Lighting runners at night

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>Next year I'll be photographing runners (people) at night along I-15 towards and into Las Vegas. I've come up with various ways to light the runners from a moving vehicle, but in the end the ideas were ridiculous. What I'm asking is how to best light them with EX flashes. I'll have a 580EXII by the time of the run, and I have a 430EX now. The 530 will wirelessly fire the 430 in slave mode, and I was thinking of mounting the 430 on the outside of the vehicle just ahead of the runner. That's about the best scenario I've come up with. </p>

<p>Any help or suggestions would be great, even if telling me that what I've come up with will not work.</p>

<p>Kevin, I wonder if you shouldn't consider some sort of continuous lighting solution, maybe a generator driven lighting system on a pickup? I'd be a little miffed if someone was firing off a powerful flash in front of me. It's hard enough to run in the dark without flashes.</p>

<p>Yep, that's been my biggest concern, blinding the runners and have them fall into traffic! I think I'll be in a support van for the shots and not a truck. That's a good suggestion though. It's still so early that maybe I can wrangle up someone with a pickup truck to drive support.<br>

Thanks for the advice.</p>

<p >For the runner's sake - keep the van or truck behind them, not in front. Ultra runners tend to get a bit cranky at night and the last thing they need to be doing is breathing exhaust. </p>

<p >From behind, the headlights should be able to provide some fill light for a flash and won’t bother the runner. Also, remember that the runner will probably be wearing a bright headlamp, so your best bet for shots will be from the side, not from the front. In addition to that, most running apparel has reflective features creating very bright spots in a dark photo. Your best bet might be to set up a head of the runner on a tripod and catch them at twilight. </p>

<p >But remember, running at night, esp an Ultra, tends to make people a bit cranky, so be nice to them and remember that the run is more important to them than the photos. </p>

<p>Thanks Bryan, I forgot to mention in my original post that I had planned to shoot them from the side and just ahead. I was considering a flash from the front to light up the runner but capture the image from the side. You brought up reflective clothing; I had not even thought of that. One more glitch in the plan.</p>

<p>I'll know most of the runners, so being nice to them is already an excercise in futility!</p>

<p>Just some thoughts, as I have never done this myself.<br></p><p>I think the most important consideration is to keep from blinding the runners.<br></p><p>The less a point source your light is, the better, so the runners don't get "spots in front of their eyes". It will also give less of the "flash look". Multiple sources and/or less direct lighting would help.<br></p><p> I think you can throw a lot of light so long as it's not concentrated. The more off-axis the light, the less the reflective clothing will cause problems. How about mounting flashes high up on the van, maybe even on well anchored short light stands or short booms to get them up off-axis and more out of the runner's eyes? Keep them apart as far as practicable for better modeling.</p><p> If you have enough power (not knowing your distance from the runners) diffusion or reflectors could be used to reduce the chance of blinding and to improve the images. You could for instance aim the flashes into reflectors instead of toward the runners. Keep the speed down and it should not be difficult to secure them well.</p><p> You could also rent another flash to help decrease individual flash duration, to help avoid blinding.<br></p><p>It's good you have time to experiment. You can work up a rig and test it statically to get things close to what you want.<br></p><p><br></p>