Skate Park at Somerset MRT

[charleslim]

Man -nice moves and pics. street skating!

Was just searching through the sportsshooter site on this subject and got some interesting infomation --
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=10628
there's this dude talking about putting the
normal light down to 2 stops lower - and letting the flash act like a shutter. Not too sure if that will work on day -

anyway also found out that the canon 1D can x sych at 1/500.
wonder if the 1D mark2 N does it too?

curb --- heeeh didn't notice that!

 

[sehsuan]

Only the 1D (original) did 1/500 x-sync. Newer (Mk II, Mk II N) does only 1/250s x-sync.

Which strobe did you get?

 

[sehsuan]

By the way, a certain degree of motion blur is nice for the shots you got. Otherwise, where got action?

 

[charleslim]

I got the cheap ones SGstealth sells. http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=149229

RL660 Outdoor Lighting Kit - SGD$580

The kit consists of the following items

* RL660 - 600W battery operated strobe, comes with charger and battery and associated accessories
* Heavy Duty Lightstand
* Silver or White Umbrella

Sehsuan, you got 1D right - want to give it spin with my strobe and 580 flash? (got radio trigger)

 

[sehsuan]

No la. You saw me in-camp with 10D only, unless someone throws a 1D at me, then I'll still only have one camera... .:bsmilie:

 

[Drudkh]

This shot is good! :thumbsup: just the flare is ugly.

 

[billpepsi]

Love your wide angle shots. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Castlesinthesky]

very nice effort with the strobe...but if you're looking at really freezing motion, you should be looking at portable strobe lighting with extremely short flash durations. I.E profoto 7B etc, but those don't come cheap at all

this might be useful, though the subject may be different

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00EpvY&tag=

 

[afiend]

Hi all,

RL660 and RL330 flash durations are between 1/800s to 1/1200s, so unless the subject is moving extremely fast, the flash duration should be able to sufficiently freeze the motion.

The blurring is due to the lower x-sync speed of the camera, rather than flash durations.

Charles, as discuss with you, you might like to try a camera with a higher sync speed...

 

[Castlesinthesky]

Hi all,

RL660 and RL330 flash durations are between 1/800s to 1/1200s, so unless the subject is moving extremely fast, the flash duration should be able to sufficiently freeze the motion.

The blurring is due to the lower x-sync speed of the camera, rather than flash durations.

Charles, as discuss with you, you might like to try a camera with a higher sync speed...

hmm kenneth, interesting... wasn't aware of the jinbei's flash duration speeds.... but i think according to the sportshooter referenced link, it may prove useful to have extremely short flash durations. It may not necessarily be limited to the x-sync speed-as quoted from one of the posters in the thread below. I do believe the subject below maybe somewhat relevant-basketball players. It is really interesting to note that they are talking about minimum speeds of 1/1200 for flash durations just for this subject.

I think it'd be really interesting to have it look moody anyway, if the intent is to overpower the ambient lighting.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=13506

"It is the flash duration speed that freezes the action. Not the shutter speed of your camera. Flash duration is the amount of time the strobe takes to turn on and off. It is this blast of light that is freezing the action. So as long as your strobes are giving two stops or more over ambient, It will freeze the action at what ever the duration speed is. This is why it is important when selecting a strobe package to know what the duration speed is. I use Elinchrom 600 which have a duration speed of 1/2050th of a second. That's Fast! Typicaly though, as long as your strobes duration speed is 1/1200th or faster you should be getting really sharp images. This being said, if your sync speed is 1/125th, or even 1/60th, you can still freeze the action as long as you are able to get two stops over ambient. Although, getting two stops over ambient at those shutter speeds could be tough. "

 

[Shibin]

wow charles next time you going to shoot skate park again jio me leh.. i wanna learn how to do these type of photography. me newbie so maybe can be your assistant while you shoot =P

 

[benedium]

Nice shots man!!! One of my favourite subjects!!! Can I please join you next time? Please... please....?

 

[oTaRu]

wow~! cant believe my eyes... they are great shots...!

 

[sehsuan]

Charles, you've just drawn out all the BMX/Skate people on this forum! :bsmilie:

 

[rhp]

hey charles,
in the first photo, stefs first name is spelled stefan with an a in it. yeah its me.

 

[icestrike]

very nice shots !
makes me feel like going back to skate.
but been so busy

 

[zulschizo]

Magazine quality pic.

and the curb behind.. SEN, does it stand for StreetEntertainmentnews.com?

SEN is just a local graffiti artist's name =)

 

[charleslim]

This that you Stefen? Stefan hehe
Whooa thanks for the respone. Yep looks like strobes are the key.
Looking at the results, I am a happy camper.
I am now poring through magazines internet on info on strobes. Interesting point which was raised was the flash duration, which looks like a important element to eliminated motion blur.

I found some strobes online with 1/1500 and some even at 1/2000!

Anyway I just got back from a REDBULL job shooting kitesailing competition, in Indonesia (ManaMana) - Did my usual, shoot and swim.
And later in the day - Guess what? I got my strobe out, and attempted to
fire some side light on the sailors as they came close to shore. It was a hit and miss afair, plus there was a real danger that we might get electrocuted, as we where standing knee deep with waves crashing in.
The strobe was handheld by another person and battery in an icebox carried by another person - 3 people to take one picture!
Lots of misses.
However when the strobe managed to hit the sailor, the image produced were much better. - I think I am hooked onto with strobes.

Sorry guys I can't post any pictures here on this forum as I had signed
contract with REDBULL and they would fry my butt if I did.
But if you want to check the results - it's on my site
www.seastories.sg/feedme
note that not all the shots are taken with strobe - I am sure you can tell which ones are.

Anyway - can't wait to get back to the skatepark to try out some other ideas . want to try other stuff like dirt
biking and street skating stuff too.

 

[dslang]

hello hello. nice to see guy shooting action sports in singapore.

anyway, here's my advice.

1. stop tilting. keep your horizons straight, tilting gives it the look of someone who doesnt know what he's doing and is trying to give the shot a more dynamic look (but in a cheesy way). it works for newspapers, but that's about it.
2. you dont have to shoot using remote flashes. try shooting with the available remote light. focus on finding good angles before you worry about buying remote flashes to light up an area.
3. dont crop out body parts of your skaters/riders.
4. leave fonts for advertisements. what you're posting is photographs.
5. every trick has a beginning, a middle, and an end. so if a guy is grinding a rail, show where he took off, what he's doing, and where he's landing. these are super important because if gives the viewer a sense of perspective into what's going on. if a skater/rider is in the air and you dont know how he got there, then it just becomes another "guy in the sky" photo meant for inspirational posters.

good exciting shots tho. keep shooting and posting!

 

[charleslim]

thx for the advice - Alot of what you say, it makes sense.

Dutch shots? Yuck, it's very wannabe arty farty word. Actually when I shot I try to keep the same orientation as the subject, so sometimes the horizon goes off. Dunno how to explain, it tends to happen when I use wide short lens, cause I am so close up and following action.
better be aware to this now

brudder - I already got the remote flashes! -when I studied in UK - magic hour damn long - u now in Canada, u should know Singapore not the same.

anyway I know your site!- I really like your photos brudder - damn nice! http://www.dslang.com/ RESPECT!

I welcome critical comments, it's good for this forum to push the level of image making.