"Rich Clarkson's Sports Photography Workshop"

Hi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch. One of my favorite workshops of the year has just concluded, Rich Clarkson's Sports Photography Workshop in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With the United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC) as the workshop's primary venue the class of 60 participants had the opportunity to photograph some Olympians on their way to Beijing, China for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Also in the mix of venues were Coors Field and its MLB team the Colorado Rockies, Motocross at Wild Rat Race Track, White Water Kayaking, Equestrian competition, and a variety of other sports and athletic venues along the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

Perhaps no other workshop offers what Rich Clarkson's can (www.richclarkson.com). Rich, and the workshops director, Brett Wilhelm, year in and year out put together a program that is a complete package of education for those interested in furthering the sports photography skills, lighting techniques, business knowledge, and networking.

This years faculty made up of photographers and editors included: Damian Strohmeyer Sports Illustrated, Porter Binks Sports Illustrated, Mark Terrill AP, Charles Arbogast AP, Mark Reis Colorado Springs Gazette, Elsa Garrison Getty, Brad Smith New York Times, Jeff Jacobsen U of Kansas, Joey Terrell Freelance Golf Digest, Jim Sugar National Geographic, Lucas Gilman Freelance ESPN, Bob Smith Freelance Images of Nature, and me. Nikon Professional Services sent in Ronal Taniwaki and Mark Kettenhofen along with several trunks of gear including plenty of Nikon D3s, D300s, SB800s and all the lenses a sports photography workshop can possibly use. And if that's not enough for you, Roberts Distributors, Bogen, Dyna-Lite, Pocket Wizard, EPSON, Profoto, Aperture and LEXAR were also on hand to lend gear and accessories. WOW! ...workshop nirvana. The opportunity to be part of this photographic educational extravaganza is the highlight of the year for both students and staff.

My job, like all the staff, is to help those who attend learn about photography, sports, and business in any way possible. Learning about lighting is a big draw for the workshop. While Lucas Gilman handled daily classes with Sport Strobes and Arena Lighting at the USOTC Aquatic Center, Joey Terrill taught daily programs with step by step instruction on Portraiture lighting with Olympic athletes. My week was a real variety of instruction that included an Arena Lighting "how to" presentation, an Olympic presentation, a Motocross venue full of great action opportunities and some instructional classes on lighting using the Nikon SB800 Speedlights. And although my responsibility is instructing and helping the participants I did take a few pictures along the way ........ I just couldn't help myself.

Image #1       Andy's Abs ... I had arranged to have professional body builder Andy Haman, Mr. Colorado, join our class on lighting using the Nikon SB800 Speedlights. While Andy has spent years sculpting his body for competition our class would learn to sculpt him with light. We started with only one SB800 and step by step worked our way up to four. Along the way I demonstrated how I build a lit portrait and arrive at a combination of Speedlights that included a strong image of Andy's incredible abdominal muscles. At one point during the class a student asked "how many sit-ups do you do each day?" ... I answered "none, but Andy might do a few." Nikon D3, ISO1000, 1/60 at f9, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 6250K, 4 Nikon SB800 Speedlights, 2 were slightly higher than Andy's height and almost directly profile to him on his left and right and 2 were on the floor about 3/4 angle behind him both left and right. I used the Warming Gels that come with the Speedlights on the SB800s to the left of the frame (both the high and the floor Speedlights). The high and floor speedlights on the right did not have warming gels. Power Output was -1.3 on the high left and floor right Speedlights, -1.0 on the high right and -0.3 on the floor left. The floor left SB800 also had a LumiQuest Snoot. I really like the ultra warm skin tone that the warming gels and 6250K White Balance gave. Nikon SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #2       Body Architecture ... With the indoor studio location portion of the class complete we moved to the outdoors and a view of the Marriott's architectural design. It is about 5:00 pm and the sun is still shining. I decided to teach my Moody Blue Formula (February Workshop at the Ranch 2006.) I have underexposed the background by about 1 and 2/3 stops. Then I revealed Andy using 2 Nikon SB800 Speedlights each with a warming gel and a power output of +3.0. The Speedlights are hand held by a student standing on the wall and just out of the left side of the frame. I want the Speedlights close to my subject so I had the student step into the frame and then back out until he was just out of the left edge of the frame. The 2 Speedlights were rubber banded together in tandem to make an easy to hold unit. I asked the student to hold the tandem Speedlights higher than Andy's face and slightly in front of him so the warm light would cover the upper 2/3 of Andy's body. Nikon D3, ISO200, 1/500 at f6.3, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 3030K, 2 Nikon SB800 Speedlights each with a warming gel and power output of +3.0, Nikon SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #3       Corner Duel ... I had made arrangements for a Motocross venue to be available for the workshop. Wild Rat Raceway is about a 30 minute drive east of Colorado Springs and was a perfect venue for the class. I was joined by fellow instructors Mark Terrill, Mark Reis, and Mark Kettenhoffen at Wild Rat to help our students make some great action pictures of motocross racing at its best. The race track was all ours for the late afternoon sunshine and a dozen talented athletes gave us non-stop action and close up access. This shooting arrangement was similar to a controlled commercial shoot as we had the run of the course and were able to position ourselves perfectly anywhere we wanted. These guys never stopped jumping, flying, racing and competing all in an effort to provide our class with the best pictures possible. Several of the students brought their Nikon SB800 Speedlights as did I. We set ourselves up in various corners and worked on slow shutter speed rear curtain sync panned images with flash. I let my Nikon D3 with 51 point auto focus 3D tracking follow the action while I held 2 SB800 Speedlights (rubber banded together Tandem for easier holding) off camera high above my head to help give a more studio lit feel to the rider. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/30 at f22, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 points, WB 7140K, Two Nikon SB800 Speedlights, SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #4       Rider in the Sky ... Todd Bannister flew high overhead along with many of the moto-men. Our class enjoyed every jump and fly-by. As thunderheads began to build up in the Colorado sky and sun rays streamed through, I slowed down my shutter speed to 1/100 of a second and allowed for a little motion blur to occur. Freezing the action perfectly is usually preferred, but sometimes I like to give an image a little personality. The slower shutter speed did just that. I love the spinning motion of the wheels and the pan-blur of the storm cloud. I also used 2 SB800 Speedlights to add just a little bit of fill flash on Todd. The SB800 Speedlights made a big difference in revealing Todd from a complete silhouette and defining the motorcycle engine, exhaust pipes, and front forks. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/100 at f22, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 10,000K, 2 Nikon SB800 Speedlights with a power output of +3.0, Nikon SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

What a great week of learning and image making. Sometimes I wish I was a student so I could take more pictures. I hope this article gives you an idea of what the week was like.

Thanks to all of you who attended this years Sports Photography Workshop in Colorado Springs and thanks to those who have taken the time to send me an email of appreciation. Sounds like many of you learned several new techniques and made some great images at all the sessions throughout the week.

See you next time here at Workshop at the Ranch. ..............Adios, Dave