Shooting action shots at night (Page 2): YOU NEED TO PRACTICE. Go out at night and start shooting sled riders at night, up your ISO, play with f stops and Shutter speeds UNTIL you get...

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

UKChris wrote:

Hello. I will be taking some night time shots of dog sledders in a couple of weeks time and would appreciate any tips you may have. I have a Canon 80D, will be using my 24-70 lens and 430EXIII speedlite. Since it will likely be snowing, I guess I really need to use a decent diffuser also. Thanks.
Chris

YOU NEED TO PRACTICE. Go out at night and start shooting sled riders at night, up your ISO, play with f stops and Shutter speeds UNTIL you get excellent results. THEN, go to the dogs.

tcthome Loc: NJ

picsman wrote:

I have found in the cold that the wireless triggers need to get closer to the camera as the batteries drain. I have started with the speedlight across a ski trail but ended up with it next to me. Take plenty of batteries for both the speedlight and camera! I dont know if rechargeable batteries are worse than non rechrageable for the speedlight but I have a suspicion that they are.

Some flash units allow for external battery packs?

picsman Loc: Scotland

Yes they do but the not for the triggers.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

UKChris wrote:

Hello. I will be taking some night time shots of dog sledders in a couple of weeks time and would appreciate any tips you may have. I have a Canon 80D, will be using my 24-70 lens and 430EXIII speedlite. Since it will likely be snowing, I guess I really need to use a decent diffuser also. Thanks.
Chris

I would leave the flash home. If lighting is poor, the momentary blindness caused by the flash pop could really mess things up for the dogs and drivers. It can even be dangerous. Be smart. Be considerate. If you really need to get some shots, rent or borrow a full frame camera, one that does not have any issues shooting at 25,600 ISO or higher, and snap away. And a 70-200 F2.8 may be a wiser choice.

Flash diffusers will only serve to diminish the output from the flash, and unless you are placing the light off camera and very close to the action - like not more than 3-4 feet - will do little to nothing for image quality.

selena18

Work with light is that the most fundamental element in work with photography. Even the word “photography” tells us this; it had been formed by joining the Greek words for light and drawing. even as painters brush paint onto a canvas to make an image , photographers paint a picture by capturing light particles (photons) on a light-sensitive medium (film or a digital sensor). So without light, it's impossible to take a single picture.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

UKChris wrote:

Hello. I will be taking some night time shots of dog sledders in a couple of weeks time and would appreciate any tips you may have. I have a Canon 80D, will be using my 24-70 lens and 430EXIII speedlite. Since it will likely be snowing, I guess I really need to use a decent diffuser also. Thanks.
Chris

Fast lens ( 1.4, 2, maybe 2.8), current low MP full frame sensor, good noise reducing software. Consider a continuous light source off camera (to aid in focusing & shooting).
.

UKChris

Hi picsman. Thanks. If there is one thing I have learned, its that batteries don't last in the cold ... so a nice reminder. I suspect you're right about rechargeable ones too .. the more they have been recharged, the less charge they seem to hold.
Cheers
Chris

wcmoorejr Loc: Birmingham Alabama

UKChris wrote:

Hello. I will be taking some night time shots of dog sledders in a couple of weeks time and would appreciate any tips you may have. I have a Canon 80D, will be using my 24-70 lens and 430EXIII speedlite. Since it will likely be snowing, I guess I really need to use a decent diffuser also. Thanks.
Chris

Chris,

Please check with the event organizers on use of flash. I shoot a lot of dog sports and I am never allowed to use flash. It can be dangerous to the dogs. It is much easier to bump the iso and deal with noise in post.

Regards,
Willie

UKChris

Practice - Makes perfect sense ... sometimes it takes someone else to remind you. Thanks!
Cheers
Chris

UKChris

Thanks Willie. Good point - I have a call in with the organisers though since the race starts in a downtown area with hundreds of spectators, Im not sure how they can control the use of flash.
Cheers
Chris

UKChris

Hi Gene

I am discussing the use of flash photography with the organizers and beginning to re-think the use of flash at all. There's no way I want to be a distraction (or worse) for the dogs. I'm also going to use a longer lens.
Cheers
Chris

bleirer

It might be a good time to take a free trial of Topaz Denoise or similar software, or to brush up on what Lightroom and Photoshop have to offer for noise reduction.

SonyBug

UKChris wrote:

Hello. I will be taking some night time shots of dog sledders in a couple of weeks time and would appreciate any tips you may have. I have a Canon 80D, will be using my 24-70 lens and 430EXIII speedlite. Since it will likely be snowing, I guess I really need to use a decent diffuser also. Thanks.
Chris

You might want to reconsider using flash at all. Flash into the dogs eyes at night may really upset the dogs and mushers. Think of the use of lack of light to get mood shots.

fosis Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

If you're shooting at night, your shutter speed will not affect your results. The 1/1000 sec flash duration will do that. See if you can remotely locate your flash(es) and use radio triggers, to create more dramatic images with side lighting or even dual flashes, with a "key" light to the side and a "fill" light on camera or slightly to the other side. Is it possible for an assistant to hold your key light so you can easily move it around for optimal results?
Creative use of flash - eliminating the available light - can produce dramatic pictures at low ISO and pre-focused, very sharp images.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

For cold weather, use the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. They're available at almost every store that sells Energizer Bunny batteries.

They're about the best common batteries out there!