Last night was the 3rd stage of the UNR (University of Nevada Reno) Bicycle Road Race, the Aircenter Criterium.  I had shot Stage 2 up in Truckee, California the previous night at Bocca with terrible results.

Two External Speedlights Camera Left at 45°

I have been (and will probably continue all my life) to experiment with flash photography for sporting events.  It is my humble opinion that lighting adds a dept of demension to an image that can not be duplicated with Ambient Light.  Sure you can make sure you have nice Side Light (will cause shadows) or Front Light but the chances of that happening are pretty random.  That limits where and especially when you choose to shoot.

As a sports shooter I follow Dave Black’s (Link) monthly teaching which he calls “Workshop At The Ranch.”  Dave lives in Colorado Springs, CO.  He has been a Sports Illustrated shooter for many years and is a big proponent of small flash photography.  His point is that he can travel light (literally) and set up for Arena Style shooting using SB900 Speedlights.  He teaches us how to use Radio Poppers (Link) in order to send the TTL Signal from the flash to his Speedlights.  The Speedlights are set in a bank of four with one Radio Popper Reciever.  The reciever then splits the signal out to the other Speedlights using Michael Bass Design (Link) Fibre Optic cables.  This allows Dave to control the flash ratios from any shooting location.

I have two tri-flash mounts I use.  The idea is that if I use three flashes in a group as opposed to one, I will be able to turn the power output down saving battery life and increase recycle times between shots.  This is huge!  For shoots like this I use Elenchrom Skyport Trigger and Recievers.  I place the trigger on my hot shoe which in turn send the flash signal out to the receivers.  I have three receivers, so last night I decided to shoot with three groups of Speedlights.  My main (or Key) light would be camera right about 30 feet back from the road.  This group has three SB800 Speedlights.  One light has the receiver.  I did order a special cable from Michael Bass but it was not here in time so plan “B.”  Plan “B” was to set one of the three in Manual Mode 1/2 power with the receiver.  The other two flashes were set to SU4 Remote Manual Mode at 1/2 power.  I pulled the bounce plate out of the flash head on the main light so that the other two lights would “see” the flash signal and trip.

I set the second flash across the road also at a 45° to my shooting zone.  The purpose of this flash was to rim light the riders adding a sense of demension to the image.  My last light is my SB900 which I have set to “Even” light distribution.  I have this light back 40 feet and low in order to side light the group as they come by.

I am shooting at ISO 800 in order to keep my Aperture at f/5.6.  I am in Aperture Priority and my speed is staying between 1/100th and 1/250th of a second.  White Balance is set with my Expo Disk (Awesome Tool — Link) I am shooting my Nikon D300 with my 70-200 f/2.8 lens.  No Cover.

It was a bit of a challenge as Light Conditions varied through the night.  I wound up moving lights back as it got darker.  Here are some images:

Three Off Camera Lighting Scenario

Here you can see the rim light

Group Breakaway Leader

The Main Field

Thanks for following along

I have been wanting to shoot Kayaking for several weeks now and I had the time today.

I started early in the morning and headed down to the Truckee River Kayak Water Park in downtown Reno.  I checked the north side, no Kayakers.  I checked the Slalom Park, no Kayakers.  I drove up to Floristan, no Kayakers.  So I headed home and figured I would go back and try again around 5pm.

One of the reasons I wanted to shoot Kayaking was to try out a feature called high speed sync or auto FP.  In the days of Film cameras if you wanted to shoot flash you were restricted to 1/250th of a second.  And that rule still holds true today unless you set your camera to high speed sync and use small flash.  With Auto FP you can use any shutter speed you wish and the flash will send pulses of light instead of one continuous burst of light.  The other thing using this technique is you have to use an Auto Mode:  Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority.  This technique was what I wanted to use on the river.

In this case I chose Aperture Priority of f/2.8 and -0.7 EV in the camera to obtain a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec to freeze the water.  I had three strobes (2 SB800s & 1 SB900) set SU4 mode (link).  This mode allows all flashes to fire in Manual Mode when the Master Flash fires.  I was using a SB900 as a Master Flash pointed at my two SB800 Remotes.  All Flashes were camera right set to Manual Mode 1/1 (full power) and zoomed to 105 meters.

This first image was taken in the north fork of the park.  Natural light is coming from the West and I am shooting north with flash to help fill the shadows.

Standing the Kayak on End

The other thing I was working on was focus mode.  From what I have read, the Nikon D300, D700, D3 and D3s benefit from Dynamic Focus 22 point.  In this next image my focus point was jumping all around but did a great job of staying with the athlete.  As you can see the slalom poles are out of focus while the athlete is in perfect focus.

