Sports Photography with Flash

I photograph a number of high school athletic events.  Those held in dimly lit football stadiums or gyms require an added light source unless noise isn’t a big issue.  Even with today’s magnificent low light sensors, noise still becomes an issue by ISO 5000.   With my 400 f4 lens, I would need an ISO of 10000 to take an adequate photo freezing the action at 1/640 sec.  Hence, the need for a flash.  Sports photography with flash poses domes problems, however.   One problem becomes how to freeze the action.  This is more than a function of shutter speed.  The flash sync of a Canon 5D MKIII is 1/200 sec.  This is much too slow to freeze action by itself.  However, the flash duration is much shorter than the shutter.  It typically is somewhere around 1/1000 of a second.  So, the flash should freeze action, right?   Not necessarily.  The more power the flash is outputting (which is a lot to cover a dark high school football field), the longer the duration of the flash.  I have found a somewhat happy medium is to set the flash to manual with a setting of 1/2 power, ISO around 800 to 1250, and of course, my aperture at f4.  This works when the action is close but when the action is farther away, the flash can’t produce enough light at 1/2 power to evenly illuminator the scene.

Canon 600 EX RT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I raise the power output, the scene becomes blurry.  I had been using a Canon 600 EX RT with a SRT R3 transmitter.

Quantum T5DR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I switched to a Quatum T5DR to see if that would allow for better illumination.  The higher power flash definitely gave me more working range but blur is still somewhat of an issue.  The evenness and depth of illumination is improved, but some blur is still present.  The photo on the left has some ghosting which isn’t a major distraction but is still visible.  The next step may be to find a camera with a faster flash sync and see if that improves the situation.

I photographed the Erie Festival of Champions Softball tournament over Labor Day weekend.  This tournament features some of the premier high school girls softball teams from Colorado and Oklahoma.  After covering the state finals last year, I knew which teams to look for and what players to cover this year as the season kicks off.  The quality of play seemingly gets better every year.

The rain held off to get both games of the final round in today of the 4A baseball Championship.  Green Mountain rolled over Niwot to take the title.  Enjoy the photographs of the 4A finals!

 

High school baseball is back in action along the Front Range, a sure sign spring has arrived.  Unlike last year where games were canceled left and right, the weather has mostly cooperated this year.  Here a few images from games this weekend.

I photographed the Colorado High School 5A Great 8 boys basketball tournament this past weekend.  It was fun to see some good high school basketball and shoot four games.  I will be at the 3A final this weekend in Colorado Springs.

Colorado KU Basketball game

I photographed the Colorado KU men’s basketball game.  It was exciting to see Colorado beat Kansas for the first time 19 tries yesterday in Boulder.  The fans stormed the court after a last second heave went in.  Andrew Wiggins for Kansas also didn’t disappoint as he poured in 22 points.

A physical game between Colorado and Wyoming last night at the Coors Events Center.  Colorado pulled out a close one.  I got some photos of good battles underneath the basket.

 

Regensburger Photography is a full service photography studio providing innovative and stylish portraits, senior portraits, weddings, and more in the Denver metro area. If you are looking for someone to capture memories that last a lifetime, contact Regensburger Photography today at 303 478 -7586.

Colorado State hung in the game against Boise for most of the first half and then staged a late rally but couldn’t pull it out as they threw an interception after recovering an onside kick.

The rain stopped long enough in Parker Friday to get in a football game between Legacy and Chaparral.  The sun even came out during the second half.  It was a low-scoring game but entertaining.  Chaparral made less mistakes and hung on for the win.  The game featured more than one jarring hit by Chaparral defensive back Jaylynn Rapp.

 

Regensburger Photography is a full service photography studio providing innovative and stylish portraits, senior portraits, weddings, and more in the Denver metro area. If you are looking for someone to capture memories that last a lifetime, contact Regensburger Photography today at 303 478 -7586.