indoor basketball photos

[ajohnson15]

Hello,

I participate in a basketball tournament and we play weekly in High School gyms. Now High School gyms don't always have the best light. Most of them always have that orange glow to them (well at least all the high schools i have been to). My questions is how do you get rid of that orange glow in the photos? I am using a Canon Rebel T3 12.2mp with an EF-S 18MM-55MM IS F\ 3.5-5.6 LENS.

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[MLeeK]

Custom White Balance is the best bet. I still shoot basketball in raw because 99% of gym lights are cycling and every few images you'll have one that is totally whacked in color that you will have to fix.

You're a little against a wall with the equipment you have. I am shooting basketball at f/2.8 to f/4 depending on the gym. If I can get away with f/4 that's my ideal-it's not in many gyms I can do it. ISO 6400 to 12800 and a shutter speed of 1/320 to 1/500-the faster the better. You'll also find that you want more reach than the kit lens offers, but you should be able to get some good shots of the team playing as opposed to the individual players.

[thereyougo!]

Hello,

I participate in a basketball tournament and we play weekly in High School gyms. Now High School gyms don't always have the best light. Most of them always have that orange glow to them (well at least all the high schools i have been to). My questions is how do you get rid of that orange glow in the photos? I am using a Canon Rebel T3 12.2mp with an EF-S 18MM-55MM IS F\ 3.5-5.6 LENS.

Sounds like a white balance issue. Are you shooting RAW or jpeg? If you are shooting raw, then you can change this in processing your shots. If shooting jpeg then you'll have less flexibility what kind of lighting do you have? Sounds like incadescent.

[NickA]

Look up white balance in your user manual. I have a simple white index card I take with me to each game, and set a custom white balance. You can save that setting and refer back to it when shooting in that gym again.

Also, you may want to look into a faster lens. A f/2.8 would be the way to go. That won't help you white balance issue, but it will help with your poorly lit gym.

[Tony S]

Use a custom white balance like the others have said, but even that will be hit and miss because of the drop off and holes in the light in a high school gym. The lighting is just not even across the floor for both white balance and exposure. Shoot in RAW format at as high of an ISO as you can, shoot with the lens as wide open as possible usually in the f2.8 range.

Your equipment is a little inadequate to get decent action pictures in a high school gym without additional lighting. You won't get exposures with fast enough shutter sppeds to stop action and your auto focus will be slow. Your best bets will be to get non-action shots of players faces and such or try to time shots where the player is not moving much.

[ajohnson15]

Yes i am looking into getting a lens with a f\2.8. And i shoot in raw + jpeg.

here are some of my shots

1.


2.

3.

[Tony S]

Get out your manual and read how to set the white balance.

[MLeeK]

OH DEAR GOD THAT IS AWFUL! LOL! I have never seen anything turn out like that even in the worst color problem gym!
Do you have the raws for those?

[gstaska]

Definately shoot in awb also if you can stand under the basket of your team, more action/face shots can be gotten that way.

[KmH]

Definately shoot in awb also if you can stand under the basket of your team, more action/face shots can be gotten that way.

Those were shot using Auto White Balance according to the photo's EXIF data.

2.

A rough approximation of just how far out of whack your T3 is when you have Auto White Balance set. I suspect that gym is using mercury vapor lighting.

[CMfromIL]

Holy crap, I thought maybe the gym he was at had installed all yellow 'bug lights' instead of normal lights.

[Ricky21]

Holy crap, I thought maybe the gym he was at had installed all yellow 'bug lights' instead of normal lights.

Can't stop laughing every time I read this.

[ajohnson15]

Lol yea well most HS gyms in NYC have there gyms lit this way. I guess they feel HS kids don't need proper lighting while they ball. and yes i dp have the raw files for the photos.

[MLeeK]

I shoot in one EXTREMELY bad gym and it's not THAT bad!
The raws are fully fixable. If you want to upload to something like mediafire I'd work it for you.

[kanyewest1195]

Sounds like a white balance issue.