Ben Gant (left), age 8, of Chapel Hill, and his dad, John, show off their dribbling skills Sunday

Last weekend, the Chapel Hill News sent me to shoot a local family event. Carrboro Parks & Rec organizes an annual parent-child basketball skills contest. This year’s event took place last Saturday at a local middle school. The gum was a bit dark, but I brought some flashes and took my time. I stayed for about two and a half hours, giving me time to set up some acceptable light.

The paper printed three of the photos with the article, chapelhillnews.com | Parent-Child Challenge. The first image (top right here) relies on my off-camera flash on a stand to camera left, either via optical slave or by the wireless trigger. I spotted the second (on left) far from the light stand, so tried different variations with an without my on-board SB-400. The flash does not work well from a distance, so I think this was with a very slow shutter speed and a prayer for a steady hand. The last (lower right here) away from the light stand, but there was better light near the entryway to the gym.

Matthew, 8, and Dave Cohen, 48, of Chapel Hill, await their next turn to show off their skills at the Shootout.

Contestants check their scores at the end of Sunday's competition.

I used different commendations of an-board SB-400 Nd my Vivitar on a stand. The best light came from both flashes simultaneously with an optical slave trigger, but calling the trigger unreliable would he kind. For the paper, this was not useful. The wireless trigger worked very well, so was my main action light. It was not mobile, so I also used the SB-400 alone for some shots.

It was fun for the kids. They were excited to have the possibility.of being in the paper. See the full spread I submitted to the paper in this slideshow:

Tags: basketball, chapel hill news, CHN, in print

This entry was posted on January 29, 2010 at 8:33 pm and is filed under tim's photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.