There’s no expiration date on wisdom, and that’s certainly true in this case. This article might be from 2007, but its wisdom still holds true. Robert Beck has been shooting for Sports Illustrated since 1986 and offered this helpful tutorial on how to use PocketWizard MultiMAX® radio triggers to simultaneously fire five cameras and a set of strobes.
This means every time he triggers the system, “each camera records a beautifully lit image at exactly the same instant, giving you/your editors 2-5 different angles of the same stupendous play.”
In the article, he details exactly how he and his assistant achieve this set up, what equipment is needed, and what settings need some extra attention. All in all, some excellent tips for maximum coverage, vital for high profile sporting events where you just can’t afford to miss a shot!
See the tutorial and don’t forget to check out Robert’s portfolio. An additional source of information on this setup can be found within the MultiMAX manual.
Photographer Keith Pytlinski, no stranger to our blog, has published a new post on his M5 Photography blog about breaking rules. Primarily known for his sports photography, Pytlinski captured mountain bikers at midday.
Using a Canon EOS 7D, a Boling 600 watt strobe, and a PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5, Pytlinski got some great images, all the while breaking the following list of photography “rules.” Here’s what he listed as his violations in the post:
- Shot at midday
- Shot JPEGs
- Changed lenses outside
- Used UV filters on both lenses
- Used bare bulb flash/no diffuser
- Used non-Canon L lenses (thanks Sigma and Tokina)
- Didn’t watermark my images before posting
As the old cliche goes, you have to know the rules in order to break them. Catch the full details and the images themselves on his blog. Nice job, Keith!
Photographer Bob Mayberger of Eclipse Sportswire was given the 2011 Media Eclipse Award for photography at the end of 2011. Full details are available at the Daily Racing Form’s site. Primarily a horse racing shooter, Mayberger used a Nikon D300 camera with a fisheye lens on the steeplechase course remotely triggered by PocketWizard Plus II radios.
Taken on May 4, 2011 at Saratoga Race Course, his winning shot was just one of 225 races he covered that year. You can see more of Mayberger’s work at the Eclipse Sportswire site. The Eclipse Award, although similarly named, has no connection to Mayberger’s wire service. Congrats, Bob!
We’ve previously featured sports photographer Chris Garrison several times on the PocketWizard blog. On Alliance Wakeboard’s site he recently documented a shoot he did with Nate Perry. Garrison had an idea for a shot he wanted to get, which Perry describes in the post as “[not] too hard. It was just a cab 180 nose press, early pass back backside 180 out.” Sounds simple, right?
To capture this shot, Garrison used a Nikon D2x, Elinchrom Ranger heads and packs, and tied it all together with a PocketWizard FlexTT5 and PowerST4 units. He points out that he used HyperSync technology to help him shooting in the harsh, flat light of 12 noon. Garrison has written about HyperSync previously.
Garrison also did some experimentation with a broken mirror he found on the side of the road. Is there nothing this photographer won’t try? Don’t miss all the details at the full post.
For almost thirty years, Scott Markewitz has been living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Originally attracted to the area for skating, skiing, and other outdoor activities, he now takes advantage of all the photographic opportunities available year-round. With his involvement in skiing, cycling, running, climbing, and other sports, he knows the best locations for many kinds of photographic setups no matter what season.
Markewitz skied as a hobby, and eventually turned pro after earning a degree in Marketing from the University of Utah. As a professional, he skied for many photographers and even flew down the slopes in a few movies. “I definitely gained a lot of experience working with the photographers at the time, so I guess you can call that my photographic training,” he says. “I went from one side of the camera to the other.”
©Scott Markewitz
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Tags:
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sports photography Posted under
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Ron Egatz on October 6th, 2011.
2 Comments »Dom Romney may very well have been born in the wrong country. A native of the United Kingdom, Romney currently lives in Stansted, north of London, and is huge fan of American racing cars of all types. Heavily influenced by his father’s car collection and love of hot-rodding, the younger Romney grew up with it in his blood. Since then, experimental built-for-speed vehicles, classic muscle cars, nitro-based fire-breathing monsters, vintage restorations, and plethora of drag races involving almost anything resting on four wheels have all been photographed by Romney.
©Dom Romney
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Daniel Milchev flirted with photography as a child in Bulgaria. Now living in Vail, Colorado, Milchev has been a professional photographer for the past four years, focusing primarily on action sports.
Vail, and the Vail-area athletes, remain the big draw for Milchev. “There’s a lot of good skiers and snowboarders and bikers,” he says. Apart from covering the X Games, he feels he rarely needs to leave Colorado due to the abundance of extreme sports practiced throughout the state.
©Daniel Milchev
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Photographer Donald Miralle blogged about an assignment for ESPN the Magazine. For a special Photo Issue, Miralle shot the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships at Penn State.
Miralle has achieved some beautiful images with his atypical camera angle. In the below photo, we see the emotion of both the winning Ohio State Buckeyes in celebration on the left and the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos walking away dejectedly on the right.
©Donald Miralle for ESPN the Magazine.
In a brief but comprehensive listing, Miralle reports he shot the scene with a Profoto Pro-7b with a Profoto Magnum Reflector and 10 degree grid spot positioned over the net. A second Pro-7b was positioned in the stands. He used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with the PocketWizard FlexTT5. The PocketWizard technology allowed him to get his shots at an incredible 1/1000th of a second.
“If you haven’t got one of these yet, go out and do it. You won’t have to use a leaf shutter again to freeze action with strobes,” Miralle writes.
Be sure to check out some really fine photography on his site. His blog is worth viewing, too. Miralle is a talent worth following, and we’re excited to see his future work.
Bryan Butterfield posted last week about a session he did with skateboarder Shaun McBride in Layton, Utah. The gorgeous Utah at sunrise provided a dramatic backdrop for McBride’s moves.
©Bryan Butterfield
Butterfield used a PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller and several FlexTT5 radio triggers to fire three Canon 430EX II flashes mounted on a tri-flash bracket. “This type of shoot is not possible without PocketWizards,” Butterfield writes. His camera was a Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.
Looks like a lot of great action frozen at high speeds. Be sure to check out the blog post and accompanying images.
Now based in Orange County, California, Garth Milan has moved around the United States since childhood, living everywhere from upstate New York to Puerto Rico to Florida to Washington State. After attending high school in California, he went to Cal State Long Beach to study Photojournalism.
At the age of 19, Milan was a motocross rider and nearly achieved professional rider status. A string of broken bones and other injuries made him reevaluate the odds of earning a living in the sport. Well-into photography by that point, he easily slid into a transition from participant to photographer. “It wasn’t just motocross, either,” he says. “It was other sports like wakeboarding, which was another one I was really into.”
©Garth Milan
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