Bowens Esprit - Dance Action

[Black Dog]

Wondering if you guys think the Old Bowens Esprit will be good enough to freeze dancers in mid flight, for those action shots.
I guess the actual flash duration is the issue. Or would I need to hire a Scoro pack??

[I @ M]

You have pocket wizard triggers listed in your gear, you should have no problems if they are the flexTT triggers that allow you to have flash synch well above the camera norm.
Flash duration is helpful for "freezing" motion but may not do as good a job as you want with studio strobes and low shutter speeds.

[Rattus79]

Just use Trailing Curtain Synch if it's not fast enough, so the blur goes behind rathter then infront.

I dont' see a problem though.

[Black Dog]

Andrew, No they are the old ones with a 1/250 Sync speed.

Greg, Yes i am aware I can do that and it would be my default.

Are there ways to work around the sync??

[jjphoto]

Andrew, No they are the old ones with a 1/250 Sync speed.

Greg, Yes i am aware I can do that and it would be my default.

Are there ways to work around the sync??

If you are struggling with relatively low shutter speeds or flash duration then the but the best technique is to try to shoot the dance at a point where the motion stops, changes direction, or peaks momentarilly. This may not always suite what you want to do but some times it's all you got.

[I @ M]

How much "freeze" do you want.

I find that anything much under 1/1000 and strobes with relatively long flash duration results in movement showing, with more power and a faster flash duration shutter speeds can be lower but still way above x-synch.
Sometimes it works OK depending on subject and the feel of the image but for totally "frozen" I can't see ways around it other than upgrading the triggers to allow very fast shutter speeds.
Site advertiser Phottix have their triggers available as an alternatives to pocket wizards and apparently they are working well and at a much less expensive price than the opposition.

[patrickv]

1/200, f/2.8, ISO 1600 (I had accidentally hit the knob, shutter was supposed to be set at 1/250, my maximum flash sync)
About 4 meters away, 24-70 @ 70mm on crop, Nissin Di866 II flash with built-in diffuser pointed half way to the ceiling + white card. It looks kind of frozen to me!
Cheers

martina.jpg

[Black Dog]

Patrickv no offense ment but that is not what i would call frozen, you can see motion blurr around the shoulders and face the hair isn't sharp. It is a great capture of a moment and a bit of blurr shows movement but it isn't the effect I'm after.


Look at master like Howard Schatz & one of my favorite masters of light Andre Brito. You will have to google them, I'm not allowed to post links yet.

[I @ M]

Look at master like Howard Schatz & one of my favorite masters of light Andre Brito. You will have to google them, I'm not allowed to post links yet.

You can post links to sites such as those, the restrictions are in place to stop people linking commercial sales sites. The forum rules say that other links may be removed and the moderators here do have a look at many links and assess suitability. Those sites that you mentioned are simply other photographers that you admire and wish to use as reference in context with the current discussion.

As for their work and the way it was achieved I suspect that they are using very expensive gear in the way of strobes.

With a reasonably fast duration strobe ( 1250 ws at about 1/2 power ) I managed to achieve shutter speeds down to about 1/640 in this instance, faster is better.



With slower duration strobes and 1/500, rapid movement is still blurred as in this set up shot. At higher shutter speeds ( 1/4000 ) everything is frozen. Having the triggers that allow you to get the look that you want is to me, the only viable alternative.

[patrickv]

Patrickv no offense ment but that is not what i would call frozen, you can see motion blurr around the shoulders and face the hair isn't sharp. It is a great capture of a moment and a bit of blurr shows movement but it isn't the effect I'm after.

Thanks!
No worries, I'm completely open to any critique and remarks, that how we grow.
It does feel to me like it's half motion blur and half high ISO noise (cropped image from my Canon 7D). Now that you point it out, I can definitely see a slight motion blur on the shoulders. Since the flash is only a fill-in, it does make sense, as 1/200 isn't going to freeze stuff by itself.
I checked other pics at other venues where my Di866 was diffused and provided 99% of the light, everything was a lot more sharp.

Looking forward to buying the Elinchrom bxri 500/500 kit!