Batteries not included

It reminds my of the movie from awhile back.

Well I got my camera all set-up and ready to go prior to the women's basketball game today. Normally, I will not set up the remote camera above the rim for the women. But, because of time constraints I needed to have it set up before for today's game.

I arrived in plenty of time to make sure everything was set and ready to go. Proper focus, camera angle, safety cables, and everything was good to go. I fired a few test shots. And downloaded them to the computer and double checked my exposures. All was good.

So I though....

I had a couple of minutes after the women's game. So, I lowered the net and swapped card. In doing this I noticed my pocket wizard was not flashing. The batteries died. I had my transmitting PW in my hand and quickly changed the batteries into the receiver. Turns out I only got off 3 (that's right three) shots. I loaded the card into the computer and noticed there were only 3 images on the card. With a BIG uh oh from me the only SID (he likes to bust my chops) in the room said laughing, "That doesn't sound too good right off the bat."

But, anyway, I didn't expect to get to many shots from the remote cam from the women's game. But, I am REALLY glad I check the camera between games.

Lesson learned. I am going to have to change these batteries a little more often, even if it mean wasting some batteries. (won't really waste them I'll save them for other stuff not so important)

Well I hope every one has a GREAT Turkey Day. I won't be shooting any more sports till after that.

32° at Kick-off

It was a cold one today!!

Well, it didn't look good from the start for the Black Knights. It started off with a fumble recovery run in for a touch down for the Scarlet Knights and they never looked back. Myself and a couple of the other Army photographers were trying to figure out if we were going to get any decent shots other than the defense today.

We are all hoping the the Army/Navy game will not be as cold in 2 weeks. But, I'm kinda thinking with the way the weather has been here it's going to be another cold one. I am planning on spending the week-end in Philly and bumming around on Saturday evening and Sunday Morning taking some photos around the Philly area. I am hoping that my new LensBaby will be here by then. I spoke with someone @ LensBaby and they have sent out a second lens for me to try. I have been expecting their new lens since the PhotoExpo in NYC since speaking with Craig earlier this month.

Well tomorrow is back to the warmer com finds of the basketball arena @ West Point for a double header. I will be setting up my backboard cam tomorrow prior to the start of the womens' game. I don't think I will be using it for the women's game but, I will not be able to set it up between games.

Faces of a Champion

This weekend I photographed the NorthEast-10 Conference Volleyball Championship at Pace University. There was a lot of planing and equipment to be either borrowed or purchased. First off, I needed to secure a second photographer. I did this through some of the photo forums I belong to. Then on to the equipment issues. I didn't have all the lighting I need to strobe a college gymnasium. So, I purchased some new lighting. Because I don't want to have light stands all around the gym with a ton of people and volleyballs all over the place during practice. I needed to purchase some additional clamps and safety cables. Firing the strobes and remote cameras I needed to borrow a total of 5 pocket wizards. After shelling out the bucks for the additional lighting I decided to borrow the wizards. I will be picking up new wizards soon so, all the running around borrowing equipment will come to an end soon.

After all was said and done, I believe all the running around was well worth the effort. I will have additional work coming though the conference and other teams with-in the conference.

So if I can offer any words of advice to my follow photographers. If you think you will need more equipment than you currently own. Do anything to beg, borrow, rent (or steal*) the equipment you need to pull it off with out a hitch.

* On a side note while I don't advise you steal the equipment. I only mentioned it as the saying goes "Beg, borrow or steal." I tossed in rent as the alternative to stealing it...

Swimming & Diving season is upon us

As the winter sports are fast approaching Swimming & Diving is getting under way. As in most indoor sports (even at the D1 level) lighting is always an issue. The best way I have found to overcome lighting conditions at indoor arenas, gym and other venues is to make sure you have some sort of white balance card. I use the WhiBal card. This will insure your shooting is properly balanced and you have correct colors. Many people will just find something white in the shot (ie white shirt, a sneaker, part of a sock ect.)
I used these items in the past with some degree of success. But, one thing your need to remember is how many times do you take something out of the laundry and say to yourself "Man this is dingy?" The WhiBal card is a true neutral, as with many other white balance cards on the market, so you know you your whites will be white.

As far as shooting and noise reduction. I will tend to under expose most of my indoor shooting anywhere between 1.5 and 3 stops. Doing this I am able to keep my shutter speed up over 1/500th of a second. This is essential for any sport at the college level. The younger athletes you can get away with slower shutter speeds. To get a image the is properly exposed I will do some post processing in Adobe Lightroom. This program is very good for batch editing. After I correct the white balance, I apply it to one image and adjust the exposure, noise and other levels to acquire an acceptable image. Then I will batch process all the images with the same adjustments made to the sample image. Some of the images may need further correcting but, 90% of the post processing is complete with batch processing.

I hope this little explanation comes in handy!! And happy shooting.

Net-Cam Denied

I traveled to Milford, CT to shoot an away game for West Point and had my net-cam almost all set up for their game against Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart plays in a public arena and I had the OK from the rink, Sacred Heart's SID and coach. I, as always, let the officials know it would be in the net. About 5 minutes later the officials called me back and after they talked about it, said I needed to take it out. They had not heard of this being done in this league. The SID for Army got the OK from the league commissioner prior to me setting it up for the season. Long story short the ref's did not like the idea of a camera being in the net with-out written permission from the league.

After some conversation with the 2 schools SID's and the coaches, the ref said I could leave the camera in the goal but, he (the main ref) was not happy about it. So, in doing what I think is the right thing, I pulled the set-up out. Monday I will be seeking written permission from the league offices, being the league has already giving verbal ok. This is just one more step I need to take.

I know I could have left it in the goal but, I know I will be shooting games with these ref's at some other time. So, I don't want them to be on my bad side.