Boys Varsity Basketball

[kmontano]

I took this shot during the last basketball game of the season. The lighting in the gym wasn't too bad. I shot in shutter speed priority mode at 1/250 of a second. I was using an external quantaray flash set to 1/16th power. The camera is a canon xt and the lens is an 18-55mm. The rest of my exif data is below. What changes could I make in framing, cropping, etc?

Exif data:
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed : 1600

[AlQ]

1. shoot at a faster shutter speed to freeze the action better (at least 1/500th)
2. crop it tighter so only the players are in the frame
3. what was your white balance set at?....try the flourescent setting next time, but you can usually play with this in PP (I also shoot in a gym that has a lot of "red" and it's difficult).

it's tough to shoot sports indoors in poor lighting without a fast lens, so if you enjoy or want to shoot more sports, consider investing in a faster lens at some point.

[kmontano]

Thanks for the tips.
Here is a cropped down version of the image:

What do you think? This is not a typical shot for me but I kind of liked how it looks like the two players are both going for the ball. I can't shoot at a faster shutter speed since I would be exceeding the camera's max sync speed but most of the photos seem to be pretty sharp otherwise when I shoot under the basket. I set the white balance to automatic and adjusted it in post. With the flash I found a fluorescent white balance was way too cool but a flash white balance was way to orange. Fortunately I can usually get a pretty good read off of the white uniforms but it's not always perfect. I would love to get some faster lenses but the cost and lack of money is prohibiting that for now. Again thanks for the advice!

[mikeassange]

I have seen both of images that you appear here. According to me you made very good framing on it. You just picked up an expression of players that is very nice shot I say. I really like your ability.

[kmontano]

Originally Posted by mikeassange

I have seen both of images that you appear here. According to me you made very good framing on it. You just picked up an expression of players that is very nice shot I say. I really like your ability.

Thanks for the Compliment!

[Peter Phun]

Kevin,
I am not familiar with the Quantaray flash. But does it offer HSS High Shutter Speed Sync? If it doesn't, then shooting at 1/500 sec is not possible.

You end up getting a band of black usually on the bottom because your camera can only sync at 1/200 sec without the HSS of a Canon Speedlight.

Your best bet is to invest in a faster lens, something like a 50mm f1.8 should be good enough. You can also try to use flash.

Using a shorter lens means you'll probably have to get closer, so you are limited to standing under the basket. The plus side? Your backgrounds will be cleaner due to the shallower depth-of-field.