Hi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch. It amazes me what can be done with self-publishing. Thanks to my good friend Bob Smith and Wind River Creative I was able to release my book, The Way I See It. There are now 3 ways to get my book and learn about how I have made pictures over the last 30 years.

Well, here we go again with Sports Action and Nikon SB-900 Speedlights. This month’s venue is a challenging one, whitewater kayaking. For the 75,000 of you who are regular monthly readers of Workshop at the Ranch you already know where I’m going with this project, but for those of you who are new to my quest to photograph sports action with Speedlights, let me say welcome to the future.

Hi and welcome to this edition of Workshop at the Ranch. It amazes me what can be done with self-publishing. Thanks to my good friend Bob Smith and Wind River Creative I was able to release my book, The Way I See It . There are now 3 ways to get my book and learn about how I have made pictures over the last 30 years.

Well, here we go again with Sports Action and Nikon SB-900 Speedlights. This month’s venue is a challenging one, whitewater kayaking. For the 75,000 of you who are regular monthly readers of Workshop at the Ranch you already know where I’m going with this project, but for those of you who are new to my quest to photograph sports action with Speedlights, let me say welcome to the future.

You may want to read a few previous editions of my monthly articles to get yourself aquatinted with some of the technique and equipment that I have been incorporating into my image making recently. The list begins with the Nikon’s Auto FP custom setting which enables an unlimited choice of high shutter sync speeds up to 1/8000. This custom setting is found in many of the current Nikon cameras (check your manual or custom setting menu under Bracketing/Flash). The Nikon SB-900 Speedlight is my flash of choice and is set to the remote mode. I have recently been using Manual power output for my sports action Speedlight work. Next is the FourSquare block and Hand Grip by Lightware that holds up to 4 flash units or even 8 when combining 2 FourSquare blocks together via the Hand Grip (EightSquare as I call it). I am currently using the Radio Popper PX wireless transmitter and receiver system to fire the Speedlights over great distance’s. The Michael Bass Designs Fiber Optic Bundles connect the Radio Popper PX receivers to the Speedlights so that the Speedlights fire consistently in bright sunshine. And last but not least are the SANYO Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries, which give my Nikon SB-900 Speedlights a recycle time of only 2.3 seconds at Full power.

With all the technology that is available today creatively lit sports action is a reality by creating a “fill flash” scenario, that being to make use of the available ambient light conditions whether indoors or outdoors, and then adding some fill flash to the subject. First I make a manual –1.0 to –1.7 underexposure of the scene. How much I underexpose the scene depends on how much stylization I want. Once the desired amount of underexposure is determined I can then reveal my subject from the underexposed scene with light from my SB-900 Speedlights. Simple, nes pa`. A key creative concept of off camera lighting is to place your light source on an angle to your subject. This is easily done in a studio by just moving the lightstand off to the side of the subject so that light from the flash is illuminating them at a pleasing angle. But, it’s a whole other ball game when your subject is moving down river and there are torrent rapids to contend with. Such was the case for my kayakers during this summer’s Rocky Mountain run-off that swelled the Arkansas River to superb whitewater conditions.

With fill flash on my mind and my equipment in the back of my truck I was off to Pueblo, Colorado for a few days of whitewater kayaking image making.

