Photo Shoot Help

[galileo]

I have an assignment this week and need some advice. This shoot is for an indoor Motorcross demonstation/race at an very large arena.

The lighting should be decent, but I really have no idea what it is going to be like. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to shoot this event?

The riders will be on motocycles going over large dirt jumps and the like. The arena is your standard Pro hockey/basketball/concert arena.

[jerrymeola]

I assume when you say an assignment you mean that you arethe official photog and have access to the floor
Equipment, technique and lighting wll not mean as much to your final results as your placement of yourself in position to get the action. Find out early what freedom of movement you can expect. How close can you get? Can you get up to the side of a jump?
Use your freedom of movment to visualize the final photo before the bikes begin to run. If you are in good positions you will have the photos come to you. Plan several locations. Move from one to another. If one location is not working be ready to move to your backup position. Limit the time in each location. Plan everyspot in advance and how much time you can use there and still get every location.
Ignor the action outside the range of you photo area. You can not cover everything but do not miss what is in front of you by being distracted by action you can not shoot.
good luck

[galileo]

Thanks for the tips Jerry.

I was thinking of bringing a 35mm-350mm f3.5-5.6L USM lens and a 15mm-30mm 3.5-4.5 EX lens. Do you think I will need anything else?

I have had a few people tell me I need a flash and others say no need for a flash.

Your thoughts on this?

[jerrymeola]

your lenses will be wide open at f4.5-5.6 even if you have a powerful stobe say a guide number of 120 that will give you a maximum working distance of 7 to 10 feet.

Several reasons for this. Guide numbers devide your f stop into the guide number and that will give you the distance where it will be the correct. This is for exposure in a normal room with wall and roof bounce. It a stadium like you will use the number must be divided in half or by a quarter. So f4.5 divided into 120 is max 25 feet cut in half or quarter is 5-12 feet.

Even at that you have no depth of field on action shots. Available light inside will not be much better.

Also consider that stobe into a drivers eyes may cause an accident. Be very certain that the sponsers want or at least will permit strobe.

You have very difficult working conditions. Place yourself in an area to get the action. Prefocus and only shoot what comes into the focus range. Shoot a lot as many will be out of focus or blurred.

Fixed lenght lenses with larger stops will work better. You will never have a chance to adjust the focal length for a shot so zoom lenses do not give you any extra possibilities at the lost of speed.

You might consider renting an 85mm f1.8. That is a 4 time increase in light over your zooms. If you can get up close it will be enought focal length and anything longer will blur without a tripod and a big f stop. You have seen pros using baseball size lenses at football games etc. They do the job but cost thousands of dollars each.

Try to photgraph head on (this reduces blur as opposed to side shots) try to time the action at its peaks where motion is suspended. Try to use blur as part of the composition and mood.

good luck.

[galileo]

I actually got my hands on a 300MM 2.8 L lens from a colleague. I assume this will be a big help.

Thanks again for all your tips and info. I will let you know how it comes out.

[JCW3]

That 300mm @ 2.8 will be alot faster than the one you talked about earlyer, so that should help alot...

You will be able to grab a few shots with that setup and normal camera settings if lightings is good. But you must remember the more zoom you use the more shutter speed you will be needing to stop the action...

If you not using flash equipment then remember to what that shutter speed and maybe even bump up that ISO rating...

If flash is a option I would go for it, but dont put all your apples in one basket. What I mean is try a few differant methods, so you can see how your equipment handles...

You said it was a assignement. So whats the actual assignment to photograph fast objects in low light, action, indoor sports, flash photography, non flash photography??? Just wondering what to true meaning of this assignment was.

[galileo]

I am waiting to hear back from the media guy about the use of a flash.

The assignment is to get images for a magazine. Not sure why they asked me since I have never shot Motorcross before but can't complain about getting assignments.

Thanks for the advice JC

[ChronosIII]

Try to get there Early they will often have riders breaking in the track / jumps before the festivities begin it will be much easier to get some shot down on the track at that time. also bring enough media to get a lot of images try to keep track of all the riders and get shots of each so that who ever wins or if anyone has anything else noteworthy happen you will have a pic of them. bracket all of your shots to nsure you get the shot you want and above all else use the maximum frames per second for your camera to get sequential action shots these are very popular in these types of events.

Good Luck

Dave Strain