start using my 2 studio lights!!
Click to expand...


I'd advise going and trying an SB-900 on your D60 before buying - it's a big, heavy flashgun for such as small camera.
 
HoppyUK said:
The trick is to get the flash and ambient exposure balanced, but at a high enough shutter speed to freeze the movement. That's what high speed flash does - FP Flash as Nikon call it.
Click to expand...
Given his lighting situation (small f/stop, ISO800, fast-ish shutter), I don't think the high-speed sync was the missing factor (in this case). In fact, it only becomes necessary if your flash either won't output enough power, or the time it takes to output the amount of light is long enough to cause a blur. And of course if you want to "fillflash" balanced to a quite bright ambient situation (in which case a reflector might be better).

Now a little extra explanation for Harvey. Usually time of flash exposure is very brief and as short as 1/40,000th of a second. However, this is related to the power setting of your flash; meaning that a full-power flash may take as long as 1/500th to output the total amount of light, as the light arch in the discharge bulb will be maintained for longer.
 
Stupidly, had I of finished watching the Nikon - Creative lighting DVD it does cover movement and flash, however, they were using speedlights which obviously I hadn't got. :)

FITP, the SB900 wouldn't be going on D60, I am looking to upgrade. I've several people asking me to do weddings after I recently did a friends. The D60, while fine outdoors isn't capable enough for dull indoor shots.

I've got a firm understanding of the basics but flash is something I haven't had a lot of experience with so I really need to get the equipment and practice/read/watch as much as I can.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I did manage to capture a couple of good ones, which wasn't easy as I was having to lean in to the trampoline because of the safety net.

The Wife:

4638206041_caa836fc37_o.jpg


Our friends son:

4638206279_24768e94de_o.jpg


Just resized and sharpened
 
Would rear curtain sync flash work ok for this sort of thing ?
 
From what I watched last night, it would help but wouldn't always solve the problem.

It would effectively freeze the movement at the end of the photo meaning the blur was behind the subjects showing direction of travel.

(I think ;) )
 
Harvey_nikon said:
Stupidly, had I of finished watching the Nikon - Creative lighting DVD it does cover movement and flash, however, they were using speedlights which obviously I hadn't got. :)

FITP, the SB900 wouldn't be going on D60, I am looking to upgrade. I've several people asking me to do weddings after I recently did a friends. The D60, while fine outdoors isn't capable enough for dull indoor shots.

I've got a firm understanding of the basics but flash is something I haven't had a lot of experience with so I really need to get the equipment and practice/read/watch as much as I can.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I did manage to capture a couple of good ones, which wasn't easy as I was having to lean in to the trampoline because of the safety net.

The Wife:

4638206041_caa836fc37_o.jpg


Our friends son:

4638206279_24768e94de_o.jpg


Just resized and sharpened
Click to expand...

One of the lad looks fine. I quite like a little blur with stuff like that, shows a bit of movement, but high speed sync would have been perfect if you want a sharp image all over, plus an exposure balanced with the background. Shutter speed around 1/1000sec maybe.

-RV- said:
Would rear curtain sync flash work ok for this sort of thing ?
Click to expand...

Harvey_nikon said:
From what I watched last night, it would help but wouldn't always solve the problem.

It would effectively freeze the movement at the end of the photo meaning the blur was behind the subjects showing direction of travel.

(I think ;) )
Click to expand...

Rear-curtain sync would have put the blur on the ball below the ball, instead of above. Doesn't make any difference unless the direction of the blur is important - headlights on a car is the common example.
 
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