Lighting for skateboard shots

I've got the Ebay slaves and i find them OK. I have modified them by adding an ariel and some external battery packs for the receivers, the batteries for them are around £8 each:eek: I find they wrok well, and have had only 2 misfires from about 1000 shots, with my antenna addition i can get about 275 feet distance aswell before they start playing up a bit. If you are unsure of how much you are going to get into Strobist stuff, try them, and if you really get into off camera flahs, you can then upgrade to Skyports or PW's. But if you don't like it much, you are only looking at about £30 - £40. After seeing a lot of Cherryrigs posts on Skyports, i am upgrading, i didn't think off camera flash was for me, but i have found myself using it in pretty much all circumstances;)
 
If we're looking at digital Nikon flashes with an LCD and manual controls, of the SB24/25/26/28s, which gives the most 'bang for your buck' so to speak?

I use an SB800 currently but I'll be complementing that with some used Nikon SBs when i get my transmitter kit through. I just like the ease of use with Nikons.
 
SB-24 is the basic model which all the other SB's are based on

SB-25 is just an update, some new stuff over the 24 but not much.

SB-26 has a built in optical slave, quite a useful little feature

SB-28 is smaller and lighter than the other SB's before hand. The 28 has rubber buttons rather than switches on the back and has a different layout to the other SB's. Might have the light slave in this one but couldn't seem to find anything, so not sure

So there a basically all the same flash and come from the OG SB-25 but with some updated little features but mainly have the same flash output

:):)
 
Pricer - I may be selling my Ebay slaves, will let you know mate, i have a friend who was asking about them, but he hasn't mentioned it for a while, once i get the Skyports i will let you know one way or the other:thumbs:
 
Pricer said:
ive got this little red box that you get on many flashes, is this ar IR reciver?
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If the flash is a fairly recent design, it's likely to be the housing for the autofocus assist beam.
 
Interesting that somebody said not to worry about the fisheye to start with. I must say that fisheyes, particularly in video, are the most overused accessories in the skateboard media at the moment. It`s got to the point where everything seems to be filmed a few inches from the ground and 2 feet from the action...there is just no context to any shot anymore.

I saw Chris Cole`s section in the new Fallen vid the other day and the fisheye use totally ruined it for me.

Sorry, slightly off topic there as I`ve drifted onto fisheyes in video.
 
RichieRich said:
Interesting that somebody said not to worry about the fisheye to start with. I must say that fisheyes, particularly in video, are the most overused accessories in the skateboard media at the moment. It`s got to the point where everything seems to be filmed a few inches from the ground and 2 feet from the action...there is just no context to any shot anymore.

I saw Chris Cole`s section in the new Fallen vid the other day and the fisheye use totally ruined it for me.

Sorry, slightly off topic there as I`ve drifted onto fisheyes in video.
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Yea but's in video thou ;) Photography is different. In video, if you want to film a line then a fisheye is a MUST where as in photography fisheye is an extra for those who already know about lighting. A fisheye shot with rubbish lighting is a fisheye shot not worth taking as it'll just look really bad ;)
 
Like Cherryrig says, a badly lit shot on a Fisheye is just a poor shot, whereas if it is shot with say a nifty, but badly lit, it could still be an ok shot. IMO Fisheyes are an easy option when it comes to BMX and Skating shots, it is just a case of shove it as close as possible and hope for the best. Whereas if you use a more run of the mill lens, it challenges you to MAKE a better shot, if you get what i mean:thinking::lol:
 
Very very true newyorkaddict :lol:

Thats why you stick with a 50mm lens and learn about comp lighting as it'll help when you get your fisheye as you'd already know about lighting. Plus when you get a fisheye lighting is a little harder as the lens is soo wide you might get flashes in shot ;)
 
Mine is a little complicated but here goes,

A PC to Hotshoe Cable from the Radio RC to the Flash Hotshoe, this is then connected to a Cold Shoe which is screwed directly to the top of the light stand. This holds everything steady, the RC is then attatched to the light stand or flash using a Lanyard. I will try and get some pics for you later to explain it better. I can also show you some of the mods i have done to improve the ebay slaves shooting range and reliability:thumbs: BTW, there is a company doing two of the same light stands i use, for £30 inc. plostage, i will find the link for you for that aswell.
 
This is how I mount my flashes on my light stands

2201645699_d1efe1f1a0.jpg

Flickr Link

I use one of these as it allows me to tilt the flash head up and down and cheap as well

However for eBay slaves you just mount them on the shoe then screw the bottom to the tripod/lightstand top
 
Not too sure mate, i didn't try mine, i took them out of the RX units and put my lanyards through them, this way i could still use them without having to have light stands with me. I use "Ball Bungees" when i have no stands, they are about £5 form fleabay, and are really useful for when you don't want to carry all your gear around:thumbs:
 
I wouldn't mount a flash on top of ebay triggers if I were you. The base is flimsy in my opinion meaning they'll wobble around if you're using them outside in a breeze if they even manage to hold a flash up in the first place. I think there's a mod to improve the support on them but to be honest I'd buy something else straight off.
 
No because the triggers are still the ebay triggers are still the weak link. Much better to mount the flash to a cold shoe or one of the umbralla swivel things and then hand the trigger from a lanyard or attach with velcro. What flash are you using and will it have a PC sync plug or do you have to use the hotshoe pins to fire it?
 
Fair point, cherryrig, if you want to travel as light as possible and limit your capabilities. But spending a bit more at the outset can save hassle and dosh over the longterm. I certainly wouldn't use a hammerhead flash on a Kaiser bracket (and don't tell me no-one uses `em for skateboard shots ;) )
 
Looks more like it was shot on medium format seeing as it's square. What is the effect you're after, looks like a standard black and white shot to me.
 
Thats a 5x4 photo by the way ;)

Those are just film borders from scanning in the film. Please don't add them to your digi shots to make it look like a film photo :lol: Some people just don't crop the borders off
 
cherryrig said:
Thats a 5x4 photo by the way ;)

Those are just film borders from scanning in the film. Please don't add them to your digi shots to make it look like a film photo :lol: Some people just don't crop the borders off
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hahaha noooooo im not on about that, the actual picture, ill take a pic of the one in the mag so i you get what i mean
 
Most shots from BMX mags come from Canon 1D used by Steve Bancroft, the only time medium format is used is when Chris Scott Hall submits stuff, look him up at QUIS.CC for some examples, he is a great photographer, with an eye for making an ordinary shot look great:thumbs:
 
newyorkaddict said:
Most shots from BMX mags come from Canon 1D used by Steve Bancroft, the only time medium format is used is when Chris Scott Hall submits stuff, look him up at QUIS.CC for some examples, he is a great photographer, with an eye for making an ordinary shot look great:thumbs:
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Chris has now stopped using film for a while by the way, he said that you will just be using his D200 for a while now ;)

Skateboard for some reason has a lot of MF shots, hense why I bought mine.......so I could fit in :lol:

Now all I need is some barebulb flashes, which I'll hopefully be getting soon

QFlash T2 :)

So it would be 1 QFlash, 1 SB-26 and 2 SB-25's for my lighting set up:nuts:
 
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