Sad attempt at volleyball - 9/11

[Rob4bama]

A lady asked me if I could take some pictures of the seniors. I said sure. After reading a little, everyone said volleyball was the hardest sport. I believed them when I read it, and I still believe it. My problem was where to stand and they moved to fast. I could go anywhere in the gym and I only focused on one team. I also had three lens: 70-200mm, 50mm, and 85mm. Seemed like in order to get faces, I had to get the net.

I did get some great shots of the backs of their heads and them standing around. Bunch of out of focus too...:/

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Out of focus but I liked it.

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Any feedback is welcome. I told her I would try to come back for another game.

 

[MLeeK]

You seem to be having a problem with the cycling lights and magentas. Otherwise? I think you did pretty well. Volleyball is the hardest sport to shoot-EVER. It has kicked my butt for 3 years now.

 

[Rob4bama]

It was in the same gym that I had PE in in 5th grade. I'm 31 now. I noticed that the hanging lights were buzzing really loud when I walked in. I did use your advice on not shooting all the way open (f1.8 and 2.8) in order to try to get a sharper shot. I still have trouble with my white balance.

Do cycling lights cause bright shots and dark shots? None of the lights in the pics seem consistent.

 

[Rosy]

I like #7
I too shoot (or try to shoot) my daughter's VB game. Quite the challenge. I think your WB if off on some. Do you use a grey card, I do, and it's very useful
Your advantage is the 70-200 f/2.8 - I'll purchase that when I sell my kidney on the black market

My 85mm is great for when I can be real close.

Keep shooting, practice makes perfect

 

[MLeeK]

It was in the same gym that I had PE in in 5th grade. I'm 31 now. I noticed that the hanging lights were buzzing really loud when I walked in. I did use your advice on not shooting all the way open (f1.8 and 2.8) in order to try to get a sharper shot. I still have trouble with my white balance.

Do cycling lights cause bright shots and dark shots? None of the lights in the pics seem consistent.

Yes. Cooler/green images will be darker and warmer/magenta will be brighter.
If you can hear the lights buzzing that's a good indicator that your post processing is going to be HELL. In the ones where you ended up with the magenta whites I'd just select the whites and remove the magenta so long as everything else is good.
There are better cycling lights to work with and then there are THOSE lights... The ones you can hear when you walk in the door.
I find that I use 3 temps pretty consistently through a set like that. There will be a warm, cool and green different colors.

A gray card won't help much as the lights like THOSE are cycling so bad. It will give you one cycle in proper balance, but there are so many different colors you are better off letting the camera guess. It will come out more accurate more often than setting one specific balance and not letting the camera try to make up for it.

 

[GraceNFaith]

A gray card won't help much as the lights like THOSE are cycling so bad. It will give you one cycle in proper balance, but there are so many different colors you are better off letting the camera guess. It will come out more accurate more often than setting one specific balance and not letting the camera try to make up for it.

+1 on keeping the camera in AWB. Just shoot RAW and color correct the keepers if needed in post.