Today I was scheduled to shoot the UMaine women's hockey team. This photo is similar to the basketball shoot I had to do last year. Once again, time was minimal. I had the assistant to the athletic director help me set up so it went smoothly. I arrived at six pm to set up for a 6:30 shoot. The team had practice at 6:30 so once we were set up I was only going to have a few minutes to get the shot (so I had better be prepared...as always)
Since my basketball team photo (in a previous blog), I have made things a bit easier on myself. If you read my last blog entry, you know that I was pushed for power using only speedlights to do a big team portrait. I have since purchased two Paul Buff Einstein 640 lights http://www.paulcbuff.com/pcb2009/einstein.html. These are great units, consistent white balance and reliable performance. I can whole-heartedly recommend these lights.
My setup was simple. Two Einsteins on the right and front left. They were in Buff softboxes http://www.alienbees.com/foldable_detail.html(large on camera left and medium on camera right). These were both set at full power. From the rear on camera left and camera right were two speedlights (Vivitar 285 HV) both set to 1/16 power. the softboxes were aimed at the far side to feather the light away from the closer chairs and to balance the light more. the Vivitars were shot bare but I had a flag on each to avoid flare. They were aimed to cover all the rows but the flags blocked any light from going past the front row. I used home-made flags made of two layers of cheap fun foam that can be found at any art supply store or WalMart for about two dollars.
I used a Sekonic L358 meter http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/221078-REG/Sekonic_401_358_L_358_Flash_Master_Meter.html to check the exposure at the corners and was getting from F8-F11 from the back to the front seat. I feathered the lights a bit more to the far side to balance the light a bit more and was good to go.
