Basketball for C&C

[YoMoe]

I am very new and this was my second time trying to shoot basketball. Here was my first attempt. I tried ISO 2500 for all of them. F1.8 - 2.8 depending on the gym and shutter from 800 - 1250 depending on the photo. No flash.

I am definitely still having some problems especially with the focus. All suggestions greatly appreciated.

1.

2.

3.

Here are the rest. BB Photos.

 

[schumionbike]

I think your shutterspeed might have been unnecessary high, 1/1250 is simply not needed for something like this. YOu need 1/500 to stop action and for slow children basketball, I don't think you need much more than that. A few shot, the focus were soft shooting at f1.8, I would give it a bit more DOF than f1.8.

 

[Chris Cummins]

The second one is easily the best. I would try to crop in on the boys a little more to give the photo more impact and eliminate the dead space above them.

Sports photography really is about faces. Park yourself outside the three-point arc or just behind the hoop to get some awesome facial expressions. Sitting down helps too. One of my favorite places to shoot is half court on the first row by the scorer's table to get defensive shots and unusual vantage points.

The third one is way too cluttered. The first thing the eye notices is the background. Make sure the action, players occupy no less than 2/3 of the frame.

Nice effort and keep practicing!

 

[YoMoe]

I think your shutterspeed might have been unnecessary high, 1/1250 is simply not needed for something like this. YOu need 1/500 to stop action and for slow children basketball, I don't think you need much more than that. A few shot, the focus were soft shooting at f1.8, I would give it a bit more DOF than f1.8.

Thanks! The shutter speed was driving the rest of my settings. I thought you needed it to be really high to stop the action. I will try it at 500 and increase the DOF. Then I will be able to lower the ISO also so that should help also. Thank you!

The second one is easily the best. I would try to crop in on the boys a little more to give the photo more impact and eliminate the dead space above them.

Sports photography really is about faces. Park yourself outside the three-point arc or just behind the hoop to get some awesome facial expressions. Sitting down helps too. One of my favorite places to shoot is half court on the first row by the scorer's table to get defensive shots and unusual vantage points.

The third one is way too cluttered. The first thing the eye notices is the background. Make sure the action, players occupy no less than 2/3 of the frame.

Nice effort and keep practicing!

I'll try different spots because I seem to not be catching any of their faces. Mostly I was standing behind the basket over to the side. It is hard to stand right behind the basket because the gyms are so small there is not much space between the basket and the wall. Thanks for the advice.

Next game today 2pm - I'm hopeful.

 

[YoMoe]

Here are a few from today's game. I lowered the shutter speed. I think they did come out better.

1.

2.

3.

Still a work in progress. Any thoughts?

 

[iAstonish]

Much better results with the lowered shutter speed.

 

[schumionbike]

I like the second set much better as the pictures is sharper from the increase DOF and there are less noise. You can try to get right under the basket, you'll get a lot of interesting shot as kids are driving to the basket.

 

[Augphoto]

Quick improvements from first to second set. Congrats!

 

[YoMoe]

Here are some from last night. I went back to manual.

2.

The exposure is getting better. Still having problems with the focus - it is a bit soft on a lot of the photos. I was shooting with continuous focus with the center point selected.
Here are the rest: Picasa Web Albums YoMoe
Any suggestions?

 

[ZZ_topcoat]

Here are some from last night. I went back to manual.

2.

The exposure is getting better. Still having problems with the focus - it is a bit soft on a lot of the photos. I was shooting with continuous focus with the center point selected.
Here are the rest: Picasa Web Albums YoMoe
Any suggestions?

New here with a question about the last two photos.
See the dark around the edges? Especially in the last photo. The yellow edges mostly the wall on the top half of the photo is different from the color of the wall in the rest of the photo. I get that all the time even down the sides and only the center is correct color. What is that? I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem.

 

[iAstonish]

Here are some from last night. I went back to manual.

2.

The exposure is getting better. Still having problems with the focus - it is a bit soft on a lot of the photos. I was shooting with continuous focus with the center point selected.
Here are the rest: Picasa Web Albums YoMoe
Any suggestions?

New here with a question about the last two photos.
See the dark around the edges? Especially in the last photo. The yellow edges mostly the wall on the top half of the photo is different from the color of the wall in the rest of the photo. I get that all the time even down the sides and only the center is correct color. What is that? I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem.

Could be the white balance or just conflicting lighting situations?

 

[YoMoe]

I really don't know but I would guess it is the lighting. These are really old church gyms. The lighting is terrible, half the lights are out and they are cave like. Some are also really small with no space around the gym to stand.