[carlthuringer]

I may be shooting a ping pong competition soon so I went to take some test shots of a pair playing to see what sort of pictures I got at different settings.

I ended up finding it nearly impossible to freeze the ball's motion at anything less than 1/200 shutter speed. 1/100 is fuzzy and 1/80 or 1/60 is quite blurry, turning the ball's motion (along with the players) into motion-blurred lines and sweeps. While the effect is nice, I really hoped to be able to freeze the action for some shots and get a really striking moment of time, such as the instant the ball hits the paddle.

The result at 1/200 was dismal. Very dark. A flash instantly alleviates it while at the same time flattening and washing out the scene. (not to mention causing the recieving player to fail to return the ball. *flash-blindness*)

I think the only solution is some seriously strong lighting... but maybe there's something else I can do? Or other suggestions for shot composition, dramatic moments, etc?