Image #1A       Shadowed Kayaker, Speedlights OFF … Ben is working in the shadow area along Arkansas River. If I manually set my exposure for Ben and the shadowed rapids the result will overexpose the whitewater rapids in the background. If I expose for the sunlit whitewater behind Ben he will be underexposed and in silhouette as illustrated in this image. The latter of the two is the perfect scenario to use Speedlights and reveal my subject from silhouette. Here is a “prep image” of Ben without the illumination from my Speedlights. Nikon D3s, ISO 2000, 1/1600 at f9, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 7140K, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #1B       Shadowed Kayaker, Speedlights ON … Ben and the shadowed area of the river are easily revealed with light from the 8 Speedlights at Full power that are mounted to the EightSquare. Achieving an off camera angle of light on my athlete from the EightSquare is sometimes challenging, but my assistant Brian has located himself out on some boulders with the EightSquare secured to a Manfroto monopod. He is about 50 feet to my left. This off camera Speedlight location creates a triangle configuration with the kayaker, the EightSquare, and my photo position as the three points. There is about 50 feet from me to the Speedlights, 50 feet from the Speedlights to kayaker, and about 75 feet from kayaker to me. The flash easily reveals Ben from silhouette and completes the picture. Nikon D3s, ISO2000, 1/1600 at f9, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 7140K, 8 SB-900 Speedlights at Full power mounted to the EightSquare, 2 Radio Popper PX receivers each with a Michael Bass Designs Fiber Optic Bundle, a Radio Popper PX transmitter is attached to my Nikon SU-800 Commander with Velcro, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #2A       Rapid Chase, Speedlights OFF … Here’s Chase fighting a different location on the river. The sun has gone behind some clouds and I have moved onto some boulders where I can be in front of him. Here again is an example of purposely underexposing the scene by –1.7 stop to create a silhouette situation for my subject. With the Speedlights turned OFF Chase is left in a dark silhouette for this image. Nikon D3s, ISO2000, 1/2000 at f8, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 5560K Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #2B       Rapid Chase, Speedlights ON … Chase is a determined athlete and battles the river for several minutes. My assistant Brian is standing out on another section of boulders and has positioned the EightSquare about 50 feet to my right and about 65 feet from my subject. I am about 70 feet from Chase. When the cloud covers the sun and the available ambient light is decreased the effectiveness of off camera flash increases significantly, as it is no longer required to compete with bright sunshine and sunlit whitewater. Nikon D3s, ISO2000, 1/2000 at f8, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 5560K, 8 SB-900 Speedlights at Full power, EightSquare (2 FourSquare blocks connected with the Hand Grip), Radio Popper PX system, 2 MBD Fiber Optic Bundles, Nikon SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card. This is a fill flash from an off camera location and again use the familiar triangle configuration with the three points being my subject, the EightSquare of Speedlights, and my photo position.

