Comments on: Indoor Sports Photography

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:43:43 +0000

Just my 2 cents. I have obtain fairly good results with indoor volleyball with my 70-200 f2.8l and 24-70 f2.8l wide open and 50D with ISO set to 1000 (using aperture priority with a shutter speed auto set to around 1/125). I usually get some motion blur on the arms and the ball but it doesnt affect the composition all that much. I have tried my 50mm 1.8 but the focus is just too slow as well as my 85mm f1.8 which is better but not as fast as my L glass. My first few games I didnt set the focus to center point only and I struggled to keep things in focus since it kept wanted to capture the still players in the background. Center only has helped significantly.

Here are some of the shots. http://www.photobucket.com/HartVarsityVBall The vs Saugus is the most recent game.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:03:43 +0000

@Jim News

Let me know how it goes! If you want to make the bounce more powerful, while directing less light into the players and referees faces, I highly recommend taping a business card on the side of the flash. That way, as you hold it sideways, the light that would normally go up gets directed towards the floor as well.

By: Jim News

Jim News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:44:10 +0000

Johathon…I picked up a Nikon SB-24 Speedlight used and just got it. I’ve talked to one of my coaches, who is going to allow me to try your bouncing trick at a practice. It’s the worst gym I shoot in, dark wood floor and old, bad lights. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for the tip.

By: Jim News

Jim News — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:07:41 +0000

Perhaps someone already mentioned this note about lighting. Inside most gyms, they use either mercury or sodium vapor lights. Even though the human eye can’t see it, the lights cycle several times per second. Meaning, the light source fiickers constantly. An easy way to demonstrate this is to set your camera to shoot several frames per second and shoot a static object, like a chair. When you look back at the shots, you’ll notice the light changes, even though the camera didn’t move, not did the object of the shots. Of course, there is nothing you can do about it, but you should be aware of it. I had a parent at a game come up and ask me what was wrong with her camera, a Nikon D40. I explained the light to her and she was happy to learn there was nothing wrong with her camera.

By: wackeekaren

wackeekaren — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:35:01 +0000

Wow, nice article. I recently got a Canon 1000D as a gift and have been practicing shooting indoor basketball gamesusing 18-55 lens. Sometimes I do get nice shots, but then again, I’m irritated by the noise because of the high ISO setting that I used.

Here’s one of the sets that I have. http://wackeekaren.multiply.com/photos/album/124. Other sets are also there.

By: 73Rocks

73Rocks — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:15:32 +0000

After reading some of the comments here I would have to say that I have an advantage over some others in the fact that I can use my flash at any of the games if I so choose. The smaller schools in NE SD are delighted to have someone come in and shoot their sports teams in action. I do know that it is distracting sometimes, and that is why my 1st choice is to use my Canon 50mm f1.8 with my Canon Eos Xti with an ISO of 800 . . . IF the lighting will allow it. Otherwise I use my Quantray 55-200mm with my 430EX, set at Shutter Priority of 500 with an ISO of 400. The thing I might ad is that with my flash, it has a “High Speed Sync” function so I can go over the 200/sec shutter speed limit. Two examples of going without a flash – 1st one is my Canon 50mm f1.8:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73rocks/3287078526/

2nd one is the result of having to adjust on the fly. It was a conference tournament game, with 3 refes, two sets of cheerleaders in each corner, and people constantly walking in front of me at one end of the gym. My solution – pull out my Canon 85mm f1.8 that I would normally use for football games and go sit in the stands. I got some very good, and very unique results:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73rocks/3286261397/

By: Jim News

Jim News — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:35:07 +0000

By the way, thank you so much to DPS for bringing up this topic. More than anything, I enjoy the challenge of my work as a sports photographer. In a studio, I control the subject, the lighting, everything. On a court or field, I’m just along for the ride.

Oleksiy…I use a D3 and D90. With the shutter at 500 to 650 and the ISO set to automatic, in bad light it could go as high as 3200. Yet, because of the great image sensor, you can read the small letters on a moving basketball, not to mention the clarity of faces. Of course, as Jonathan says, good 2.8 glass is the key. I’ve had good luck with Sigma lenses. Especially considering the price compared to Nikkor.

By: Jessica Erin Photography

Jessica Erin Photography — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:32:58 +0000

Great tips here! I’m a photojournalist at a newpaper plus I’m a portrait photographer, so sports photography is totally new to me. I shot my first indoors basketball game last week and was NOT pleased with the results. I tried the high ISO’s, with and without flash and just wasn’t getting the shots I was hoping for. I was alternating between a cheap 18-55 lens on my canon and my 70-200 2.8 lens. The shots were either to dark or slightly blurred. Here’s one of my shots…
http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/feb/11/manley-makes-senior-night-even-more-special-seneca/

By: Stephen H.

Stephen H. — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:41:32 +0000

I haven’t photographed a high school basketball game in quite some time, in fact the last time was when I was in high school and all we had were point and shoots. When I photographed that, I had to time everything just right because there was a half second delay between when I clicked the picture and when it would take. But I heard from others that we weren’t allowed to use a flash because the coaches and others would get mad. If you are allowed to use a flash, then that would be excellent, but I think that is where a lot of our limitations come from. So instead of using a flash, I got right in front of the goal and took pictures when they were right there in front of me. Obviously I didn’t have a great zoom. While a lot of the shots I was looking for were generally the same, I was able to use about 50% of them.

The last ‘basketball’ game I photographed though, was in an arena and I was photographing the Harlem Globe Trotters. The lighting was superb, I was using my 70-300 mm lens zoom because I was very far away. I don’t think my iso was very high, and I got some pretty crisp shots.

By: homebrew

homebrew — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:12:29 +0000

OK, here are the relatively few keepers from the dog show. As you can see, I didn’t get much that wasn’t right next to me and some of the pictures are a little soft from over-long shutter times.
Next year, I’ll buy/rent a 70-200 2.8 and nothing goes below 1/200.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homebrew901/sets/72157613798879444/detail/