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Workshop at the Ranch – June 2008 – Seven Photo Techniques

2008-June-WATR-5-iconHi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch. For the past 10 years I have had the privilege of photographing on assignment at one of the premier sporting events in the world, the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. I not only photograph the main journalistic themes of interest, but I also document many aspects of the horse racing industry that might also be useful to the magazine for future issues. This is a week long effort of documentary coverage in which I tend to incorporate many photographic techniques to get the job done. This edition of Workshop at the Ranch will feature some of those techniques that I use not only at the Derby, but at many events that I cover. Here are seven techniques that I hope you will find both interesting and perhaps useful in your own sports coverage.

Hi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch. For the past 10 years I have had the privilege of photographing on assignment at one of the premier sporting events in the world, the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. I not only photograph the main journalistic themes of interest, but I also document many aspects of the horse racing industry that might also be useful to the magazine for future issues. This is a week long effort of documentary coverage in which I tend to incorporate many photographic techniques to get the job done. This edition of Workshop at the Ranch will feature some of those techniques that I use not only at the Derby, but at many events that I cover. Here are seven techniques that I hope you will find both interesting and perhaps useful in your own sports coverage.

Image #1       LIVE VIEW; Big Brown Press Conference … The new Nikon D3 and D300 feature a function called LIVE VIEW. This through the lens display on the cameras LCD screen is perfect for many situations like overhead team huddle pictures at a football game, setting up remote camera positions when the eyepiece is inaccessible to look through, or in this case, the over head view at a press conference. The LCD screen of the D3 and D300 is so vivid and clear even from a very steep angle that composing a picture without looking through the view finder is now no guess work at all, but easy to do. Simply turn the Release Mode Dial to the Live View function, press the shutter to activate Live View, and compose your image by looking at the LCD screen rather than looking through the eyepiece, then press the shutter to capture the image. For this picture I did just that and held the D3 high over my head and composed the scene by looking at the LCD screen even though the camera angle was tipped down towards the press conference it was still easy to see the screen. Nikon D3, ISO1000, 1/200 at f2.8, Nikon 14-24mm Lens, Manual Focus (pre focused on the gentlemen being interviewed), Live View, WB 5560K, Picture Control STANDARD, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #2       GROUND CAM; Pyro Paddock Walk … Shooting from ground level is not new, but the way I went about it was. I wanted a ground level image of some of the more notable favorites of this years Kentucky Derby as they walked through the Paddock area behind the grandstands and the famous Twin Spires of Churchill Downs. Typically, a photographer would set up a remote camera on a ground plate with ball head, pre focus on the horse, use Pocket Wizard Multi MAX Transceivers and take a few images as the horse walked by … Sorry, no can do! Horses, and especially multimillion dollar race horses are easily spooked by an object sitting or couching or placed on the ground near them. So, I attached my Nikon D3 with 14-24mm Lens to my monopod and turned the camera upside down and rested it on the top of my shoe. The extended monopod came up about chest high and I casually leaned on it while the hoses walked by me. I could easily pivot the camera to follow the horses as they walked by. I used a Nikon MC-30 Cable Release cord to trigger the camera. I now looked more like a photographer resting on my monopod rather than a photographer being a nuisance. I could easily change my location at will merely by walking slowly along with my inverted camera resting comfortably on the top of my shoe and I do not need to bend down or crawl on my knees to get a unique picture. Pyro (at 6-1 odds) with assistant trainer Scott Blasi never knew I made a picture, and that’s the way it should be. Nikon D3, ISO400, 1/1000 at f9, Nikon 14-24mm Lens, Manual Focus (pre focus on area where horses are walking), WB 5560K, Picture Control 7690K, Gitzo Carbon Fiber Monopod with Gitzo Ball Head and Kirk “L” Bracket, Nikon MC-30 Cable Release, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #3       PAN ACTION with the WIMBERLEY HEAD; Passing the Turf Club … I love a perfect pan of sports action. The Wimberley Head is a pivoting/rotating/swiveling head that can help you make perfectly steady pans and smooth serpentine panning movements. Ideal for photographing birds in flight, motor sports, track and field sprinters etc. With the turf club suites as the backdrop I wanted the horizontal features of the structure to be perfectly smooth and streamlined as the horses raced down the turf stretch. I mounted the Wimberley Head to my Tripod and then mounted my Nikon D3 with 24-70mm Lens to the Wimberley Head. Now I can make a perfectly smooth horizontal pan. VR lenses can do a lot to help smooth out a hand held camera while panning, but for me, the Wimberley Head helps me achieve the perfect pan every time. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/20 at f16, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 Points, WB 7140K, Picture Control VIVID, Gitzo Carbon Fiber Tripod with Wimberley Head, Lexar 8G Flash Card.
Image #4       SWING PAN; Whirl Wind Workout … The Swing Pan, as I call it, is my own technique and is similar looking to a very slow shutter pan action image that has a rear curtain sync flash. Although no flash is used, the swing pan does make use of a slow shutter speed pan action, but with a major difference. Once the shutter is released, the photographer must instantly follow the “click” with a very quick horizontal movement (swing) of the camera in the same direction your subject is moving. The result is a frozen image (looks like a flash was used) that also has a long panned motion following the subject, in the same frame. This gives the image a pan action with rear curtain sync flash appearance. Trial and error are the only way to achieve this technique and learn what shutter speed, and how much/how fast a horizontal swing movement is needed to make the image work. It is difficult, but very unique when accomplished. I might make 5-10 attempts before achieving the one picture with look I want. This image made during early morning exercise is one of my better examples of the “Swing Pan”. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/2 second at f22 (with 2X Neutral Density Filter to help reduce the exposure time), Nikon 70-200mm G VR Zoom Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 Points, WB 9090K, Picture Control VIVID, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #5      PAN with REAR CURTAIN SYNC FLASH; Calvin Borel … Now that I have explained the Swing Pan I feel I should also explain a more common technique of Slow Shutter Pan with Rear Curtain Sync Flash. Rear Curtain Sync means the flash from your strobe or Speedlight will occur at the end of the exposure duration rather than at the start of the exposure duration. The result is a pan action image where the subject is then frozen by the flash. In this picture, jockey Calvin Borel is walking out of the winners circle after winning an earlier stakes race on Kentucky Oaks Day, the day before the Kentucky Derby. The slow shutter speed of 1/8 of a second causes him to have some motion blur until the flash from my SB800 Speedlights freezes him at the end of the exposure duration. Think of it like this, “Click-Pan-Flash.” I click the shutter and pan (follow Calvin) as he begins to walk by me, then the SB800 flashes and he is frozen by the flash at the end of the 1/8 second exposure. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/8 at f11, 24-70mm Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 Points, WB 3030K, Picture Control STANDARD, Two Nikon SB800 Speedlights (rubber banded together Tandem) each with Warming Gel and a power output of +0.7, Nikon SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card. NOTE: I used a very cool (blue) WB of 3030K and then countered the blue with warm light from my SB800 Speedlights with warming gels, (see February 2006 Workshop at the Ranch: My Moody Blue Location Lighting Formula.)

