Sony Brand Ambassador Jermaine Horton enjoys creating dynamic images via off camera flash. He had the opportunity to shoot some powerful sports portraits using the Sony Alpha 9 III, and not only does he say he no longer has to worry about missing a shot, he also says this camera will save the life of your flashes. Keep reading as he shares his experience using the camera and see some of his compelling sports portraiture.
Why will the Sony Alpha 9 III change the way portrait photographers use flash for a shoot? Sony Brand Ambassador and portrait pro Jermaine Horton explains.
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Shooting Wide Open At 1/10000-sec.
For the shoot, Horton used the Sony Alpha 9 III paired with the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II lens. He had two Westcott Pro Light Mods behind the subject, a Westcott beauty dish and a field light on the set. “I didn’t do anything special with the Sony Alpha 9 III for this shoot, just used it as I normally would have with wireless flash off with some of the settings. But what was unique was that I wanted to use the lowest power setting for my flash while shooting. I had the strobes on the lowest settings and I was shooting at 1/10,000-sec., which is incredible. The camera's global shutter is incredible.”
He continues, “To be able to have a shutter speed of 1/10,000-sec., it allowed me to capture whatever movement was taking place so crisply. It was perfect. It was on point. At 1/10,000-sec., there's nothing I'm worried about that I'm going to miss. Some might say they can do that without that shutter speed. Sure, but you can’t do a six-hour session using the same batteries.”
Crush Your Photo Shoot, Not Your Flash
This leads us to the other point that Horton says is almost more important for his work, and that’s how the Sony Alpha 9 III can prolong the life of his flashes. Horton would normally have his flash at half power or higher for most of his portrait shoots. Over the course of a session his battery would drain to exhaustion, sometimes several times over, but with the Sony Alpha 9 III, he says that will no longer be the case. “When I used my flash to shoot these portraits, I could’ve shot this way all day because I can have my flash at such a lower power setting. And to do that while shooting at 1/10,000-sec. shutter speed is insane.”
He continues, “So now long term, I don’t have to worry about replacing bulbs in my equipment. Typically shooting at such a high frame rate would cause me to quickly burn out a 400-watt strobe. And if I’m shooting sports portraits on location, I no longer have to worry if they have a plug or outlet source. If I were doing a full session on location, I would have to have the strobes plugged in if I were shooting with any other camera. I would have exhausted that battery probably well within the first hour or two because when you're shooting sports and you're shooting fast range for sports portraits, you have to fire so many shots in succession to get the perfect shot that you're looking for. But now there’s no limit to what shutter speed I can use with the Sony Alpha 9 III and my flash power can be at a much lower setting. It saves the life of your flashes.”
See more of Jermaine Horton’s work on Instagram @jermainehortonstudios.
Learn more about the Sony Alpha 9 III HERE.
