Indoor sports setup

[Ian]

I've been skating for a few years now, on and off. I enjoy it, but to be honest I'll never be winning any competitions, far from it infact! Half the reason I go now is to mess around taking photos.

I'm going to Rampworx tomorrow, which is a converted warehouse in Aintree, near Liverpool. It's just as you'd expect really, a bit dim and dusty.

My setup is rather impressive, it consists of a Fuji S5700, a 2Gb memory card and a bag. Ok so not so impressive, but just about capable.

Here is an image I took last year:

I quite like it, but obviously it could be a lot better. There appears to be a lot of dust on the lens for a start. Please could people recommend the best settings for this environment?

I'm thinking an ISO of around 400, with a shutter priority mode of a couple of 100ths with panning and an altered white balance (as most of the photos come out looking orange).. will that work?

Cheers

 

[f0xy]

my mate does photography like this for magazines...he uses quite alot of gear, remote flashes are his favourite

 

[Justin]

She'd get it!

 

[Ian]

my mate does photography like this for magazines...he uses quite alot of gear, remote flashes are his favourite

Hmm figured as much, seems like a hard environment to get a decent photo from. Used the inbuilt flash on that photo and it's just killed the background.

Reckon if I slow down the shutter speed I can get a bit of a blur going on in the background anyway, so it won't matter too much. Kinda a case of make the best of what I've got.

If I'm battered and bruised on Sunday, you'll know why now though lol.

She'd get it!

Haha, as far as I'm aware she's already getting it, sorry dude!

 

[MaLicE]

does your camera allow rear curtain sync flash? or rear fill flash?

if so you could slow the shutter right down fire it of as a person is coming up the ramp, which will release the shutter and take in the background detail and then will flash just before the shutter closes, catching the person mid air... its how most mag's etc do it for skateparks or dull locations...

 

[Ian]

The only thing I can find like that is a setting that allows me to adjust the flash time by incements of 1/3. I assume that would be a step in the right direction?

Should also mention that the photos will be split between ramp and rail, but I can't see it making that much difference.

 

[Ian]

Having looked in the manual that setting is just for the brightness, not the timing. Think I'll try a few settings and see what comes out best.