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01/21/2005 05:27:20 PM · #1 |
Last week I shot a women's basketball game for a school newspaper, my first time having shot the sport. While I think the shots I got were ok, I'm not satisfied with the results. I'm shooting another game tomorrow and would like to be more prepared.
My gear is as follows: D1H, pretty much any (non-VR) Nikon telephoto lenses up to 300 mm f/4 (or f/2.8, not sure).
Last time I used an 80-200 2.8 primarily with my D70 as a backup to shoot closer shots with a 24-70ish range lens. I found the D70 to be of little use due to the 3 fps limitation. The press positions at the venue are limited to the side of the basket at each end on the court. I tried to shoot the closer basket primarily, making telephoto shots difficult at such a close range. I also used wide open apertures and ISO in the 800-1600 range. I don't recall the exact shutter speeds, but they were on the order of 1/500.
For tomorrow I'm going to pack a 300 f/2.8 (or f/4) and use that in conjunction with the 80-200 to get more action at the far end of the court.
My question(s): Is this a more common approach to shooting basketball (ie, the far basket)? Is it advisable to shoot stopped down to improve the chance of focus, or is the shutter speed tradeoff not worth it (I'm probably going to shoot exclusively at ISO 1600). Any tips?
Thanks for reading this far!
the pictures I took last week:
bball 1
bball 2
(type of) Shots that I would like to be able to take:
bball 3
bball 4
Message edited by author 2005-01-21 17:28:16.
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01/21/2005 06:33:12 PM · #2 |
I was hoping to see somebody jump on this becuase I'm curious too. I don't have experience with this, but my gut reaction is that ISO 1600 is too high, but 1/500 is a good speed to stop body motion. I would not want to have a slower lens than f/2.8.
I though your pictures looked quite good already. A google search found this page:
shutterfreaks
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01/21/2005 07:49:19 PM · #3 |
OK. I don't shoot arena work but one of my best friends is getting into this type of photography. Here's a resource he found. This photographer shoots for professional and collegiate leagues in indoor arenas. For basketball he uses strobes mounted up in the rafters to light the court. He uses short duration strobes by Elinchrom with large reflectors on them. Take a look at his site, its pretty impressive what kind of shots he gets.
EDIT: Wow. Dude has seriously updated his site. He's even selling the solutions now. At least you'll get an idea of what it takes to shoot any portion of an arena/rink instead of the info that used to be up there.
www.arenastrobes.com
Kev
Message edited by author 2005-01-21 19:57:31.
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01/21/2005 08:39:35 PM · #4 |
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01/21/2005 09:26:41 PM · #5 |
I am not sure if this will be of any help to you.
I shot some hockey games from centre ice penalty box a couple of weeks ago . I used 70-200 2.8 IS lens with the 20d ISO 1600 at 1/800 of sec at 2.8 at about 160mm seem to produce the best images . The lighting in the arena was just brutal ,there were some sweet spots on the ice were the lighting was better than other spots. I took some test shots before the game in various spots on the ice and then checked the histogram to find the best spots to shoot in. At first I tried to follow the puck and the play, but that did not work out so well the players just move to fast too many out of focus shots . I found that if I locked the AF on the player in the so called good lighting areas of the rink and was some what patient that the play came to the player that I had the AF locked on.It worked out well for me and also cut the junk shots way down.
Good luck Maverick
Randy
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01/21/2005 09:52:30 PM · #6 |
back in college i shot with 35mm SLR, b&w film (ASA400 pushed to 800), 50mm lens, no flash was permitted. I usually kept shutter at 1/250 sec.
I stayed at the home end of the court, and would move at times to the other end of hte court. It was WAY to dark (and i had no other lenses) to attempt end to end shots.
Of course, i only shot the home games...the women's games i could do most anthing. the men's games were much more crowded.
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01/21/2005 11:20:39 PM · #7 |
Here's a thread from a few days ago:
Any press photogrpahers out there?
I don't think you need to use a shutter speed as fast as 500 for basketball, some use 200, I'm going to try 250 for my next game. But these posters are mainly thinking about HS gyms, you should have better lighting situations to deal with at the higher levels of the game.
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01/22/2005 10:18:16 PM · #8 |
| I do some high school basketball games and from your pics you have much much better lighting than small town gyms. I set ISO at 1600 and time at 1/125. I use a Tamron 28-75 mm and the aperture usually works out at 2.8-3.5. I get some blur mostly in the hands. Basketball is fast moving so I shoot mostly verticals so I can keep both eyes open and see what is happening on most of the floor. I only shoot one end of the floor. Last year I used a Canon 70-200 mm IS but had to get back away from the floor. I try to get the shooter, ball, and basket all in the same frame. It is fun and I do it as a hobby and donate pics to the schools for their yearbooks. |
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01/22/2005 11:44:31 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by eaglebeck:
I do some high school basketball games and from your pics you have much much better lighting than small town gyms. I set ISO at 1600 and time at 1/125. I use a Tamron 28-75 mm and the aperture usually works out at 2.8-3.5. I get some blur mostly in the hands. Basketball is fast moving so I shoot mostly verticals so I can keep both eyes open and see what is happening on most of the floor. I only shoot one end of the floor. Last year I used a Canon 70-200 mm IS but had to get back away from the floor. I try to get the shooter, ball, and basket all in the same frame. It is fun and I do it as a hobby and donate pics to the schools for their yearbooks. |
I hear ya eaglebeck. Lots of my HS baskerball shooting is in the dimly lit gyms. I only try to cover one end, and portrait is my normal orientation. I also get some shots where the body is stopped but some motion blur shows in the hands & feet. My Canon 85 1.8 is my primary lens of choice but I have also used the Tamron 28-75.
Your "gaggle" is a pretty decent sports-action type shot.
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01/25/2005 06:58:21 PM · #10 |
Thought I'd post a few of my second attempts. I think I did better, but had some focusing problems. One thing another photographer suggested that I found helpful: shoot in Manual, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/500 (I had been using aperture priority, ISO1000, f/2.8 - had a couple inconsistent exposures).
bball 1
bball 2
bball 3 (a little out of focus)
Message edited by author 2005-01-25 19:02:05.
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