Shooting fast movements in the studio is not difficult - we choose a short flash duration. A broncolor Scoro, for example, offers a 1/10'000 s!
Even if there is sufficient ambient light, short shutter speeds on the camera (usually up to 1/8000 s) allow photos to be taken without disturbing motion blur.
The situation is different when sun and flash are to be combined, either to lighten shadows or even to dominate the sunlight. In this situation, we are often severely limited in our free choice of shutter speed and aperture, because most cameras prescribe a so-called "shortest sync speed". A shorter exposure time cannot be chosen otherwise incorrect exposures will occur.
In this example, I wanted to underexpose the natural sunlight and use flash to set my "own" light. The camera used only allowed a 1/200 s - to make the surroundings appear dark I chose aperture 16 in combination with this, which, of course, created a very large, almost unreal depth of field.
I arranged the set so that the sun was a backlight. Most of the athlete was therefore not illuminated and appeared, thanks to the selected underexposure, practically black. The short flash durations of the Siros L monolights used and the Move 1200 L power pack guaranteed a very high sharpness of these spots.
However, the sharpness of those areas that were illuminated by sunlight was disappointing. These showed a disturbing blur due to the relatively long shutter speed.
Summarizing the first attempt, one could say that the background was too sharp, but the athlete was too blurred.
I left all the lamps in place, but activated HS everywhere. This mode, in combination with RFS 2.2 triggers, allows to work with ANY shutter speed. To avoid motion blur, I chose 1/8000 s. Since the environment should appear about the same brightness, I was able to open the aperture to the value 2.8!
Now the result was perfect - the glacier in the background showed a nice blur, while the hurdle jumper was absolutely sharp.
I used a Flooter as the main light and a Para 88 as the fill light; both in medium focus. A Siros L also discreetly supported the sun (back) light.
