[Photobill]

Thanks all for the input!!! I have decided to go with a fast 135mm. This will get the camera about 50ft down the lane (lane is 60ft long) keeping it out of the bowlers line of site. I have decided that I can't get enough OOF to conceal whats in the background without moving the equipment way to close to the subject.
On the second photo I used a speed light mounted to the camera just for test purposes (testing lens focal length)
I have started experimenting with soft boxes placed on each side of the bowler with honeycomb grids. This is helping with the background clutter.

When I saw the first picture, my first thought was, "50mm, f/1.4, wide open, no question." Two reasons: first, to narrow the depth of field, second, to be able to use a faster shutter speed without the harsh effects of a flash (the second picture's pretty bad in that respect). The ISO isn't going to matter much, since the bowler is close enough that you're not going to have that much noise, anyway (considered in terms of the ratio of the quantity of noisy pixels to the valid ones in the important part of the picture). So to me, I'd use that lens, set the ISO to, say, 800 to 1600 (depending on the slowest shutter speed you can live with and still stop the motion), turn off the flash, set the aperture wide open, and then adjust the shutter speed to the fastest possible with an eye on the exposure meter. You can always dial the ISO up or down as needed once you've established a baseline exposure value.

The ambient lighting in bowling centers make it impossible to get a photo that will freeze the action without using flash. At the release point of some bowlers there ball will be traveling 30+mph and the arm would be every bit as fast. (Note in the first photo WITH flash there was still motion blur on the subjects hand)

I will post more photos when I get it dialled in a little more.
Thanks
Photobill

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Last edited by Photobill; 03-18-2019 at 11:10 PM.

[Aaron28]

I have started experimenting with soft boxes placed on each side of the bowler with honeycomb grids. This is helping with the background clutter.

sounds like a good plan! checked out a simple dof calculator 135mm @ 50 ft on full frame set at f/5.6 has 14ft+/-.......6ft in front (should get the ball) and 8ft back (entire body of bowler).....should yield nice results focused at the foul line.....look forward to future results! good luck & happy shooting!

[SpecialK]

I would suggest hanging a large black cloth in the background to eliminate that issue. It might make the rest easier.

[Wasp]

sounds like a good plan! checked out a simple dof calculator 135mm @ 50 ft on full frame set at f/5.6 has 14ft+/-.......6ft in front (should get the ball) and 8ft back (entire body of bowler).....should yield nice results focused at the foul line.....look forward to future results! good luck & happy shooting!

Some more calculation shows that the flash will need to have a (metric) guide number of about 90 for a correct exposure at ISO 100. Two flashes increase the guide number but the soft boxes decreases it. Going up to ISO 200 or 400 should even things out.

[Photobill]

I would suggest hanging a large black cloth in the background to eliminate that issue. It might make the rest easier.

Thank
I would love to be able to hang some kind of back drop but that really is not an option. With the bowlers mingling around there just Isn't space. The photos that I've posted are just test shots with my son at our home bowling center. I will not post actual photos of paying clients (Privacy issues). On location shoots (paid gigs) I'll have a full house of clients/parents/spectators down in the settee or up above. It can be pretty tight. Like most of my gigs I have a very small window of time to get all the bowlers photos done.

---------- Post added 03-22-19 at 12:26 AM ----------

sounds like a good plan! checked out a simple dof calculator 135mm @ 50 ft on full frame set at f/5.6 has 14ft+/-.......6ft in front (should get the ball) and 8ft back (entire body of bowler).....should yield nice results focused at the foul line.....look forward to future results! good luck & happy shooting!

Thanks
As I think I mention earlier I'm going to be using Canon equipment. (Just can't get a strong enough WiFi signal with Pentax) I thought I was going to be using FF but have decided to go with my 1D III (1.3 X CF) I'm waiting on a 135 f:2 L. I hope to be able to shoot @ 2.8 I think this will give me enough DOF to keep the bowler in focus (the ball will be OOF but that will be fine. With a little back ground blur and honeycomb soft boxes I think I'll be able to keep the back ground clutter to a minimum.

---------- Post added 03-22-19 at 12:34 AM ----------

Some more calculation shows that the flash will need to have a (metric) guide number of about 90 for a correct exposure at ISO 100. Two flashes increase the guide number but the soft boxes decreases it. Going up to ISO 200 or 400 should even things out.

Thank you
I will be using two 9x24 honeycomb soft boxes I am able to get two speed lights in each. It looks like I can shoot at 1/250 (max sync for the camera) @ 1/4 flash power ISO 400 that's about as high as I want to push the ISO on the Canon 1D III. With the new lens the flash power might need to be adjusted.