The last photoshoot of 2010 is over and done, it’s a wrap! Back in December of 2010 while I was teaching my action photography class at Van Arts I had the pleasure of working with a couple of gymnast girls at the Phoenix Gym in Vancouver. Or I should say my students did, I was too busy running around helping them with lights and timing and angles and all that teacher stuff that I do. Which is not really what I wanted to be doing…

So to make up for it I called the girls up again and arranged to get together for another shoot, this time with no students. I’ve been playing around with the new Pocket Wizard Flex TT5′s and MiniTT1 for Nikon for a while now, testing I guess is a better description, playing sounds too much like fun. Anyway I’ve been messing around with different settings, and using them with my MultiMAX’s as well, figuring out a few different things. One of the things that I always wished I could do with my MultiMAX high speed sync trick was to shoot a sequence, unfortunately it’s pretty much impossible. I tried a lot of different things, custom cables, multiple remotes, none of it really worked in a way that I was satisfied with. So one of the first things I set out to do with the MiniTT1 when I got it was to stick a MultiMAX transmitter on top of it and shoot a sequence using the SpeedCycle feature and 4 flashes. It worked, but that’s not what this is about. Almost accidentally while setting it up and playing with Hypersync offsets I noticed that the MultiMAX on top of the TT1 was hypersyncing on its own. With the MiniTT1 hypersync offset set to 0 and a MultiMAX transmitter on its hotshoe my Nikon flashes sync at 1/1000 at full power no problem. I tested this a bunch of different ways in the office, and then decided to test it in the real world.

All the photos in this shoot were taken with a Pocket Wizard MiniTT1 on my Nikon D3s. The TT1 had the hypersync delay set to 0, and classic transmit channel set to 1 to avoid any confusion. It was triggering a Pocket Wizard MultiMAX set to transmit on channel 25, no special set up. I used a combination of Nikon SB800′s and SB900′s hooked up to Pocket Wizard MultiMAX’s set to receive on channel 25, again no special set up. The flashes were set to full power and used with Honl grids and snoots to control the light. I shot the following photos at shutter speeds ranging from 1/1000th to 1/1600th, you’ll notice in the B&W image that was shot at 1/1600th that there is a slight bit of shutter showing at the bottom of the frame. This was intermittent, and I’ll put it down to small inconsistencies in the shutter or possibly flash duration variances due to short recycle times (ie not always fully charged when fired)

What do you think?

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I’ve been shooting with Kirt Voreis for quite a few years and we always seem to have fun and get great results, maybe that’s why he’s one of my favorite mtb athletes to shoot with. This past September I headed to Kirt’s hometown of Bend, Oregon to shoot an ad for Fox Racing. The ad features the new Fox all weather Breakaway Jacket, and my creative briefing simply said “It’s an all weather jacket, make it look wet and wintery”. That didn’t sound too difficult until I arrived in Bend and the weather was beautiful and sunny, with the same forecast for the next few days. Trail conditions – dry and dusty, this is one of those things that happens occasionally, but being the seasoned pros that we are we weren’t too troubled by it. Kirt and I put on our thinking caps and came up with a bunch of different ideas, we’d been wanting to shoot a backlit water spray shot for a while now so that became one definite option. However I also wanted a nice lush wet looking trail shot, something that would really sell the viewer on what the product was for… Kirt’s wife Lindsay ended up coming to the rescue. Lindsey guides mountain bike tours for Cog Wild in Bend and instantly knew the perfect location for us. The Umpqua River Trail in central Oregon has a few sections that are always wet and green looking, and she showed me some photos of the ‘weeping wall’ a mossy green rock wall dripping with water. The Umpqa River Trail was about a 3 hour drive from Kirt’s house, but luckily featured a camping area complete with a natural hot spring. Bonus! Whoever said this job is all work and no fun hasn’t worked with Kirt and I. We made plans, loaded up the All Ride van, and headed south.

Arriving at the campground late in the afternoon we quickly set up camp and took off for an evening scouting ride. We rode for a while as the sun was setting and I made some mental notes about the direction and where the sun would be during the next morning’s shoot. I figured we’d have to be out a little bit early, but nothing too crazy. I’ve had my share of 4AM starts to shoot first light at 5AM in the summer, luckily this wasn’t going to be one of those. Darkness came quickly and we rode back to camp barely able to see. As I prepared gear for the morning Kirt cooked up some steaks and potatoes while his cousin Ron tended to the fire. After a tasty dinner with only a little bit of dirt (Kirt dropped the steaks twice) we headed to the hot spring for a late night soak before getting some well needed sleep.

I was fairly bang on with my predictions about the morning light, and we had more than enough time. It turned out that the darkness was more of an issue than the light, and I was forced to shoot at only 1/320 f/4 ISO 1600. I set up a few different angles on the section of trail we had found the night before, and used Nikon Speedlights to freeze the action and light up the water coming off of Kirt’s wheels. The trail was really rocky, almost a creek at this point, and the biggest obstacle we had were flat tires. That and trying to balance the freezing power of the flash with the available daylight. I wanted Kirt to pop a little, but didn’t want to lose too much of the background.

