Basketball Game

feg94 · Dec 30, 2014

Shots from my brother's basketball game tonight, first time shooting sports.

(A shot of my brother making a three pointer, unfortunately his opponent's hand is out of frame but I thought the action was captured well)

AceCo55 · Dec 31, 2014

I'd say you did a pretty good job if that's your first effort at shooting sport. You started out with a very challenging environment. The EXIF info has been stripped from your photos but it would be interesting to know your settings. All of them look a tad under-exposed. You should be able to increase that in software.
#1: good general scene but not one that is used too often in sports photography. The majority of sports shots usually focus right in on the action. The other comment I would make, is that it would have made a stronger shot if the player with the ball was facing you.
#2: You have made a good point in self-evaluating this shot. I can't tell you the number of times I have just cut off players hands or feet! Pretty good timing here too - not quite "peak action" (which would have had the ball just leaving your brother's hands) but you can feel the "energy" here. Again for a good sports shot, I would consider cropping out all of the other players and officials so that you only had your brother and the blocker.
#3: Good action - there is a sense of effort and desperation/determination here and we see the player's face. Again I would crop out all of the unnecessary parts - focus on the action. Looks like you chose a fast enough shutter speed - looks pretty crisp. One thing that would really raise the bar would have been for you to be down low. This would have a "point of view", POV, that put the viewer in the action. Not always possible but its just another thing to consider!
#4: Two things hit me about this shot. One is that the background is leaning down on the left. Happens regularly to me. You are so wrapped up in "getting the shot" that you focus on the action and don't look at the background. Easy to straighten in post processing. The other thing is that you are caught in between to points of action. Too late to have the action of the player passing the ball (just leaving hand) and too early to get the action of the receive. Again that sense of timing comes with practice. I usually bang off 2 or 3 consecutive frames so that I have more choice later.
There is a common acronym for good sports photography: FACT
F = "face". Include the player's face(s) in the shot
A = "action". Captured or blurred to show movement or implied movement (eg ball in air, players off the ground)
C = "contact". With another player; bat hitting the ball; grazing the top of a hurdle in athletics etc
T = "toy". The ball/bat/hockey stick/football/baseball etc
If you get all four in a shot there is a very good chance you have a winner!
Still get great shots with 3 out of 4; sometimes OK with 2 out of 4 if you have compelling elements.
1 out of 4 = usually not a "keeper" (unless it is of your brother and then there is an emotional attachment for YOU ... not for others who don't know him!!!)
If I would you, I would head back to the games and keep shooting. You have made a solid start.

vintagesnaps · Dec 31, 2014

I've found lighting in school gyms to be pretty lousy; these might just need to be brightened up (adjust brightness/contrast).

I thought at first some weren't straight but then noticed the vertical lines are parallel to the sides of the frame so I think it's the perspective (except for the last one which I think needs to be straightened). If you're able to move to different vantage points, go early and try some different places where you're allowed to sit/stand during the game and look thru the viewfinder at the backgrounds to see what that will look like in your pictures.

I find that there can be a lot of posts and poles etc. that create lines that can be noticeable in the backgrounds so I take those and the signage into consideration when I'm framing shots.

I think it takes practice, if you can keep working on how you frame shots you seem to be seeing some good moments to photograph. For some of these I'd probably do some cropping; you want to try to bring the viewer's attention to what was interesting and keep distractions (people/things or parts of objects) out of the frame for a clean composition.

For example the third one could have been framed to not include the players to the left, or even shot vertically to get the players behind the one reaching for the ball not cropped off along the top. The second one might have been better shot vertically; I think it takes practice to become efficient at flipping the camera from horizontal to vertical when you need to.

Shooting sports is the timing and if you know the sport that helps, and being able to anticipate where the action will go next. It can be a lot of fun, hope you enjoy shooting your brother's games and keep practicing.

Tailgunner · Dec 31, 2014

Shooting sports, indoors or outdoors can be challenging. So I think you did a pretty good job. I don't speak Canon, so I'm not sure what to suggest. I would think you could pick up a 50mm 1.8-2.8 or 85mm 1.8-2.8 pretty cheap. This would really help lighten things up a bit. Shooting in RAW is a huge help as well if you're not already doing so.

Sarmad · Jan 3, 2015

I'd say all of them look a little underexposed to me. But if that's your first time shooting indoor sports, that's pretty impressive. Indoor sports are one of the most "expensive" areas of photography, you need a telephoto yet sharp lens for the action, and also a normal lens to capture wider views. For sharp and crisp action shots you need fast shutter speed giving you a disadvantage in terms of lightning if you're indoor. So if you don't want to shoot at high ISO's you need wide apertures which are rare and expensive on telephoto lenses. And a tripod/monopod won't help if your shutter speed is not fast enough to capture moving action. For me shooting crisp indoors is one of the hardest things to do, But what your equipment is listed, I'd say you did pretty good. Just shoot a few more games and with practice you'll get better.

imagemaker46 · Jan 3, 2015

Most has been covered by the others. Images are all too dark, but could be lightened up in post, 3rd shot is the best and could be made better with the right crop. The other 3 are weak for sports action, cutting off the hands and the ball is a delete. Always try and keep backgrounds straight, level playing surface. I'd give it all another shot, it's the only way you'll get better at it, not always an easy sport to shoot, especially with a short lens. Try shooting from the corner of the court if you can, a lot of the play comes to the corners. Bump your iso up as high as your camera can handle without the grain becoming too bad, keep the shutter speed up around 400th or higher and the lens wide open. Stopping the action is more important than having a little too much grain, there is a trade off under poor light. It's also not likely that you'll be making posters out of the images, so 5x7-8x10's would probably be acceptable, if the content is there.