Flash Photography

[ShredPirate]

I was watching Ryan's final routine today, and I noticed when he does his first flyer, someone flashed a camera directly at him. It looks like he couldn't see where the bag went after the flash, and he dropped. It may or may not have been because of the flash, but I still think flash photography should be banned from competition, just in case. What do you guys think?

[deano*]

i think that most of the time, you are looking down.. away from the crowd and concentrating on your bag. So flashes shouldnt affect you

however if you do get caught by a flash you could be pretty fucked

if it could mean the difference between coming first or 2nd then they should definately be banned

[kaos]

I voted yes.
If there is a chance that it could distract a player, then why take the risk? Many other sports also banned flash photography. It just showing curtousy(sp?) and respect to the player, and giving him the best possible chance...

[Fu Xi]

at east coasts, i never used the flash when the open freestylers were competing, even if the pics would come out dark and bad. i think they should be banned

[Iain]

i think that most of the time, you are looking down.. away from the crowd and concentrating on your bag. So flashes shouldnt affect you

If u watch almost any of the final routines from '03, then u should see people laying on the ground or at least getting really close to the ground to take pitcures from below. This could screw u up pretty easily in my opinon.

Edit - You also have to realize flying clippers are a pretty reckless trick. I watched the video from the czech people and i thought mabey the flash did blind him. But then i watched the video by Steve Goldberg and u can see that the flash came from behind him.



All though this might not be what caused him to drop, it still is a good point and i agree flash photography should be banned.

[delayday]

I voted yes. I haven't been to any comps, but someone took a pic of me while I was going for a personal consecutive record, and I lost track of the bag cause I couldn't see, and dropped. GRRRRRRRR!!!!!

[HighDemonslayer]

IMO flash photography cannot even come close to capturing what freestyle "is". You need motion video to be "real". Perhaps vidcaps are not as clear as still photos, but the athlete should come first.

Can you take pics without a flash and add the "Brightness" digitally?

-n

[billman_c]

Sure you can add the brightness digitally, or the gamma. I voted yes too, when you're trying to be technical like that you shouldn't have to have distractions like flashes.

[Allan]

Sure you can add the brightness digitally

This is misleading. You cannot actually do this. You can enhance a photograph by adjusting the gamma, but if you take a photograph in a low light situation and don't use a flash, then there won't be much you can do. You certainly can't even come close to replicating what a flash does.

In most situations, when you up the gamma on a photo it simply washes the photo out; it makes blacks grey and applies this across the entire photo. You can generally only step the gamma up a notch or two before it starts to look bad and if you didn't use a flash, chances are that won't be good enough.

The only way you can take photo's in low light situations without a flash is to use manual settings on your camera (IF it has that option - most don't these days) and slow your shutter speed, open your F-stop wide open and use a slower (higher??) speed film. This will however result in the blurred motion effect (especially if you don't use a tripod), making it all but useless for footbag action photos unless you really know what you're doing and desire this effect.

In my opinion, flash photography sucks even at the best of times unless the you're using truly high-end, professional equipment.

In summary, you cannot digitally (or otherwise) enhance a photo taken without a flash to make it look like it was taken with one. Period.

More on topic, I agree that flash photography should be banned form competition situations.