Remotes... Because they ROCK!

What you'll need:
-- Camera with electronic cable release outlet and motor drive,
-- Lens of your choice for your needs,
-- Bogen Super Clamp (or Magic Arm) with mount plate (or tripod),
-- Radio slaves, or super long home made cable release,
-- Imagination.

We'll go to the last thing on the list first... Imagination. Think of something that would be really cool, or an angle that you think might work. There's an old addage amongst photojournalists to, "take the viewer where they can't normally go". Well, I modified that like everything else I come in contact with, and say "put the camera where you can't go".

Clamps and Magic Arms are highly versatile and go almost anywhere. I'll use the example of shooting through a backboard here. Tighten the clamp down as far as it will go without crushing anything. If you use the magic arm, make sure it is solidly attached to the clamp. Mount the camera on the camera plate, position it at the right angle and tighten down the arm lock. Attach the radio slave and motor drive cable, making sure to make it as low profile as you can. Don't draw attention to it with dangling cable and straps (I always like it when folks say "Oh, Witte, I didn't realize you had a remote up."). Watch for reflections coming off the back of the glass or the banner logos. It's heartbreaking when you have a great image, but you have "STACBOB" (bobcats) written across the players' chests. To get rid of that, you'll need to use a black mask. Basically, it's just gaffers tape stuck to more gaffers tape to make a big black sheet of tape. Below is a diagram for the above mentioned.

This is a worst case senario. Penn State has the type of backboards that hardly allow you to get your camera near the glass, no matter how long the arm is. So with my 15mm, I had to get it high on the brace to get it near the glass. I then needed a pretty huge black mask to hide the reflections.

The red line is the motordrive cable. It didn't show up well in the photo.

1: Bogen Super Clamp
2: Quickdraw
3: Articulated Magic Arm
4: Black mask
5: Radio slave


Here's a shot from the Kentucky Derby. I got the biggest kick out of the massive amount of remotes used. Here is the camera tree, about 25 yards from the finish line. I think by race time there were about 24 cameras on it.

Lastly, as a safety precaution you might be required to have additional security. This is generally for protection if the camera falls so that it won't damage the floor or worse; kill someone (An F4 and 300 f/2.8 falling from the ceiling isn't the way I want to go).

My favorite device is what's known to rock climbers as a "quick-draw." It's a 3, 6 or 12 inch piece of webbing strung between two caribiners. Hook one to the camera strap and one to something else that isn't part of the setup. The higher up you mount something, the more protection you will want. Some folks swear by loops of aircraft cable and wonder why I use the quick-draws. Simple: I took a 400 foot fall once while climbing and the only thing holding me into the rock was the rope and two quick-draws. The rock climbing gear will have a much higher impact rating, roughly rated around 13-15kN (Kilo Newtons). Static loads are enough to hang a car from. The aircraft cable on the other hand has a stronger static load but it's impact rating is around 4-10kN. Both will do the job, but I've seen the former in action and trust it more.

If they can protect my life, they can protect my gear any day.

Jordan photo by: Larry A. Peterson

Triggers:

- You'll need either a Pocket Wizard or a hardwire to fire the camera. Pocket Wizards are a great way to set one up in a hurry but they are only reliable up to 1000 feet. They can also fail thanks to dead air, radio interference from police radios and other electrical anomalies. As you'll see above and below, remotes are used in great numbers at the Derby. The PW only has 32 channels, so you're going to run out of frequencies quick. So the other way to do this is to buy a trigger and splice in a few hundred feet of wire into it. Voila. You now have a hard wire that won't fail (providing you don't cut the cable or somehow break it).

 

Reminders:

- Don't use autofocus. Focus on where you want, and leave it on manual. For example, focus on the net and then focus one foot below it because that is where the players' heads are going to be when they jump up. Along with the depth of field a wide angle lens gives you, you have everything of importance in focus. Do the same with the exposure, but before the game have someone stand in the frame to help make it closer to the exposure you need.

Here's an example. The girl on the track is standing at the finish line, while the photographer mounting the camera is focusing on her. As another humorous thing, look at how many cameras are on the ground.