Posted: 1/28/2009 5:52:54 AM EDT
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I have to shoot senior night for one of the teams that I cover at work. I have access to two Photogenic 1500's and was wondering if it would be enough to light the rink. Never tried lighting a rink before, the ambient light isn't all that bad, but lighting it would be better. The facility it self is pretty small and has that nice silver insulating crap on the ceiling above the ice so I figure that would help a bit. I've read some stuff where folks say you need 6 strobes to do it right. But that seems a bit over kill to me.
If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. |
| Two strobes for lighting an entire rink seems inadequate, but I'm not an expert in that area. The Sports Illustrated guys use at least six strobes in the ceiling for most indoor games, IIRC. Of course, if you were just shooting one area (say, one goal), then two strobes might work. It'd be better than nothing. Maybe rent some more strobes. |
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I don't think you'll be able to light even a small rink with two strobes. I'd say your best option is probably to position the two lights to bounce off the ceiling so that they light the team's goal. Perhaps you can aim one more towards center ice but still in a way that it helps the goal light. I'll do this for basketball in a high school gym putting the light at the top of the key. Of course fast glass is a boon. My 70-200/2.8 gets a lot of use in situations like this. I'll also use my 50/1.8 at the basket/goal.
How are you tripping the strobes? PocketWizards? I love my PWs but I'm really tempted to try the new remotes from Paul Buff. I'm not familiar with the Photogenic lights but I'd seriously recommend tying them off so they don't fall. I use a Bogen Super Clamp to attach the strobe to the framework (usually a basketball goal in my case). I have a cable tie that goes through the umbrella hole and then I run a cable through that that's attached to the framework as well. If the thumbscrew lets loose and the strobe comes out of the clamp it still won't hit the ground (or some unsuspecting player/fan). I'll try to dig around to see if I have a pic of my setup. |
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JaxShooter thanks for the info. I talked to one of the photogs that works for the local paper and he said minimum 4 strobes to light that place right. He recommended the same thing you did. I'm just going to shoot available light as much as I don't want to. The lighting isn't terrible, but as with most places it could be better.
The photogenics are 600w/s strobes. They are a couple years old but work great. I'm looking at buff's remotes. One of the companies I do some freelance work for uses them on a very regular basis and the guys have nothing but good stuff to say about them. 
ISO 1000 1/400 f 2.8 Don't remember if this was with the sigma 120-300 2.8 or the canon 70-200 2.8L |