Overview

On January 15, 2018, I received an email from the Director of Student Activities at Annandale High School, asking if I would be interested in being the photographer for their very first Athletic Hall of Fame banquet, to take place early the following school year.  It sounded like a great way to learn something about, and help to preserve, the athletic history in the area where I grew up.  And at the same time it would give me more experience shooting event photography.

This banquet, which was sponsored by the AHS Athletic Boosters, took place on September 8, 2018, at the Moose Lodge in Arlington, Virginia.

The inductees to the Annandale High School Athletic Hall of Fame are listed below.  There is a nice article about the event at www.AnnandaleBlog.com.

• Amanda Cromwell (’88) – Soccer and Basketball
• Robin Jennings (’90) – Baseball
• Sonny Utz (’60) – Football
• Coach Katherine Buck – Basketball and Softball
• Coach Bob Hardage – Football and Athletic Director
• Coach Rachel Peters – Field Hockey and Athletic Director
• Jim Finch – Coach and Principal
• Kathryn Russell (’57) – Basketball and Softball
• Coach Ed Henry – Football
• 1959 Football Team – First State Championship
• 1965 Football Team
• 1986 Girls Soccer Team – First Girl’s State Championship

My son Ian and I took the following photos to help record the event (I wish I had been shooting video.  The stories were a hoot!).  Click on a thumbnail to see the full resolution image.

*****  The Rest of this is Rough Draft *****

Lessons Learned

1.  Award Detail Photos

I wanted to make sure that I took photos of the awards that would be on display during this event, both because many people, including those who helped to achieve the distinction for which the awards were earned, may have never gotten a close look at the award itself, nor would they necessarily have a photo of the award to know what it looked like.  But also, these awards are interesting from a photographic perspective, especially in close-up.  I had recently bought the NIKKOR 60 mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro prime lens for just such a purpose, and I was looking forward to using it.

So the key ingredients for taking such photos would be 1) a high resolution camera, 2) a macro (Nikon calls it a “Micro”.) lens, and 3) plenty of light.  With that in mind, my setup was as follows:

• Main Light
  • Nikon SB-5000 AF Speedlight
    • Ian just held it in his hand
    • Light head pitched to 0 degrees (straight), and yawed  to 0 degrees (storage configuration)
    • Group: B
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Widest possible angle to spread the light evenly inside the MagSphere
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
  • MagMod MagGrip Magnetic Speedlight Modifier Mount
  • MagMod MagSphere Speedlight Modifier
• Camera
  • Nikon D850 Digital SLR
    • Exposure Mode:  Manual
  • NIKKOR 60 mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro Prime Lens
    • Autofocus:  Manual / Automatic (M/A)

2.  Small Group / Master of Ceremonies / Speaker Photos

For photos of small groups of people, I wanted to use a larger light modifier, both to provide softer light, and also to provide a larger source for catchlights in the subject’s eyes.  So was debating between the Rogue Flashbender and the MagMod MagBounce.  Since I wasn’t sure how the night would proceed, I figured that I should try to optimize the speed at which we could change lighting configurations.  That pointed me to using the MagBounce for this application, since it uses the same MagGrip device for mounting the light modifier to the speedlight.

But from reading the reviews for the MagBounce, I detected a note of caution regarding using the interior reflective surface, in that it “delivers quite a kick”.  So, to tone that down, I had Ian reverse the orientation of the MagBounce so that, with TBD degrees of pitch in the speedlight, the majority of the light would reflect back up to the ceiling, and only that light that transmitted through the silicone shell would illuminate the subjects.   As it turns out, using the following camera settings, this worked pretty well.

• Main Light
  • Nikon SB-5000 AF Speedlight
    • Light head pitched to 0 degrees (straight), and yawed 90 degrees
      • Provided best visual access to speedlight LCD controls
      • Aligned illumination pattern to provide head-to-toe illumination
    • Group B
      • Banner photo speedlights were set to Group A
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Provided more even illumination han 120 mm
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
    • Autofocus Illuminator:  ON
  • MagMod MagGrip Magnetic Speedlight Modifier Mount
  • MagMod MagBounce Speedlight Modifier
    • Orientation:  reversed
• Camera
  • Nikon D850 Digital SLR
    • Exposure Mode:  Manual
    • Aperture:  f/4
    • Shutter Speed:  1/160 seconds
    • Flash Group A:  1/4 power
    • Flash Group B:  1/4 power
  • NIKKOR 28 mm 1:1.4G Prime Lens
    • Autofocus:  Manual / Automatic (M/A)

