What’s Your Preference?

brian_dg · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2010, 12:18 PM

Larger version: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/...49869b74_b.jpg

My first try to do sports photography after getting my SLR a month ago. Cropped the image a little bit so I can get a little closer. I think it's a nice shot but something is missing and I feel that it does not have that wow factor. I also pushed the ISO to 3200 for faster shutter speed.

Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Lens: EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS (kit)

Any suggestion guys? I will be back to watch my team this championships on Sunday and I really want to improve my shots. Comments, suggestions and critiques are all welcome.

GadgetRick · #2 (**permalink**) 05-21-2010, 03:14 PM

Honestly, I'd probably crop tighter into the girl spiking and the one in front of her about to receive the spike. Would be more dramatic that way.

Your WB is off. Not sure if you shot RAW or not but the photo is too yellow.

brian_dg · #3 (**permalink**) 05-21-2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

Honestly, I'd probably crop tighter into the girl spiking and the one in front of her about to receive the spike. Would be more dramatic that way.

Your WB is off. Not sure if you shot RAW or not but the photo is too yellow.

Thanks for helping me out

Unfortunately I took that shot in JPEG.

How do I fix that WB problem? I used the preset White Fluorescent Light WB for that shot. I'm not really sure if the custom white balance will work since I can't really get down the court.

BTW this is how the lighting works there http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/6203/img1801k.jpg Sorry for the poor shot

So do you think custom WB would work if I'm seated on the dark blue colored chairs? Are there any other options? I really can't do raw since I only got the free 4GB card

GadgetRick · #4 (**permalink**) 05-22-2010, 11:40 AM

Wouldn't say custom WB so much as you'd have to do the gray card thing and that's just not practical when shooting a sport like this. First of all, I'd absolutely shoot RAW--especially when shooting indoors. You can use presets, etc but it's still hard to nail lights in a place like that. First of all, they have multiple lights and they all age at different rates which shifts their colors slightly which then throws off a preset WB. Second of all, you may not know exactly what kinds of lights they are anyway unless you become an expert on the lights.

In this situation, I shoot with auto WB so I can adjust it later (I always shoot RAW). Not sure what you're using for pp but you may be able to do a little with the WB but you'll be limited because it's jpeg. But give it a shot anyway, you never know. You usually have (at least) some control just not a lot.

vbhakuni · #5 (**permalink**) 05-22-2010, 11:52 AM

Nice one.....!!!!!!!!

wamplers · #6 (**permalink**) 05-22-2010, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian_dg

Any suggestion guys? I will be back to watch my team this championships on Sunday and I really want to improve my shots. Comments, suggestions and critiques are all welcome.

Use a longer, faster lens, if you have one. Since you were able to shoot at f/5.6, the 55-250 or 70-300 IS would work, if you have either of these, but ideally you would want the 70-200 f/2.8L. Zoom in closer on the action and crop it even closer.

brian_dg · #7 (**permalink**) 05-24-2010, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

Wouldn't say custom WB so much as you'd have to do the gray card thing and that's just not practical when shooting a sport like this. First of all, I'd absolutely shoot RAW--especially when shooting indoors. You can use presets, etc but it's still hard to nail lights in a place like that. First of all, they have multiple lights and they all age at different rates which shifts their colors slightly which then throws off a preset WB. Second of all, you may not know exactly what kinds of lights they are anyway unless you become an expert on the lights.

In this situation, I shoot with auto WB so I can adjust it later (I always shoot RAW). Not sure what you're using for pp but you may be able to do a little with the WB but you'll be limited because it's jpeg. But give it a shot anyway, you never know. You usually have (at least) some control just not a lot.

Thanks for your reply. I might as well buy some high capacity cards soon so I can do raw sometime.

But I'm not really a photoshop wiz when it comes to photography.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vbhakuni

Nice one.....!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Glad you liked it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wamplers

Use a longer, faster lens, if you have one. Since you were able to shoot at f/5.6, the 55-250 or 70-300 IS would work, if you have either of these, but ideally you would want the 70-200 f/2.8L. Zoom in closer on the action and crop it even closer.

I do not have one.

I just started DSLR photography last month and all I have is this 18-55mm kit. I will soon buy the 50mm 1.8 as my second lens but that is also not that good for sports. Anyway I won't be doing sports that much but I'm considering these lenses for my third one: Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM for more zoom or maybe the EF-S 10-22mm for landscape photography

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so how about the WB in this one?

Large image: http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9687/img2110f.jpg
zoomed out at 18mm with 1.6x crop factor

better or worse? I used the tungsten preset white balance. This time I was too late when I arrived at the arena (actually 30min too early based on the sched but not early for a championships game) so I was actually seated in a much worse much farther from the court place.

GadgetRick · #8 (**permalink**) 05-24-2010, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian_dg

Thanks for your reply. I might as well buy some high capacity cards soon so I can do raw sometime.

But I'm not really a photoshop wiz when it comes to photography.

No need to be a PS wiz. Try Lightroom. You can do most of what you need to (regularly) do to a photo there. Much easier to learn than PS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian_dg

so how about the WB in this one?

better or worse? I used the tungsten preset white balance. This time I was too late when I arrived at the arena (actually 30min too early based on the sched but not early for a championships game) so I was actually seated in a much worse much farther from the court place.

WB is much much better on this one.