Image #3A       Fast Eddy, Speedlights OFF… Eddy is a young talent on the whitewater play-boat scene who hails from New Mexico. By now you should recognize the “prep image” of an underexposed general scene. Nikon D3s, ISO3200, 1/2000 at f8, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon 1.4x teleconverter, WB 5000K, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #3B       Fast Eddy, Speedlights ON … Eddy is revealed with light from 8 Nikon SB-900 Speedlights mounted to the EightSquare. I only need 2 Radio Popper PX receivers to fire the 8 Speedlights thanks to the Michael Bass Designs (MBD) Fiber Optic Bundles. I can control the power output of the Speedlights from the Nikon SB-800 Commander placed on the hotshoe of my D3s camera. All 8 Speedlights are set to Remote mode. The Radio Popper Transmitter is simply attached with Velcro to the SU-800 Commander. The Radio Popper PX wireless system allows me to fire my Speedlights, control the power output, and use Auto FP for a high shutter sync speed that easily stops the action. Nikon D3s, ISO 3200, 1/2000 at f8, Nikon 200mm-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon 1.4x teleconverter, WB 5000K, 8 SB-900 Speedlights at Full power, EightSquare with Grip, Radio Popper PX system, 2 MBD Bundles, Nikon SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image 4       Boulder View … I really like the versatility of using multiple Speedlights. I wanted to show some of the boulders that stretched into the river. By simply swiveling three of the Speedlight heads to aim at the boulders I can easily illuminate them. These redirected Speedlights are only 15 feet from the boulders and much too close for the full power blast that my kayaker who is 45 feet away requires. I set 3 Speedlights to the C group and then dialed down the C group power output from my SU-800 Commander to 1/8 power so as to gently illuminate the foreground of boulders. The remaining 5 Speedlights are aimed at the kayaker and are set at Full power. All 8 Speedlights are still mounted on the same EightSquare. I have also chosen a white balance of 4000K to add a cool, blue color tone the scene. I have placed the amber warming gel that comes with each Nikon Speedlight over the front of each flash head which brings the “lit” areas back to a slightly warm daylight white balance. This is a very stylized look which I like to call Moody Blue. Nikon D3s, ISO2000, 1/1250 at f8, Nikon 14mm lens, WB 4000K, 8 Speedlights (5 at Full power and 3 with warming gels at 1/8 power, EightSquare with Grip, Radio PX system, 2 MBD Bundles, SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #5A       Chase Boat, Speedlights OFF… Here again is the familiar “prep image” of the underexposed silhouette scene. And here again is the Moody Blue formula. By underexposing the scene by 1.7 stop I have the opportunity to create a dynamic mood when I use light from my SB-900 Speedlights in the following image. Nikon D3s, ISO3200, 1/2000 at f6.3, Nikon 200mm-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon 1.4x teleconverter, WB 4000K, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #5B       Chase Boat, Speedlights ON … Chase is revealed with light from my 8 SB-900 Speedlights mounted on the EightSquare while working his way up the fast moving Arkansas River. I have continued to use the Moody Blue formula by using a white balance of 4000K and then adding warm light via the warming gels placed over the front of each Speedlight. Nikon D3s, ISO3200, 1/2000 at f6.3, Nikon 200mm-400mm G VR zoom lens with Nikon 1.4x teleconverter, WB 4000K, 8 Speedlights at Full power each with a warming gel, EightSquare with Grip, Radio PX system, 2 MBD Bundles, Radio PX system, SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #6       Cross Rapid … This final, and perhaps favorite image from our 2 sessions of whitewater kayaking and play boating captures Chase as he cuts across the Arkansas River just after sunset. The reduction of ambient light allows me to reduce the power output of my Speedlights each to 1/4 power. This reduction in power gives my Speedlights a much faster recycle time of just under 1 second and makes it possible to shoot several images while he crossed the rapids. Nikon D3s, ISO4000, 1/800 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400mm G VR zoom lens, WB 4000K, 8 SB-900 Speedlights each with a warming gel, Radio Popper PX system, 2 MBD Fiber Optic Bundles, Nikon SU-800 Commander, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

Image #7       River Walk Sundown… For those who thought this location was nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains, guess again. The stretch of the Arkansas River that we worked cuts directly through the city of Pueblo, Colorado and boasts 8 stair-step rapid areas that are perfect for whitewater kayaking and play boating that attracts kayak enthusiasts worldwide. A good example of “Silhouette and Reveal” in the same picture, this image illustrates the off camera lighting triangle configuration I have mentioned, that being my subject, the Speedlights, and my photo position as the 3 points. Nikon D3s, ISO3200, 1/1600 at f8, Nikon 14-24mm lens, WB 5000K, 8 SB-900 Speedlights each at 1/2 power, EightSquare (2 FourSquares and Grip), 2 Radio Popper PX Receivers, 2 Michael Bass Designs (MBD) Fiber Optic Bundles connect to the 2 Radio Popper Receivers which connect to the 8 Speedlights, Nikon SU-800 Commander with Radio Popper Transmitter attached, Manfroto Monopod to support the EightSquare, Lexar 16G Flash Card.

With Nikon’s Auto FP high shutter sync speed technology and SB-900 Speedlights, and a well thought out plan that places the athlete, the Speedlights, and the photographer in a triangular configuration for off camera lighting, lit sports action is a stylized reality.

Thanks for joining me on this continuing adventure making sports action with Speedlights. See you next time here on Workshop at the Ranch.

Adios. Dave

EQUIPMENT contact information

The FourSquare and all FourSquare accessories: www.lightwaredirect.com

Radio Popper PX Transmitters and PX Receivers: www.radiopopper.com

Michael Bass Designs Fiber Optic Bundle (explained in April and May articles): www.michaelbassdesigns.com