First real Gig, need pointers

[BLD_007]

Ok, my first real, sorta real gig is this Saturday. It is an indoor dodge ball turnament for a local boy scout troop. Its in a gym that has two courts and like all gyms, the light sucks. Also, since there will be two courts there will be two games going on at the same time.

The tournament is to help raise money for a local food kitchen.

Right now I have a cannon 50d, 430eII, 70-200 2.8 mono/tripods

Tomorrow I get my new toys: 24-70 2.8L, 3 pocket wizards, 2 Vivitar 285s, two light stands,and two umbrellas
_

Two questions:
1st. Should I just set up the lights on one court so I get good light or would 1 vivitar be good "I will have my 430e on shoe with the PW connected to my PC port" or will it all really depend?

question 1b: should I use the umbrellas to light the court or just bare flash?
--
I am planing on taking pictures at this event because this is my old scout troop and my fraternity will also be helping out.

I am planing on having a sign up both for teams if they wants pictures. I'm thinking just contact information because I'm not 100% I will be able to get all teams and lighting, post processing, ext.

If I do get good shots, I have several Ideas.
--

question 2:
I have several ideas for charging

Free+donation= email low res
CD/DVD $1+5 "the $1 is to cover the cost of the dvd"
Prints what ever the printer fee is + donation to the food pantry

So my question is, what should I charge, how, and for DVDs or email, should I send full res or not?
any money earned after cost will be donated

This is my first real chance to get my foot in the door to the general public and need pointers, thanks

 

[Big Mike]

If you can get away without using the flash, then I'd try that first. Not only will it be less intrusive & distracting, but it will allow you to shoot quickly & rapidly. When shooting with flash, you are limited by the recycle time, which is a PITA when shooting fast moving subjects like this.
Don't be afraid to up the ISO, just be sure not to underexpose the photos if you do.

If you do need (or want) to use flash, I like the idea of keeping the 430 on-camera and firing the remote flashes with the PW. I shoot like this fairly often. I'd be worried about where you place the flashes, with kids playing dodgeball, no place will really be safe. Ideally, I'd mount them as high as possible, in the ceiling or maybe up on basketball backboards etc. I wouldn't recommend using the umbrellas, but do set the flashes on their wide zoom setting (unless you have to mount them far enough away that the zoom settings won't make the beam too tight).

The recycle problem will be even worse with the remote flashes, and it might be hard to tell when they are ready to go...so the lower the power setting that you can get away with, the better. You also don't want to waste too much time having to swap batteries, especially if the flashes are mounted up high.

Get there early (or do a test run the day before) so that you have time to set up and test what settings you will need. Shooting a gig like this is all about adapting to the environment, maybe with a little bit of trial & error, and you don't want to miss the first half of the event before you get it figured out.

 

[BLD_007]

If you can get away without using the flash, then I'd try that first. Not only will it be less intrusive & distracting, but it will allow you to shoot quickly & rapidly. When shooting with flash, you are limited by the recycle time, which is a PITA when shooting fast moving subjects like this.
Don't be afraid to up the ISO, just be sure not to underexpose the photos if you do.

If you do need (or want) to use flash, I like the idea of keeping the 430 on-camera and firing the remote flashes with the PW. I shoot like this fairly often. I'd be worried about where you place the flashes, with kids playing dodgeball, no place will really be safe. Ideally, I'd mount them as high as possible, in the ceiling or maybe up on basketball backboards etc. I wouldn't recommend using the umbrellas, but do set the flashes on their wide zoom setting (unless you have to mount them far enough away that the zoom settings won't make the beam too tight).

The recycle problem will be even worse with the remote flashes, and it might be hard to tell when they are ready to go...so the lower the power setting that you can get away with, the better. You also don't want to waste too much time having to swap batteries, especially if the flashes are mounted up high.

Get there early (or do a test run the day before) so that you have time to set up and test what settings you will need. Shooting a gig like this is all about adapting to the environment, maybe with a little bit of trial & error, and you don't want to miss the first half of the event before you get it figured out.

Yea, I already plan on getting their early.

This place is sorta cool. The courts are in a pit of sorts. The grand stand is at least 6 feet about the court. Think gladiator.

I know no one can tell me to or not to use flash because it all depends. Hell, clouds outside blocking light from coming in the windows will effect a shot. I'm going have to play around and get the best shots I can. Its all for charity anyway and if I screw up, its a learning curve.

 

[JimmyO]

From seeing your other portrait thread you will be easier off skipping strobeing the place for now

 

[BLD_007]

Why should I not strobe?

I had a photo shoot last night for the newspaper. It was in our church that's on the quad. Like all churches, lighting sucks.

Anyway, I had my 2 v285s on the 2nd level shooting the ceiling at a 45* angle and the stage went from night to day with my low ISO settings.

Before I had crappy photos at night. The paid campus photo-stuck-up-jerk from the media department has true strobes in place. He would always get nice shots. But last night we were both there and my vivitar 285s were up to par with his $600 strobe kit lol.