Truckee River Kayak White Water Park Reno, Nevada by Thomas D Compton

All in all a fun afternoon of shooting.  Now I am motivated to go shoot some crazy whitewater on the American River in Sutter Mill, CA.

Riding the Waves Truckee River White Water Park, Reno, Nevada

Thanks for following along.

Tommy

Paul Mach, Team Bissel Leading the Breakaway Group on Stage 1 of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California

I have been a fan of Bicycle Road Racing starting back in 1978 when I was exposed to the sport by a couple of friends of mine in Portland, Oregon where I was raised.  I have been an active participant in the sport up until a couple of years ago when I had an altercation with a car (read this as “hit” by a car).  So, while I may not ride now, I do stay involved from behind the viewfinder. My goal as a Sports Shooter is to capture the drama of the sport, the courage of the athlete, and hopefully get that moment in time that translates all this to you, the reader.

I was thrilled three years ago when the Amgen Tour of California was first put on the UCI calendar.  I have watched the race develop of the last three seasons with higher caliber riders coming to the event with each year.  This year the race competed on the calendar with the Giro d’Italia which is one of the three major tours on the schedule.  It was a risk but what a roster for this year.  Levi Leipheimer of Team Radio Shack will be defending his title and third consecutive win.  Lance Armstrong with be riding as a support rider for Levi and testing his fitness for this years Tour de France.  Tommy Boonen, Team Quick Step of Belgium is here.  Saxo Bank has sent Jens Voight, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, and Fabian Cancellara to contend.  Team Columbia Highroad with Michael Rogers and Mark Cavendish (the worlds fastest sprinter).  Team BMC with George Hincapie.  Garmin Transistions with Tom Danielson, Dave Zabriskie, and Robbie Hunter.  You get the idea.  These are the best of the best racing in America, not Italy.

The first day was to be a road race from Nevada City to Sacramento.  When I saw that I immediately put it on my calendar.  I was going to see the best riders in the Pro Peleton.  Now, the other part of the story.

I have been sick for 7 days now (really unlike me).  After the 5th day I was diagnosed with Pneumonia.  I have been house bound for a week and the biggest race I might ever be able to see is here.  Time for a choice:  Do I stay home sick (wise choice) or do I go.  I go.

One of my fellow photographers, Dan Newton and I drove over to Auburn California to scout a shooting location.  Dan is one of the most talented photographers I know. We often shoot Bicycle Road Racing together.  We drove down California State Route 49 to pick a location.  We talked about shooting the descent and I argued that the pack of 128 riders would be gone in a blink of an eye.  Lets to up to the King of the Mountains climb.  This is spectacular country by the way.  Green, lush, pastureland with walnut trees and raging rivers from the Sierra.  We drove up the mountain through very serpentine roads and parked just over the summit of the climb.  We then walked down the course to find our shooting locations.

I decided to position myself up and around the corner from Dan.  The riders would be approaching me in my line. I am close to the white line, about 6″ or so.  I set up my camera with my 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed to 135mm.  I use my Expodisk to set exposure and white balance.  I dial in the exposure.  Set the flash to ITTL +1.0 EV camera set to +0.0 EV.  I wet the flash zoom to 150mm to throw the light down the road.  I check exposure again.  I am good.  Now I wait.  I am shaking a bit from the Pneumonia, hope I can hold the camera steady when the time comes.

The guy across the street is dressed as Zoro.  He will be chasing the leaders up the climb in costume. Another man across the road has a lap top set up on top of his car watching the race progress in real time from VeloNews.com.  He is calling out the times to me.  “There is a break of four riders off the front.”  “They have 5 minutes on the group” he tells me.  Okay I see the television helicopter.  Here come the California State Troppers (they are managing a rolling road closure to keep the riders safe as they cross the yellow line).  Here come the media cars, the Chief Marshall, one team support vehicle, Team BMC, more motorcycles, get ready:  A rider.

It is Paul Mach of Davis California riding for Team Bissel.  Ready, here comes a United Healthcare rider, then Rabo Bank, Team BMC.  Okay I should have 5 minutes before the group.  Here comes Nuetral Support, Media, get ready.  I see a Columbia High Road rider.  Shoot .  .  .

Remember I am 6 inches from the line and they are on me.  I am looking through the viewfinder.  All I can see is a mass of faces.  I am set up to shoot down the road, not next to me.  The wind is rushing by me.  They must be doing 20 mph up hill?  Concentrate, do not put the camera down.  Keep shooting.  I think to myself “I am either going to get tossed to the rock behind me or I am going to get hit.  Thought I was far enough back, Yikes!

It is over.  That’s it.  20 seconds of the pack who I could not see.  Did I see Lance?  Yup, watched him that night on VHS sports.  Did I see anything, not really.  Just the mass in my viewfinder.

