The first bout was the SDDD Diego Rollers vs. the Orange County Roller Girls BlockWork Orange.
The second bout was between two SD teams, the Swarm vs. the Hard Corps.
The new venue was awesome, the only things Del Mar had over the current Doll House were beer and better lighting. I am not sure I could have shot much of anything with the 3200 in this location. Even with Excalibur the back corners were very dark due to some burned out lights. One of these days I will actually have to experiment with setting up strobes with remote triggers, which seemed to be the main technique for shooting derby when I did my initial research. Before I do that I would definitely want to talk to the girls, because I am worried about the strobes distracting them- and believe me, you don't want a group of pissed off Derby Dolls chasing you down. They are both fast and quite bad ass.
The Doll House- in Wide Angle
For starters, I have to say, Excalibur rocked it. I was able to shoot the whole thing with ambient light, ISO 12,800 using anywhere from 1/320-1/500 second shutter and f2.8-f5.6 apertures. So able to freeze the motion easily and even get a little better than wide open on all three pro zooms. I played with shooting the 24-70mm, 70-200mm and even brought out the 14-24mm to play a bit. Have to say though, the sweet spot for Derby seems to be right in between the 24-70 and the 70-200. I wish someone made a 35-150 F2.8 or something close to that. The 24-70 was great in the near corners, but not quite enough reach when they were rounding the far corners. The 70-200 was awesome for the far corners but couldn't open up enough for the near corners.
Gear aside, I am getting a bit better at following the Jams and catching good moments. Learning to anticipate and lead the action a bit. There is a maxim I heard that keeps coming up- "if you see it through the viewfinder, you missed the shot. " Well, I am seeing less through the viewfinder.
Other things I try to remember no matter what I am shooting it to not get totally focused on the main event, there are also lots of great stories happening around the periphery. In Derby, the skaters are obviously the main event. But the Refs and Officials are also important participants in the event and worthy of shooting.
And where would the crowd be without the ever important announcers.....
It isn't always just about the hits....
There can be good shots to be had in the still moments between the Jams.
Who am I kidding? It's all about the hits.....
So what did I learn from this second evening of shooting Derby? A couple of things. One- the 14-24 is an awesome lens, and I could get some neat perspectives with it,
but really there was only a microsecond or two on each lap where they were close enough to really use it, and if I was close enough to take advantage of the wide angle fun there was a good chance that the lens (and photographer) would wind up getting clocked by a flying roller girl. I think overall that I got the most keepers using the 70-200mm. Even with the high ISO capabilities of the D4, shooting that high ISO at 16mp doesn't give the resolution room to crop in later on, have to be close from the get go, so on balance it was better to be too close in than too wide.
Things to try next time- maybe some remote strobes, and either a small ladder or maybe even wearing stilts, so I can shoot over the rail instead of being stuck shooting under it, change up the perspective a bit. Overall though I am happier with this set than my first outing, so hopefully I can keep shooting Derby and keep getting better.
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