Night shoot

[merman]

I want to do a night shoot this weekend of some skateboarding (the same guy that i have posted in the critique section) I have never done any action shots at night before. Does anyone have any tips? The spots that we will be shooting at will have some light (street light, emergancy lamps etc), i dont have an external flash to have fun with, but i do have a 15000000 candlewatt spotlight to experiment with.

[Marko]

I'm really not sure you'll have enough light - it sounds like it may be borderline

Go there a day or 2 before and do a test shot to see what u get.

You'll need at least 1/125 and 1/250 or 1/500 will probably be better.
You'll likely need to shoot wide open and at a high ISO as well.

What fast lenses do you have? (The lenses with the widest apertures)

[merman]

i have a 28-70mm with f4.5 on my F70 and an 18-70mm with f3.5 on my D70s

[tirediron]

Hmmm... those lenses are going to be a tad slow... crank the ISO right up and see what comes out of it. You could also tape some small lights to his board, and have him hold a couple and get some interesting light trails using long exposures...

[merman]

i was actually able to get a 35ft sync cable for my sb10 so i should be able to put the flash wherever i need it.


we want to try lights and reflective tape it should be fun, now i hope the weather holds up

[Marko]

Not sure you had your shoot yet, but if not, now that you have a flash try a few longer exposures as well so that more of the background will show up. You might get some neat shots.