3.  Inductee / Banner Photos

TBD

• Banner Light
  • C-stand
    • Shortest configuration
  • Boom
    • Pitched 30 degrees off axis
  • Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights (“B”)
    • Light heads: pitched to 0 degrees, and yawed 90 degrees
      • Provided best visual access to LCD
      • Aligned illumination pattern to provide head-to-toe illumination
    • Group B
      • Banner photo speedlights were set to Group A
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Provided more even illumination than 120 mm
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
• Main Light
  • C-stand
    • Shortest configuration
  • Boom
    • Pitched 30 degrees off axis
  • Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights (“A”)
    • Light heads: pitched to 0 degrees, and yawed 90 degrees
      • Provided best visual access to LCD
      • Aligned illumination pattern to provide head-to-toe illumination
    • Group B
      • Banner photo speedlights were set to Group A
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Provided more even illumination than 120 mm
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
• Camera
  • Nikon D850 Digital SLR
    • Exposure Mode:  Manual
  • NIKKOR 85 mm 1:1.4G Prime Lens
    • Autofocus:  Manual / Automatic (M/A)
  • TBD

5.  Inductee Group Photo

TBD

• Rim Lights
  • Light stand
    • Shortest configuration
  • Phottix
    • Pitched 30 degrees off axis
  • Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights (“C” and “D”)
    • light heads pitched to 0 degrees, and yawed 90 degrees
      • Provided best visual access to LCD
      • Aligned illumination pattern to provide head-to-toe illumination
    • Group B
      • Banner photo speedlights were set to Group A
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Provided more even illumination than 120 mm
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
  • MagMod MagGrip Magnetic Speedlight Modifier Mount
  • MagMod MagBeam Speedlight Modifier
    • Fresnel lens insert
    • Cowling set to middle position
• Main Lights
  • Light stand
    • Shortest configuration
  • Phottix
    • Pitched 30 degrees off axis
  • Nikon SB-5000 Speedlights (“C” and “D”)
    • light heads pitched to 0 degrees, and yawed 90 degrees
      • Provided best visual access to LCD
      • Aligned illumination pattern to provide head-to-toe illumination
    • Group B
      • Banner photo speedlights were set to Group A
    • Zoom:  24 mm
      • Provided more even illumination than 120 mm
    • Power:  1/1 (full power)
  • MagMod MagGrip Magnetic Speedlight Modifier Mount
  • MagMod MagBeam Speedlight Modifier
    • Fresnel lens insert
    • Cowling set to middle position
• Camera
  • Nikon D850 Digital SLR
    • Exposure Mode:  Manual
    • Shutter Speed:  1/160 seconds
    • Aperture:  f/4
  • NIKKOR 20 mm 1:1.4G Prime Lens
    • Autofocus:  Manual / Automatic (M/A)

Other Lessons Learned

1.  Camera and Flash settings for on-camera flash using the MagMod MagSphere light modifier

To most fully illuminate the inside of the MagSphere, I should use the widest possible speedlight settings.  For the Nikon SB-5000, I should set the zoom to the widest available (24 mm), and in addition, I should deploy the Wide-Angle Diffuser Panel, which will increase the angle of the light from 24 mm to 14 mm.

The Flash Illumination Pattern should be set to either Standard (greater range) or Even (less light fall-off at edges).

Use FX format.

Flash Mode should be iTTL.

Green (fluorescent) filter.

TTL metering should be set to TTL (Through the Lens), because TTL BL (Through The Lens Balanced) only works with Matrix Metering.

For on-camera flash, I can use the Autofocus Illuminator lights on the flash to help the camera’s autofocus function work better in low light (The focus mode on the camera must be set to Auto-Focus Single Servo (AF-S).  How do you turn on the Autofocus Illuminator (SB-5000 Settings menu)?

2.  Camera and flash settings for Rapid Box 10″ x 24″ softboxes

Install SB-5000 diffusion dome (automatically sets SB-5000 zoom to 14 mm).

Green (fluorescent) filter.

3.  Sync your cameras!

TBD

4.  In-camera crop

TBD

5.  Open field runnin’

TBD

6.  Use flash power bracketing

TBD