[Members] Fw: Behind the Photos: Action Photography with Flash

[John Wynn]

Behind the Photos: Action Photography with FlashHi everyone,

FYI – Sports action photography – HOW-TO with before/after editing.

via Improve Photography

Keep snapping,

John Wynn (Logistics)
ODCC (Orillia & District Camera Club)
john.wynn at sympatico.ca
705-325-8038

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From: Jim From Improve Photography 
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 1:27 AM
To: John 
Subject: Behind the Photos: Action Photography with Flash

                  Behind the Photos by Improve Photography 

            Yesterday when I shared the photo on Facebook that I'll be breaking down in this "Behind the Scenes" look, over 2,000 of you liked, commented, and shared the post.  THANK YOU all for your support! 

            It's time to get down into the details of how I made this shot, but first, the final photo...
                    

            Can't see the photo above?  Click here to view. 
     
                  Inspiration for the Photo 

            I went out to shoot motocross with Dave Black (an INCREDIBLE sports photographer).  After shooting with him for a while, I split off to work with some other photographers who were there and we set up this scene for a shoot.   

            The idea was to have the motocross rider buzz around this corner as quickly as possible so lots of dirt would get kicked up. 
                  Camera Settings 

            I shot this photo in manual mode because I was using flash.  If you're not sure about why you need to shoot in manual when using flash, read my tutorial on flash sync speed. 

            Shutter speed: 1/250
            Aperture: f/18
            ISO: 500
            Continuous focus mode (AI Servo) with the center 9 focus points selected.
            Camera: Nikon D4s
            Lens: Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 @ 16mm
                  Lighting and Freezing Action 

            Yesterday in the most recent episode of the podcast, I talked about trying this shoot with studio strobes, high speed sync speedlights, and also non-high speed sync speedlights.  This particular photo was taken with studio strobes, but the EXACT same result could be achieved using cheap speedlights. 

            Two flashes were used, and both were on full power.  One was next to me and slightly higher than me when standing up.  The second flash was behind the athlete backlighting him to make the dirt and dust stand out.

            You may be wondering how the action of the shot looks frozen with such a slow shutter speed.  The answer to that is that the flash has an incredibly short flash duration which illuminates the scene for only 1/5000th of a second, so it acts like a second shutter to freeze the action.
                  Original, Unedited Photo 

                    

            Can't see the photo above?  Click here to view image.
                  Post-Processing 

            As you can see, a lot of the magic for this shot was done in post-processing.  

            Most notably, you'll see that a crop was needed and that the coloration looks totally different. The coloring could actually have been done in camera (for proof, see this shot that I took on the same day, where this same technique is done in-camera) by using a gel shifting technique (changing the camera white balance to blue and using an orange gel on the flash to make the light on the model look neutral).

            However, I didn't have a gel handy for this shot and I knew I could do the exact same thing in post-processing where I could tweak the colors with better control than I could in-camera.

            Here's how it works:
              a.. Import the photo into Lightroom and add keywords 
              b.. Now crop the photo in Lightroom 
              c.. In Lightroom, change the white balance to a very cold blue color by simply moving the slider to the left 
              d.. Now grab a Lightroom adjustment brush and paint only on the athlete and the bike.  Change the color of this adjustment brush to yellow on the white balance scale so that the rider and bike no longer look blue. 
              e.. Done!
            The last thing I did was used a Photoshop brush to put some more dirt in the photo.  I just searched for Photoshop brushes online and some that look like dirt splotches.  Then I simply clicked the brush behind the bike for some more dirt.
                  Ready to Learn? 

            You'll notice from these newsletters that I do 90% of my post-processing in Lightroom.  If you're ready to learn it, check out my online class where I show you exactly how to get results like this in Lightroom.  Use coupon code "newsletter5" to get $5 off my online Lightroom course. 
     

16357 Copperridge Way
Caldwell ID 83607
USA 

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