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I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have found
in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows on
the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo editor
and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
lighting kit to light the wall behind them?

Where can I find info on shooting player portraits like these?

In article <a8Lxb.25669$>, Viper
<> writes
>I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have found
>in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows on
>the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo editor
>and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
>lighting kit to light the wall behind them?

Stand with your back to the wall )

--
Alan ............

Viper asks:

>I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have found
>in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows on
>the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo editor
>and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
>lighting kit to light the wall behind them?

Head on flash throws hard shadows. Using a similar intensity flash, or flood,
to light the background should reduce the shadow. Best bet: get the flash off
the camera, and use a main flash to one side, with a fill to the other and a
little lower.

A lot depends on the type of camera you have, and how it handles off camera
flash, though.

Charlie Self

"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the
pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken

Thanks.. got a new Digital Rebel... I'll look into the off camera flash
ability.

"Charlie Self" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Viper asks:
>
> >I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have
found
> >in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows
on
> >the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo
editor
> >and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
> >lighting kit to light the wall behind them?
>
> Head on flash throws hard shadows. Using a similar intensity flash, or
flood,
> to light the background should reduce the shadow. Best bet: get the flash
off
> the camera, and use a main flash to one side, with a fill to the other and
a
> little lower.
>
> A lot depends on the type of camera you have, and how it handles off
camera
> flash, though.
>
> Charlie Self
>
> "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back
to the
> pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Viper wrote:
>I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have found
>in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows on
>the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo editor
>and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
>lighting kit to light the wall behind them?
>
>Where can I find info on shooting player portraits like these?

Simple. Move the subject farther away from the wall. If the flash-to-subject
distance is five feet, and the flash-to-wall distance is forty feet, then you
won't see any shadow on the wall. Then open up the aperture wide to limit the
DOF. If you do it right, you won't even see the wall at all.

---Bob Gross---

You could also consider:

1. Taking the pix outdoors in a shady location and/or on an overcast day (if
practical). Natural, diffuse daylight gives nice soft lighting.

2. As above, using the camera flash as a filler. With the 300D take several
shots at different ISO settings. Review the histogram ("INFO") immediately
and adjust for any under/over exposure. A filler flash will help counteract
harsh sunlight if you just can't manage to book a shady day . You will
get a fill flash by manually popping the flash in the "Creative zone".
Changing the ISO setting seems to alter the relative effect of the flash (I
have noticed this but not delved into the why's and wherefore's).

3. Use available light indoors. Most basket ball venus would have quite
bright lighting. As above, correct the exposure using the histogram.

4. Shoot in RAW mode so you have the best possible chance of fixing any
problems later. Get a copy of Capture One ($49 or 15 day free trial) to do
the pre-processing.

5. If this is important to you, practice beforehand with maybe just your son
but at the right distance to capture the whole team. I doubt if a Cadre of
Kids will want to stick around while you perfect your technique.

6. Don't be afraid to rattle of lots of shots, the film is cheap!

DJ


"Viper" <> wrote in message
news:a8Lxb.25669$...
> I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have
found
> in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows on
> the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo
editor
> and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
> lighting kit to light the wall behind them?
>
> Where can I find info on shooting player portraits like these?
>
>

Thanks DJ... these are great suggestions... I will definitly jumo in and
experiment before I go for real... I need to dig into the manual - I have no
idea what you mean by reviewing the INFO - but I will read up on it.. I
am interested in knowing as much about taking good photos as I can...

