Rangefinder Magazine
August 2004

Rf Cookbook by Randy Brister
Shoot for the Stars

Each year we photograph thousands of sports groups in a variety of locations and settings. Most groups are much smaller than the basketball camp in this photograph with 250 kids. At this camp, as part of each player’s registration fee, they get a brand new basketball and an 8x10 group photograph. I am allowed 15 minutes on the first day to pose and photograph them, and I must return three days later with 250 8x10s.

For several years, I had photographed the basketball camp groups with a Mamiya RB67. Then I would send the film out to be processed and then scanned. This was not the best scenario when working on a tight schedule. So this year I photographed them with a Canon EOS 1Ds. While at times digital workflow seems to bog us down, on this occasion digital capture streamlined the entire process dramatically.

The gymnasium where this group was photographed has some skylights. In a typical high school gym, skylights can add about two stops to the ambient light exposure. The natural light from the skylights also helps to neutralize the color cast from the sodium vapor lights of the gym. I used a pair of Norman 400B strobes, mounted on two 13-foot-tall Bogen heavy-duty light stands. The lights were placed about 20 feet from the group and about 20 feet apart, with the stands extended to about 12 feet. The Normans were set at full power, and the heads were feathered up slightly, which gave a fairly even f/11 at ISO 400 across the entire group. I mounted a Pocket Wizard Multi Max to the camera and the strobes, which eliminated the need for sync cords.

I used a 28–70mm f/2.8L Canon Lens set at about 40mm on the 1Ds. The camera was mounted to a Bogen tripod with a Bogen grip head and was placed about 35 feet from the group. The camera was at my eye level, at about 5 feet, 9 inches. The exposure was 1/60 second at f/11, and the camera was set to AWB and RAW.

The 1Ds RAW file was converted in Adobe Camera RAW. I tweaked the white balance and moved exposure +.20 stop. In Photoshop, I cloned out a painting on the wall that interfered with the camp’s graphic above the group. I then applied a small amount of USM (Unsharp Mask) and then the graphics layer. Within three hours of capture, the file was at my lab, transferred via FTP, and I had the 250 8x10s one day early.

INGREDIENTS
• Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds
• Lens: Canon 28–70mm f/2.8
• Lighting: Two Norman 400B strobes
• Exposure: 1/60 at f/11
• Film Speed: ISO 400
• Radio Slaves: Pocket Wizard Multi Max
• Stands: Bogen 13 foot, heavy duty
• Tripod: Bogen 3021 with Bogen grip head
• Software: Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop 7
• Media: Lexar 1GB CF card
• Camera Settings: RAW, AWB