The Fallston gym, like most in Harford County, has very little room, and no balcony at the end of court which prevents getting our lights high and pointed parallel to the sidelines. We had to place the lights on the sides, which create too much crosslighting and harsh shadows.

When using strobes/flashes, ideally you want to over power the ambient light by 3 to 4 stops so that when you are shooting at your camera’s sync speed (typically 1/250 sec), the quick burst of light from the strobes is what freezes the action and not the shutter speed. I tried bouncing my 580EXs off the back wall to create a large light source, but my flashes, even on full power, could only muster about 2 stops over ambient. In a darker lit gym, this method would probably work, but Fallston’s ambient lighting is better than average.

I had to stick with direct light from the corners of the gym. I placed my flashes on my 7-foot light stands and set them each to 1/8 power, 28mm zoom and aimed them towards the top of the key.

Here are some samples from the night.

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I can finally say, “Yes, I’ve shot an NFL game.”

I’ve shot many high school games, a college game, but they don’t compare to the NFL Experience. To those who shoot the NFL regularly, it’s probably old hat for you, but for me it was like getting to fly first class after riding in coach all my life.

The first thing that really surprised me was how big these guys are. Not sure where these guys hang out all week, but I’ve never seen people this enormous at the grocery store or mall.

Photographing the game is pretty much the same — except the players move so much faster, and passes get to their intended receivers (or defensive players) in a blink of an eye.

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LEFT: Jupiter’s Logan Heiser reacts after hitting a two run walkoff homerun to defeat Mexico 5-4 in the Ripken World Series championship game. RIGHT: Cal Ripken prepares to present the championship trophy to the team from Jupiter, Florida / August 16, 2008

Just when it looked like Mexico would win another Ripken World Series championship, Logan Heiser of Jupiter, Florida quickly dashed any hopes of that by smashing a two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to capture the crown.

Jupiter had a chance to win it in the 6th inning, with a 2-1 lead, but a two-run home run by Mario Rodriguez put Mexico up 3-2. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Pavin Smith of Jupiter hit a solo homerun to send the game into extra innings.

Mexico added a run in the top of the seventh, but Heiser’s two-run homerun in the bottom of the inning ended the game sending the team from Jupiter onto the field to congratulate Heiser. The team grabbed an American flag and ran a lap around the stadium prior to receiving their trophy from Cal Ripken.