Three hours of driving over, two hours of waiting on the road and it was done in 20 seconds.  Was it worth it?  Yes.

I hope the supporting images will tell the story better than me and you can get a sense of the drama.  Thanks for following along.

Tommy

The 2010 Amgen Tour of California

Team United Healthcare Rider Checking his Position

Rabobank and BMC Riders on the climb to the King of the Mountain Summit 2010 Amgen Tour of California

Zorro running with the Peleton Stage One 2010 Amgen Tour of California

Team Columbia Highroad Rider (Michael Rodgers?) Leading the Chase

I normally use my blog to share photographic experiences and tips with all of you.  Today will be different.
I had an experience at Mt. Rose Ski Area last week that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

First, I want to mention that I am a long time pass holder at Mt. Rose. On Tuesday of last week my daughter and I parked at the Slide Side of the ski area.  My daughter was borrowing a pair of skis and I needed to adjust her bindings before we skied.

I carried her skis and mine up to the snow so as not to hurt the bases while adjusting her bindings.  After the adjustment, we headed back to our car to put on our ski boots.  When I got back to put on my skis, I found them on a concrete retaining wall.  I checked the edges and found that they were extremely damaged.

There was a snow cat nearby and I later found out that a lift attendant moved my skis before leaving on his slead.

I approached an employee in the Ticket Sales office and told him what had happened and asked to see a Manager.  I was told the Manager was not in.

After skiing for a couple of hours, we came down for something to eat.  As we were walking down the stairs, one of the Managers, Kathy came out of the Ticket Sales office.  I asked her if she had heard what happened earlier that day-she had not.

I told her my story and her response was: “We would never do that, the skis must have slid.”  That did not settle well with me.  In fact in bothered me enough that I called the General Manager on Wednesday.  I was not able to reach Paul (General Manager).  I did speak with someone who told me she was his assistant.

Again, I told my story and was assured that Paul would call me.  I let time go by and when visiting the area again on Saturday went to the Guest Services counter.  Told my story again and was assured that I would hear back from Paul on Monday.  I did not.  By the way that was four tries to get in touch with him. At that point I called and left a voice mail for him.

Still I hear nothing.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited until Tuesday night then wrote him an email telling him how upset I was.

Please find his attached response:

Yes I did receive your message and have investigated the matter. Apparently you spoke with our manager Kathy explaining your theory on what happened to your skis.

My lift operator was the person that moved your skis when he was returning the snowmobile to its parking location; he did not and had no reason to drive over them. He has worked for me for many years I know him well, he is
a stand up guy with no reason to create trouble for anyone. Moving your skis to the top of the Ultra Block (concrete) wall out of his path did not grind your skis down to a 45 degree angle, this is not plausible.

The reason I didn’t respond was because it was my understanding that your discussion with Kathy the day of the incident settled the matter.

I can offer you a complimentary stone grind in our repair shop to address your edge concern if you like.

Sincerely,

Paul Senft
General Manager
Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe
ps@mtrose.com

Even if I was not a pass holder and was a ticket holder, this sort of response is unacceptable.

I am a Manager in Retail –it is my job to solve problems, not put up road blocks.  I am also a sports photographer who regularly shoots ski races around the Tahoe Rim. I can tell you the service at Mt Rose pales compared to Squaw Valley, Northstar, and Sugar Bowl.

I did not expect the area to replace my skis.  I did expect them to acknowledge my complaint.   Maybe if enough of us complain they will improve.

More later,

Tommy

I was thrilled when I got the email from Ski Racing that they were using two of my recent images in the current issue of Ski Racing Magazine.  Not just the online Blog, but the real deal, Print.  When I got me electronic copy yesterday I found they used three of my images to anchor the story.  If you would like to see or read the store click the ski racing link above.

It has been one of my dreams to make the magazine.  My next goal . . . the Cover!

Thanks for following along.  More Later

Tommy

Carlonina Nordh GS Winner

I have been looking forward to the 2010 RIMSA Invitational Ski Races since shooting the race last year.  UNR will be hosting the event with a G.S. at Northstar on Friday and Slalom Saturday and Sunday at Sugar Bowl.

The race features the top three athletes from Division One schools in the Western Region.  The schools include: University of Alaska, Anchorage, University of Colorado, University of Denver, Montana State, University of Nevada (go Wolf Pack), University of New Mexico, University of Utah, and the University of Wyoming.  The top athletes from each of these schools will be participating.

This was a fantastic race to photograph as well as a fantastic race to watch.  These athletes are world class caliber and some will go on to race in the World Cup.  I will post images on my Web site early next week ( www.thomascompton.com) as well as journal about my experience.

I hope to share some exciting images with you.  In the meantime, enjoy the Olympics.

More later,

Tommy