Ballroom Dancing: Flash versus high ISO

[graham_martin2]

<p>I am shooting some photos for my local paper of a ballroom dancing championship. Flash is permitted. The problem with the flash is that I can't get 3 fps in order to get the optimum shot. If I want to shoot at 3 FPS I cannot use the flash and have been bumping the ISO on my D3 up to around 800 which is what I need to get shutter speed of close to 1/250. The ballroom has supplemental high intensity lighting which helps a lot. I want the high fps rate because the dancers are twirling so fast that in too many of my pictures the woman's face has already away from me. This causes me to get too many pictures where I am catching the female dancer with her back showing toward me. My apologies to any male ballroom dancers but, let's face it, the ladies are the ones with their flowing gowns that make for the best pix. A tux is a tux is a tux.</p>

<p>My preference would to be able to get 3 fps using my SB800. Is there any way that can be accomplished without risking frying my strobe?</p>

[tangibleimages]

<p>If your flash isn't popping at full power you should be able to get more than 1 flash per second. Also, you might look into using an external power pack to reduce the recycle time. After awhile, however, your flash will heat up and you will need to let it cool a bit. The rate at which it does this depends on the power of the pops and how many in a burst.</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>Thanks Jake, I will power it down to 50%. Should I push up the ISO at the same time?</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Graham, it seems like you shoot in manual on the strobe?</p>

<p>To get a 3 shot burst you need to be at less than 1/3 power setting, so say 1/4 power or less. Then you could fire a 3 shot burst burst after which the flash is completely empty and need to recycle as if was just pulling off a full power pop. So you need to wait a few seconds for the next burst.</p>

<p>Since you shoot manual you can double, triple or even quadruple the number of speedlights without problems which will be better for them.<br /> <br /> For instance:<br /> 1 flash : 1/4 power<br /> 2 flashes : 1/8 power on each<br /> 3 flashes : 1/16 and 2/3 power on each<br /> 4 flashes : 1/16 power on each</p>

<p>The higher you push the iso the lower you can set the flash power - which can be used to shoot faster or more or to save the flash from overheating. I would shoot at the highest iso where you still get acceptable quality.</p>

<p> </p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Or you can rent a profoto pro-8a strobe pack and shoot at 9 fps.</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>On the Profoto Pro-8a, I came across a music video shot with a Canon 1D Mark III at 10 FPS on a PRO Steadicam rig - 16,000 pictures made up the stop motion video. Quite interesting.<br>

<a href="http://www.profoto.com/us/stop-motion-music-video-shot-pro-8a-air-strobes">[Link]</a></p>

[graham_martin2]

<blockquote>

<p>The higher you push the iso the lower you can set the flash power - which can be used to shoot faster or more or to save the flash from overheating. I would shoot at the highest iso where you still get acceptable quality.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I have a D3 and so I can push the ISO quite high and still get acceptable quality. I will try that today and see what the results are.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Let us know how it went Graham. I'd also try to shoot some faster fps maybe 5-6 fps but still with only 3 shots in each burst.</p>

[rvalois]

<p>Hi Graham ...<br>

Is there not an equivalent to Canon's flash units' "hi-speed sync" where the flash unit can synchronize with ALL of the camera's speeds?<br>

Ray</p>

 

[graham_martin2]

<p>Ray</p>

<p>The fastest high speed sync on the SB-800 is 1/125 second. Now, if I were to use my Hasselblad 500 c/m, I could sync all the way up to 1/500 second. I may try shooting a roll with the 'blad just to see how well I do.</p>

[steve_hovland]

<p>Also watch for moments at the climax of moves where they are striking a pose.</p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>You will want an external battery pack for the SB800. SOmething along the lines of a Quantum Turbo. AA batteries will never be able to keep up. Ideally, you would have a second SB800 that you could switch out after 10-minutes letting the other cool off. Or better yet, use a fan cooled strobe. Something like an Paul Bluff Einstein would work for this gig. </p>

<p>I get the idea the 3-frames per second is to simply capture the pose you want. I don't think I would be worrying about high-speed sycn. As a matter of fact, I would probably want my ambient at least one if not two stops under. Then you are using the flash, which is <em>much</em> faster than your shutter speed to freeze the motion. The more under-exposed the ambient, the more the flash "freezes" motion.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>All good advice above. I would use 2 off camera flashes at 1/4 power or less as the main light, with the on camera as fill only, so it would be operating at probably less than 1/4 power. Still keep the ISO up, but do underexpose the ambient so the flashes are doing most of the freezing.</p>

<p>I don't know how many photos you need to cover the event for a paper, but I might also try waiting for the peak moment rather than using frame rate to cover everything. Hopefully, some movements are repeated, and you might familiarize yourself with the type of dance. This is what I do when shooting choreographed first dances at weddings. Also, when watching dance competitions on TV on occasion, I notice certain compulsory dances go through the same movements for each couple, so you'd be able to predict how the dance will go, including where the poses are that occupy more than just a split second.</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>All great advice. Since I am simply shooting for my paper I don't have the luxury of setting up multiple flashes. I just have to go with my on board one. As Nadine mentioned many of the steps are predicatble, and so one can just wait for that moment. This is my second year of covering this event. I am shooting far fewer shots, and am waiting for the action to fill my frame as opposed to zooming way out to 200mm which is really too far away for the flash to be effective.<br>

I will be going back again this evening. This time I think I will stick to my 24-70mm and maybe even try my Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 (I really like that lens!).</p>

[daniel_odonoghue]

<p>"The fastest high speed sync on the SB-800 is 1/125 second."<br>

You can set your D3 to sync beyond that speed surely?<br>

On my <strong>D300s</strong> I can set it to sync to <strong>1/320</strong> by using the automatic high speed sync setting with an SB-600 on manual.</p>

[gregory_c]

 

 

<p><em>The fastest high speed sync on the SB-800 is 1/125 second. Now, if I were to use my Hasselblad 500 c/m, I could sync all the way up to 1/500 second. I may try shooting a roll with the 'blad just to see how well I do.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

Film camera ?? what is film ???</p>