Night Ski Racing - Digital Photography News, Reviews & Forum

nhfirefighter13 · #1 January 7th, 2006

I'm heading out on an exploratory expedition to see if I can shoot some night ski racing next week...a first for me. Has anyone here tried this sort of thing?

My concern is that I won't be able to throw enough light at the racers.

I know some of the people racing and they have told me that I can probably get as close as 10 feet to the course but I'm thinking that I'd want to be a little downhill, looking up at one of the gates so I can get a head-on while they are turning which would put me...30-40 feet or so? I have my 70-200 f/2.8 and my 50 f/1.8 for fast lenses. I'm thinking that the 50 probably won't be much good but I'm mostly wondering if the flash will be able to keep up with high speed motion at night with a 2.8.

I guess I'll find out next week.

FredG · #2 January 7th, 2006

A better beamer might work. It's intended for lenses 300mm and longer.

nhfirefighter13 · #3 January 7th, 2006

Thanks, Fred. I'm gonna give it a shot with what I have now for a baseline and then if that doesn't work, maybe I'll give the better beemer a shot.

agesilaus · #4 January 7th, 2006

I thought you were supposed to make them carry flares or burning magnesium torches.

BK

django · #5 January 7th, 2006

Not for nothin, and i may be wrong, but if I was skiing at night and racing, the last thing I want in my face is a flash going off temporarly blinding me. Are you sure it's ok to do that?

nhfirefighter13 · #6 January 7th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by django

Not for nothin, and i may be wrong, but if I was skiing at night and racing, the last thing I want in my face is a flash going off temporarly blinding me. Are you sure it's ok to do that?

Yes, it has been ok'd by the race director. You have to stop and think about the motions of the racer for a minute here....just as in motorsports, the racer is looking one or two turns ahead of where they are. If they are looking at the turn they're heading into, they're going to crash anyway.

Looking through to your next turn is a way of slowing things down. Think about it this way: next time your driving down the road, look down at the road right in front of the car....then look up and far down the road. Going a constant speed, one will seem substantially faster than the other.

They won't be looking at me.

skagitswimmer · #7 January 8th, 2006

Look forward to seeing the photo results.

nhfirefighter13 · #8 January 8th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by skagitswimmer

Look forward to seeing the photo results.

Hopefully, I have something to show you.

MatsP · #9 January 9th, 2006

With reasonably high settings on ISO, you should be able to get decent flash at around 40 feet.

The lead number of an EXxx0 flash is xx, which is the number of feet that this flash will reach at ISO 100. At ISO 200 that gets multiplied by 1.4 (because for each doubling of the distance, you spread the light over 4 times the surface). You also need to divide by the aperture, of course, so at 40 feet, with a 2.8 lens, you need a lead number of 110. But with higher ISO, you should be able to get it working...

--
Mats

nhfirefighter13 · #10 January 9th, 2006

Cool. Thanks for the info! Sooooo, With my 1D and an EX550 flash I should be all set. I'm not a big fan of going over ISO800 if I don't need to.

nhfirefighter13 · #11 January 13th, 2006

Well, here are some of the "better" shots I got from last night.

Revelations:

I'm not entirely fond of walking up ski trails when everyone else gets to ride the chair lift.
I'm apparently very much out of shape. (see above)
A single, camera mounted EX550 will put out enough light but, Sports Illustrated it is not.
There are no Bode Millers in the Corporate Race League.
If it looks like the skiier who is tumbling out of control in the viewfinder is about to hit you, he probably will. Consider not getting a spectacular crash shot and move out of the way instead.
I need a MkII.

PS: I'm not exactly sure what the guy in the last shot was doing but I thought it was funny enough to post.

jpreston · #12 January 13th, 2006

Chris,

Did you sustain any permanent injuries from your collision? Looks like the last guy had his eyes closed? Maybe he was doing a "Bode Miller" and had a few drinks before hitting the slopes.

Overall, I think you did a great job considering it was your first attempt at this type of event. I think it would be tough for the S.I. shooters to do much better without portable studio strobes set up off to the side in a few choice locations/turns.

Later,

nhfirefighter13 · #13 January 13th, 2006

Thanks, Jeff!

No, I'm in one piece and completely unharmed. The first guy that tried to uhhh, eliminate the photographer, just barely nicked me and that was only because I got stuck in the snow. The other two never even came close.

Yup, his eyes were definately closed...and was screaming like a madman.

He fell down shorlty after that picture was taken. LOL

digitalmediatech · #14 January 14th, 2006

For a new adventure, they all seem to be great! Keep it up. On a side note, did your camera have any protection in the elements?

nhfirefighter13 · #15 January 14th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalmediatech

For a new adventure, they all seem to be great! Keep it up. On a side note, did your camera have any protection in the elements?

Thank you.

No, the 1D was exposed to the elements. It was actually fairly mild out that night. I've had it out in below zero weather. About the only thing I do is tuck it into my jacket with me when I'm not taking shots.