I want to shoot better indoor basketball photos

bege · Oct 28, 2013

hi All

Any help is greatly appreciated. I am wanting to shoot better indoor basketball photos (I haven't had any real luck with yet, getting mostly blurred and or grainy photos). i first want to try with the equipment i have, and then if that is not good enough i am open to ideas on cameras and lenses, so please recommend something things for me to achieve good results.

i have

SONY A57
DT 1.8/35 SAM
DT 4.5-5.6/55-300 SAM
3.5-5.6/18-135 SAM

thanks again

Dao · Oct 28, 2013

For indoor basketball photos, a friend of mine had some good results with his 85mm f/1.8 lens (Canon system) for his daughter's basketball games. So based on what I saw, the 85mm focal length seems decent for basketball game (He was using a full frame 1Ds body with the 85mm lens) and the wide aperture allowed him to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the motion.

Searching "85mm basketball" in flickr yield some samples.

Luke345678 · Oct 28, 2013

What are some of the manual settings you are using?

I shoot a lot of High School sports including basketball. The lighting in a High School gym is absolutely terrible. A lot of the shots you will get will need to be tweaked in post processing. Never delete any shots unless they're completely blurry and out of focus. You can make a shot that looks too dark into a very nice shot. Photoshop can do some amazing things.

Personally, I always arrive 1-2 hours early to shoot a little bit while they're practicing to get some practice in and mess around with your settings. The more you understand about the game the better shots you'll get. Know where everyone is supposed to be on the court and who they are. If you can assume where the action will happen it will make getting that shot a lot easier.

If you can, don't shoot from the stands. Try to shoot level or below them. Having a shot from below makes them look a lot better because it makes them look more powerful. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! Hope this helped. Please remember to list the settings you're using. Hopefully you're using manual, you'll never get a good shot with the auto settings such as the "sports" setting.

-Luke

Robin_Usagani · Oct 28, 2013

Fast lens and high ISO.. that's it! A body that can deliver good photos with high ISO would be nice. Sometimes pros are connected to pretty powerful lights mounted above the arenas.

tirediron · Oct 28, 2013

Robin_Usagani said:
Fast lens and high ISO.. that's it! A body that can deliver good photos with high ISO would be nice. Sometimes pros are connected to pretty powerful lights mounted above the arenas.

That! You need to be able shoot clean (or at least acceptable) around 3200 to get good shots in a school gym. I'm not familiar with Sony, but I suspect that may be pushing it for an A57.

hirejn · Oct 28, 2013

I shot sports for 7 years for a paper. I'd recommend going with flash, unless you have a good high ISO camera like the D4. Switch the camera to manual mode. Use an aperture like 2.8 if available or otherwise the lowest the lens has (if higher than 2.8). Set the shutter speed to 1/125. Then adjust ISO until you get a good ambient exposure. You can just use the LCD to see what looks good. Then drop the ISO by one stop (half). The flash will be contributing most of the light so it should freeze any motion and 1/125 should stop most of the blur. Then turn on the flash in TTL or auto mode. Set the flash mode to rear curtain.

For example, if the ambient exposure were 1/125 @ f/2.8 @ 1600, drop the ISO to 800, turn the flash on TTL, and shoot. In most courts you can probably get away with ISO 800, leaving the background a bit dark and letting the flash do the rest. If the ambient exposure required 3200, you would drop it to 1600. I want the ambient exposure about one stop down from "correct" so the subject pops more and the flash freezes motion. If you set the flash even to the ambient, it's only a fill and you won't get the freezing power. Don't worry too much about noise. If the light and exposure are good, noise isn't noticed as much.

This technique assumes you're court-side. If you're in the bleachers, flash won't be effective and you'll have to raise ISO until you get a shutter speed of about 1/250 or more, which will cause considerable noise, and you'll need a longer lens.

bege · Oct 29, 2013

ok thanks all, i will try a few of your suggestions? while I'm at it can anyone suggest a good f/2.8 lens for my SONY A57 camera?

table1349 · Oct 29, 2013

Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Alpha A-Mount Telephoto Zoom Lens

table1349 · Oct 29, 2013

Maybe this: 85mm f/1.4 Mid-Range Prime Lens - SAL85F14Z Review | Sony Store U.S. - Sony US

Will722 · Oct 30, 2013

Would using flash affect the players? I can just imagine a player being blinded by the flash during a shot or pass.

table1349 · Oct 30, 2013

Yes it can. Most sports do not let you use floor/field level strobes. Keep in mind at a sporting event you are absolutely NOTHING in regards to that event. The sporting event would go on with out there ever being a single photographer present. You are nothing more than a spectator who got the chance to get up close to the sport. That does not give you the right to in any way shape or form to even potentially cause one little bit of distraction to any of the participants be they athletes, coaches or officials.