"DJ" <> wrote in message
news:3fc7d693$0$13968$ u...
> You could also consider:
>
> 1. Taking the pix outdoors in a shady location and/or on an overcast day
(if
> practical). Natural, diffuse daylight gives nice soft lighting.
>
> 2. As above, using the camera flash as a filler. With the 300D take
several
> shots at different ISO settings. Review the histogram ("INFO") immediately
> and adjust for any under/over exposure. A filler flash will help
counteract
> harsh sunlight if you just can't manage to book a shady day . You will
> get a fill flash by manually popping the flash in the "Creative zone".
> Changing the ISO setting seems to alter the relative effect of the flash
(I
> have noticed this but not delved into the why's and wherefore's).
>
> 3. Use available light indoors. Most basket ball venus would have quite
> bright lighting. As above, correct the exposure using the histogram.
>
> 4. Shoot in RAW mode so you have the best possible chance of fixing any
> problems later. Get a copy of Capture One ($49 or 15 day free trial) to do
> the pre-processing.
>
> 5. If this is important to you, practice beforehand with maybe just your
son
> but at the right distance to capture the whole team. I doubt if a Cadre of
> Kids will want to stick around while you perfect your technique.
>
> 6. Don't be afraid to rattle of lots of shots, the film is cheap!
>
> DJ
>
>
> "Viper" <> wrote in message
> news:a8Lxb.25669$...
> > I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have
> found
> > in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows
on
> > the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo
> editor
> > and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
> > lighting kit to light the wall behind them?
> >
> > Where can I find info on shooting player portraits like these?
> >
> >
>
>

The main feature of "INFO" is a histogram that shows the number of pixels
versus light level. Also, the tiny thumbnail will blink any parts of the
image that are saturated (hopelessly overexposed). Once a region of the
picture is overexposed, it is impossible to recover any detail from it, so
all you will have is totally white areas. The trick is to adjust the exposure,
using the +/- button and the rotary wheel, so the brightest part of the
picture is near, but not at or past, the overexposed state. On the
histogram, increasing exposure shifts the graph towards the right. This way
you will capture the maximum amount of detail in the picture.

It you use RAW format rather than jpg, you will be saving 4096 brightness
levels for each colour rather than 256. In jpg mode the camera makes the
decisions for you, and in the process throws out lots of lovely data
(detail). With a RAW file, you can use Capture One to adjust exposure,
contrast and other parameters before sending it to Elements 2 for final
printing.

DJ

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 23:42:30 GMT, "Viper" <> wrote:

>Thanks DJ... these are great suggestions... I will definitly jumo in and
>experiment before I go for real... I need to dig into the manual - I have no
>idea what you mean by reviewing the INFO - but I will read up on it.. I
>am interested in knowing as much about taking good photos as I can...
>
>"DJ" <> wrote in message
>news:3fc7d693$0$13968$. au...
>> You could also consider:
>>
>> 1. Taking the pix outdoors in a shady location and/or on an overcast day
>(if
>> practical). Natural, diffuse daylight gives nice soft lighting.
>>
>> 2. As above, using the camera flash as a filler. With the 300D take
>several
>> shots at different ISO settings. Review the histogram ("INFO") immediately
>> and adjust for any under/over exposure. A filler flash will help
>counteract
>> harsh sunlight if you just can't manage to book a shady day . You will
>> get a fill flash by manually popping the flash in the "Creative zone".
>> Changing the ISO setting seems to alter the relative effect of the flash
>(I
>> have noticed this but not delved into the why's and wherefore's).
>>
>> 3. Use available light indoors. Most basket ball venus would have quite
>> bright lighting. As above, correct the exposure using the histogram.
>>
>> 4. Shoot in RAW mode so you have the best possible chance of fixing any
>> problems later. Get a copy of Capture One ($49 or 15 day free trial) to do
>> the pre-processing.
>>
>> 5. If this is important to you, practice beforehand with maybe just your
>son
>> but at the right distance to capture the whole team. I doubt if a Cadre of
>> Kids will want to stick around while you perfect your technique.
>>
>> 6. Don't be afraid to rattle of lots of shots, the film is cheap!
>>
>> DJ
>>
>>
>> "Viper" <> wrote in message
>> news:a8Lxb.25669$...
>> > I want to take the player photos for my son's basketball team. I have
>> found
>> > in the past that by using the cameras flash I get a 'shadow' that shows
>on
>> > the wall behind the player and I have to take each image into a photo
>> editor
>> > and remove the shadow 'border' around them. I assume I need some kind of
>> > lighting kit to light the wall behind them?
>> >
>> > Where can I find info on shooting player portraits like these?
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>