In the end it all worked out fairly well. Here’s a brief tally of the trip:

Shots taken: 338

Shots used: 10

Flashes used: 4

Flat tires: 4

Beers drunk: ++

Dropped steaks: 2

Hotspring sessions: 1

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One of the things that I like most about teaching the Action and Sports Photography class at VanArts is that I get a chance to shoot new things. Take this past class as an example; while we normally shoot dance and parkour outdoors, (both of which I enjoy) the weather and circumstances made that impossible this time. So my great staff at VanArts managed to round up 3 figure skaters and book us some ice time for the last day’s shoot. Figure Skating. Not something that I ever would have thought of, but something that I was very excited to shoot. And as it worked out I was also playing with the new Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 for Nikon, so I took it as an opportunity to try a few different things.

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to my blog you’ll know that I like shooting at high shutter speeds with flash. Using the Pocket Wizard MultiMAX’s I’ve been able to shoot at 1/1600th and higher fairly reliably, it’s just a bit of a process. So I was excited to try out the Mini TT1 as a transmitter used with my MultiMAX’s as receivers. The big benefit of high speed sync in this case is that I can turn the background to almost black, and isolate the action. Most of the figure skating images I’ve seen are all from competition, and most have a lot of distracting rink elements in the background. I was going for something clean, something that would look like a spotlight lighting up a dancer on the ice. I brought along a few Nikon Speedlights, these shots are all taken with 2 SB800′s high on one side, and one gridded SB900 on the other. Lights are positioned by the boards off the ice and all lights were at 1/1 power and zoomed all the way, shutter speed is 1/1000 or 1/1250, aperture f/6.3

In the past I’ve used high speed sync mostly as a fill light shooting outdoors with speedlights, it allows me to freeze the action with the shutter, and also allows me to use a larger aperture so I don’t need as much light out of my flashes. That’s nice when you’re fighting with the sun. This is one of the first times that I’ve used flashes to creatively light a scene while using the highspeed sync, in this case the hypersync feature of the Pocket Wizard Mini TT1, and I have to say I’m pleased with the results.

I intended to try this with the Flex TT5 receivers as well using the High Speed FP sync mode and compare the results, however I ran out of time. Also with the TT5 units and Nikon speedlights there doesn’t appear to be any way of using more than one flash with each receiver, definitely an issue for me as I often gang 2 or more speedlights together.

If anyone has had any luck using multiple Nikon SB800 or 900′s with one TTL receiver please let me know the details.

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I just finished teaching my Action and Sports Photography class at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts, and I thought this was probably a good time to talk a little about it.

While the class I teach is called Action and Sports Photography we shoot a lot of things like dance and karate that you might not immediately associate with action and sports. I’ve had more than a few students initially ask why we’re not shooting skateboarding and biking in every class, and there are a number of reasons why I do it this way. The most notable is because I feel it’s easiest to start off shooting in a controlled environment working on basic skills. Before I start to teach students about more advanced techniques for capturing action I like to start with simple things such as trying to maintain composition with a moving subject, and timing. These skills are important to master if you want to shoot fast paced action, and it’s a lot easier to practice them in the studio, shooting similar things over and over. Dancers and martial artists are both very good for this type of practice. They can repetitively jump into recognizable poses that are only held for a fraction of a second, excellent for working on timing. And figuring out composition and framing with a person jumping in the studio is a lot simpler and easier than working somewhere like a skatepark.

There is one other important reason why I like to shoot indoors as well, and that’s the weather. The week of this class there was only one decent day to shoot outside, and thanks in part to the hard work of the school staff we managed to find some last minute models and move the class outside on short notice. They also managed to arrange some other great indoor locations for us, shooting gymnastics at the Phoenix Gymnastics Club in Vancouver, and also some figure skating at Canlan Sports 8 Rinks facility in Burnaby. Both of these shoots turned out fairly well, and I’m excited to continue them with the next class.

Our shoot with dancers in the studio was featured in a video post on the VanArts Blog “Inside VanArts” You can check out the video below if you don’t want to jump to their page. The entire weeks class was also featured in a post with some photos here on the VanArts Blog.

Inside VanArts: Episode 6 from VanArts on Vimeo.

Although I’m always trying to focus on my students I usually manage to shoot a few photos in class myself, here are a few from the week.

There is now a tiny lightweight tripod (11oz and 15″ folded) that seems to be working for me. It’s the Tamrac ZipShot, and not only is it small and light, it’s also really quick to set up and take down.

Tamrac ZipShot closed

It’s basically a small ballhead mounted on three 44″ tent poles, so setting up means just undoing the two straps and giving it a shake. And even the straps are quick and easy, no fumbling with twistlocks or cam and lever locks, just two pieces of shockcord with knots in one end.