Patrick Simmons · Nov 4, 2013

Most indoor sporting events, especially basketball won't allow any flash photography. Higher ISO will be your friend along with a fast lens.

JoeW · Dec 26, 2013

I know I'm replying to an older thread but I suspect the issue (shooting indoor sports) is of interest to a number of beginners.
1. Before you use any kind of speed light, check with the authorities. Yes, a flash (especially if shot directly at the players rather than bounced off a wall or ceiling or used with a diffuser--all things which aren't likely to be effective with a basketball court) can make a huge difference with youth players and amateurs. It can also piss off parents (when you use the flash and their son/daughter then misses). And...unless you're within 20 feet of the court, it's not going to help. But before you use a speed light--CHECK to see it's okay.
2. As a general rule (I know, this sounds weird since you're a parent), check to see it's okay for you to take pictures of your son or daughter when they compete. A number of leagues will have rules on this issue. Maybe it's b/c they've signed a contract with a photographer to provide shots for all-star games or portraits. Maybe it's for privacy (there have been a number of cases of stalkers shooting in appropriate photos of female athletes when they compete). I know of a number of photographers who've been kicked out of venues (all middle-school/HS level, all amateur)...one swimming, one basketball, one track and the last one football...for taking pictures without having approval or b/c the various league/school has prohibitions against this. I'm not trying to make you paranoid, just CHECK. For instance, I just shot some pictures of a nephew who's a junior olympics candidate as a swimmer. The venue his club was practicing at (this was only a practice) prohibited flash and indeed all photography. I was able to get approval by signing a release, demonstrating insurance, showing approval by the parent (his dad) and the swimmer, and then signing an agreement that the ONLY person who would be in the pictures would be my nephew.
3. There are a couple of basic rules for shooting sports photography:
--jack up the ISO
--shoot as fast as you possibly can (if there's any serious movement and you're shooting 1/200th or slower then you're either going to get blur or it will be to fuzzy to blowup or seriously crop).
--expand your DoF. Usually the way to deal with the first to is shoot with a narrow DoF and a wide-open aperture (thus the f2.8 200mm zoom that a lot of professionals have in their camera bag for shooting sports...unless they have a 300mm!). But in your case, if you can still keep the shutter speed, you want a wider DoF. That's b/c it's much more forgiving of focus. The standard rule that editors used to tell photojournalists was "f8 and be there." Galen Rowell replied "It's really f11).
Now if you can't do all 3 (high ISO, fast shutter speed and wide DoF) than sacrifice the DoF. Just realize that if players are moving or the shot is more than just one player, you're going to have a lot of out-of-focus shots.
4. Technique:
--pre-focus. A lot of sports photographers take this approach. Pick a spot where you expect something to happen and make sure you're focus is set for that spot.
--follow the player through your viewfinder. If you look at the game as a normal spectator and only pull up the camera when you see a shot, you'll be at least 2 seconds behind every shot. This also means you won't see most of the game and will be clueless about much of what is happening. But you'll nail some quick shots of the player or area you're focusing on.
--think manual. In low light indoors with a fast moving sport with a range of different bodies and focal points, AF with a kit lens is really problematic.
--don't stay in one spot and shoot everything there. Shoot some from the stands/bleachers. Get court side if you're allowed to do so. The ideal spot for basket ball is going to be at the end of the court (behind the basket) so the team with the ball is facing you. But provide some variety in the locations you shoot from. If your son isn't on the court continuously, you may want to take some shots on the opposite side of the court (i.e.: not from behind the bench) so he'll be facing the camera.

Tailgunner · Dec 26, 2013

Dao said:
For indoor basketball photos, a friend of mine had some good results with his 85mm f/1.8 lens (Canon system) for his daughter's basketball games. So based on what I saw, the 85mm focal length seems decent for basketball game (He was using a full frame 1Ds body with the 85mm lens) and the wide aperture allowed him to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the motion.

Searching "85mm basketball" in flickr yield some samples.

I use a 70-200mm 2.8 VRII (Nikon) to shoot our son's basketball games with and find that most of my shots are taken around 85mm with occasional 135mm shots. So I agree, a person could do pretty decent with an 85mm 1.8/1.4.