Image #6      SPIN with REAR CURTAIN FLASH; Paddock Ladies … Identical to the previous text accept this time I decided to spin the camera counterclockwise rather than panning the camera. My paddock ladies were not moving, but standing still. A gust of wind came up just as I took the picture so I spun the camera to give the image more of a blustery day feel to it. The results is similar to the previous picture of Calvin Borel in that there is deliberate movement as the exposure (start of the spin) and then the flash freezes the subjects at the end of the exposure. This image is one of my Derby hat favorites of all time. The ten women were just standing there as Haley (with SB800 Speedlights in hand) and walked by before the wind gusted. I simply said, “hi ladies”, and they all struck a pose. Haley held up the SB800 Speedlights about 10 feet off camera to my right, Click-Spin-Flash in 1/8 of a second….then the rain came pouring down. Also note that the same “moody blue” stylized cool blue WB and warming gelled Speedlights were used for this image as was used for the image of jockey Calvin Borel. Nikon D3, ISO100, 1/8 at f14, Nikon 14-24mm Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 Points, WB 3030K, Two Nikon SB800 Speedlights (rubber banded together Tandem) each with Warming Gel and power output of +1.3, Nikon SU800 Commander, Lexar 8G Flash Card.
Image #7       REMOTE CAMERA; Straightaway Field … Placing a camera in a location not available for the photographer to physically be in is commonly refereed to as a Remote Camera. Many photographers make use of remote cameras when covering sports. Notable remote camera positions are; over the basketball court, in the ice hockey net, or behind home plate. Horseracing makes use of remote cameras too, and it is common to see Skip Dickstein and Bill Frakes setting up a dozen or more remote cameras near the finish line of Churchill Downs. Here is an image of a high stakes race taken with a remote camera on Kentucky Oaks Day. My Nikon D3 camera has a quick release Kirk “L” Bracket attached to it. Then I attach the camera with bracket to the Gitzo Ball Head which is attached to a Ground Plate, (I use the OverXposed brand ground plate.) The ground plate is then slightly buried in the dirt under the inside rail of the Churchill Downs race course (See June 2005 Workshop at the Ranch: Remote Cameras at Churchill Downs.) Kentucky Oaks Day was overcast with occasional rain showers. This usually makes an image with an overexposed gray sky and shadowed jockey faces from an under the rail remote camera position, but the Nikon D3 seemed to handle the situation much better than previous cameras. Unusually dark skies and a hint of daylight on the track combined with a Picture Control setting of NEUTRAL seemed to help illuminate the usual dark shadowed faces of the jockeys. I used Auto ISO and manually set my exposure. With the shutter set at 1/3200 and my aperture set at f6.3, the Auto ISO did the rest automatically. Nikon D3, ISO Auto(800), 1/3200 at f6.3, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB Auto-3, Picture Control NEUTRAL, OverXposed Ground Plate with Gitzo Ball Head and Kirk “L” Bracket, Pocket Wizard Multi MAX Transceivers and N90-M3 Pre Release Trigger cord, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

I hope you have enjoyed this months article and find time to incorporate some of these techniques into your own photography. Today’s photography marketplace demands both excellence and creativity and my hope is that this article, as with other articles I have written for Workshop at the Ranch and On The Road, help many of you to increase you creativity and thus increase you success rate of unique imagery.

Join me next time here at Workshop at the Ranch. Adios, Dave