I have been shooting my daughter's basketball games for one season, using a Nikon D70S with a 28-80mm zoom, and positioning my self on the baselineabout 20 feet left or right of the basket. A unstatistical sample of my shooting data indicates that the majority of shots were between 40mm and 80mm. On occasion I used a 70-200mm lens; the majority of those shots were at 70-90mm. Some swear by the 70-200 but I found it was too close to the under the boards action. I plan on adding an 18mm - 200mm to my bag when it becomes available. I think the 200mm will be a plus on zooming in on players at the bench and scorers table. I also found a sideline position was nice for some defense shots and upclose shots of the guards.
I was interested to see your photos taken with the Alien Bees (it appears they aren't on the site), I want to add these to my gear as well. Could you please send them to me? How do you like them?
Originally posted by Nobody:
I have been shooting outdoor sports for my children's school with a fair amount of success, so they have asked if I can take photos of the basketball team. This is new territory for me.
I went to a practice today and experimented with lighting, lenses, etc., and ended up with as many questions as answers.
For those who shoot basketball, what lens to you typically use? 50mm? 70MM, zoom? Where do you position yourself for the most effective shots? I found the 50 the easiest to follow the action, but end up having to crop them to death to get a decent composition.
Here are a couple of samples from today. I was more working with lighting than anything so the compositions themselves aren't that great. I set up an Alien Bee (800) on a walkway above the gym and flashed it out on the ceiling. The ceiling is smooth and a bright white, so it relfects and disbursed the light well.
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Any tips you can share would be much appreciated. |
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