Tamrac ZipShot strap detail

I’ve used it for most of a season now, and as a real test I’ve used it on almost every job I’ve been on since June. Sometimes it’s a light stand for a flash or two, and sometimes it holds my GoPro so I can record behind the scenes action, but it’s been well used, and it’s still going strong. It’s not perfect, there are some little quirks to it for sure, but in the last 6 months of use I’ve found only two weaknesses with it, and they’re workable. The first one is the ballhead.

Tamrac ZipShot ballhead

The ballhead works, but it’s really hard to get it tight. Not really a problem with a little GoPro on it or even a single SB800, but if you’re not careful to tighten it down as far as it will go and then some it tends to flop over. I found this especially noticeable when using it with two SB800′s..

Tamrac ZipShot with 2 Nikon SB800's

The other issue is the legs. They’re plenty strong enough, I’ve used it with two Nikon SB800′s many times and even my Elinchrom Ranger Quadra head without any problems. The issue is that they’re not really adjustable, so if you’re on uneven ground (I usually am) the tripod tends to sit an angle. And that means the ballhead now has to hold the flashes at an angle to keep them straight, which brings us back to problem number one. On really uneven ground I’ve often folded one section of one leg up (about 14″) to give it one short leg and that works, you just have to be really careful not to damage the lightweight aluminum tent pole or it will never go back together again.

These are the only problems I’ve had with it so far, and they haven’t been enough to discourage me from using it constantly. If you’re looking for a really light easy to pack lightstand to take on trips I would definitely recommend this guy. I paid about $50 for it from B&H, but it you google it you can probably find a better price online somewhere now. Here are the specs:

- 3 lb Load Capacity
- Weighs Only 11 oz (312 g)
- Folds to 15″ (38cm)
- Extends to 44″ (112cm)
- Snaps Open in Seconds
- Lightweight Aluminum
- Ballhead Included

One small disclaimer: see that 3lb Load Capacity, while I’ve had no problems putting two Nikon speedlights on it I definitely wouldn’t want to put an SLR on it. Or anything else expensive that weighs more than 3lbs, the ballhead does flop over sometimes, and it it’s on uneven ground that could very easily cause something heavy and expensive to crash into the ground…

If you’re interested in hiring me and would like to receive a high quality pdf of the portfolio please contact me.

I’m not sure if it’s something that I’ll make much money selling, but it’s out there, we’ll see how it goes. Have you had any experience selling books on Blurb? Let me know how it was.

Ian Hylands Portfolio 2010 by Ian Hylands | Make Your Own Book

Tracy Moseley on the cover of Dirt Issue 104

I shot this at a spot that I thought looked dynamic and interesting, a little rock roll going into a right hand corner. It had a dusty rocky straight going into it so the riders had a good trail of dust behind them, and they would try to suck up over this rock before diving into the corner. Or at least most of them would, Canada’s Steve Smith actually aired off this rock all the way into the corner, I almost ended up cutting his head off… This was shot at 1/250th f/5 ISO 800 on my Nikon D3s. I used 2 Nikon SB800′s together as a front fill slightly off axis to my left, and one Nikon SB900 at the back as a rim light and to try to backlight the dust a little. All of the flashes were triggered with Pocket Wizard Multimax’s.

Jill Kintner 2010 Autograph Card

A short while ago my friend Jill Kintner contacted me about using a photo for her autograph cards. I always try to help the athletes that I work with so I gave her permission to use this one, what do you think? I like it…

a little back story

Jill and I have had an interesting working relationship this year, she described it as awkward, and the majority of the photos I shot of her this year look a little bit awkward. Perhaps because we didn’t ever actually shoot together, I was simply shooting at races and getting her as she rode by. Neither of us were really happy with most of the shots, but I think we resolved it with this one though. This was shot during practice at the Mountain Bike World Championships at Mt. Saint Anne, and when Jill rode by on her first lap I got a rather average shot, I think she knew that. On her second lap she stopped and tried to make it look better but washed out in the corner. Instead of keeping going though she picked up her bike and walked back up the trail to do it again. 3rd times the charm as they say. Sometimes that’s all it takes, a little bit of work to create something that looks great. Front tire up, roost off the tires, and aggressively pedaling out of the corner…

I can’t wait to shoot with Jill some more this fall, outside of race tracks and events, a little more one on one…

My 5.10 Exum Guides after about 2 months of hard use...

I’ve had these 5.10 Exum Guides for about 2 months now, and they’ve been worn hard. Rocks, sand, water, they’ve been through it all, and they still look and feel like they’re new. And they feel good, excellent support, reasonably lightweight, comfortable. All the things a pair of shoes should be. Granted at 2 months old they should still be looking new, but I’m still impressed, and mostly by how they feel. I’ll update this post in another 5 or 6 months, after they’ve been through UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Finals and World Championships, as well as Red Bull Rampage. That should be a proper test for any pair of shoes.