Indoor Sports Photography Help!

SimplyCanon · Jan 27, 2011

I will be shooting pictures at a basketball game soon and I was curious if anyone had any tips. I have a dslr and an external flash. I have shot pictures at basketball games before, and I find I like the more "natural" look instead of using the flash. But of course I want to provide the best pictures. Any tips?

sierramister · Jan 27, 2011

Do you have anything other than the kit lens? Two observations: 1) On the cheap, a 50mm 1.8 can handle a poorly lit gym, where your kit lens cannot. 2) The external flash could become irritating very quickly if you're on the baseline, so play it safe (or get the fast lens and you won't need the flash).

Crank the ISO, lower the aperture, get that shutter speed to 1/500 or faster, and use noise reduction when editing to clean up the high-ISO photos.

Boomn4x4 · Jan 27, 2011

You are leaving out a lot of details.... Do you have court access? What lenses are you using? What kind of lighting is at the basketball court? Is it a gym, is it outdoors, does it have windows?

BKMOOD · Jan 28, 2011

I'm with Boomn4x4. More information is needed.

I've been shooting college basketball (smaller colleges) for about four years. Every gym is different. My lens selection is based on the location and how much court access I have. There are no black and white answers. When I do have court access, a 35mm and 50mm are two of my favorite lenses.

SimplyCanon · Jan 28, 2011

Sorry for the lack of info. It's a high school gym and I will be able to be on the court. I am not sure the lighting situation because I have not been there before. I assume it is pretty dark like most public high school gyms though. I'm using a Canon Rebel XSI and 55-250 mm lens. Or an 18-55mm lens.

KmH · Jan 29, 2011

With those lenses to get enough shutter speed to stop motion without using strobed light (flash) you will likely need to increase the ISO quite a bit, which will increase the amount of image noise in the photos.

Another consideration when using flash and manual mode is the flash duration substitutes for shutter speed and stops the motion. The flash has to sync on the second curtain to be effective.

Using strobed light also give the advantage that shutter speed, now relieved of the motion stopping function, can be used up to the flash x-sync speed to control the ambient lighting in the scene wile the lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure. :thumbup:

Use continuous focus, shutter priority, and dynamic area. Set a custom White Balance with a gray card.

Ryan L · Jan 29, 2011

I would really recommened not using flash as some one else pointed out it is very irritating to the players. Especially on the court floor. With the kit lenses, the only natural shots you are probably going to get are very blurry ones. Not because they are bad lenses, just not fast enough for an indoor gymnasium. The Xsi isnt the greatest with high Iso noise either, I would have to say to at least get a 50mm 1.8. I use my 50mm 1.4, but used the 1.8 with moderate sucess before. Set a manual white balance before you do anything in there. Hope you have a gym with lots of skylights!

KmH · Jan 29, 2011

That's odd!

The players I shoot using strobed light don't even notice it.

Ryan L · Jan 29, 2011

KmH said:
That's odd!

The players I shoot using strobed light don't even notice it.

I try to only shoot strobe when the opposing team is looking. You ever shoot a free throw with a big purple circle floating around the room. lol

Really though I dont think it's the players who dont like it! Its whoever is holding the event, or officials. They are the only ones who have ever asked me not to use flash.

table1349 · Jan 29, 2011

When shooting sport from the field or floor you should never use any form of strobes until you have checked with the officials, for that event and if allowed you understand how they are allowed. Being a "photographer" means nothing in the overall scheme of things. You are just a spectator with a camera and a good view of the action. The competition between the athletes is the important thing and a good sports photographer never intrudes into that competition.

GooniesNeverSayDie11 · Jan 29, 2011

One work around for using your kit lens, is to up the ISO, keep it as wide of an aperture as possible. Anticipate the players motions as best you can. When someone spots up for a shot, take your shot on the ball release. There will be less motion at the height of a jump for a layup, dunk, rebound, etc. You will still be extremely limited though and you will still only wind up with a few keepers probably. The best investment money wise would probably be the 50mm 1.8 someone recommended. I shot highschool volleyball with my 70-200 2.8 and even that required an ISO of 1600 wide open and I had to stay zoomed out to 70 ( and still felt a bit too close all the way at the back of the bleachers.) So 50mm should be a perfect focal length, and if you shoot it at f/2 ISO 800, you should do alright, or even 1600 for some extra speed. Just make sure your exposures are spot on.

sierramister · Jan 29, 2011

gryphonslair99 said:
When shooting sport from the field or floor you should never use any form of strobes until you have checked with the officials, for that event and if allowed you understand how they are allowed. Being a "photographer" means nothing in the overall scheme of things. You are just a spectator with a camera and a good view of the action. The competition between the athletes is the important thing and a good sports photographer never intrudes into that competition.

Sometimes you get an AD or ref on a bad day. It's easier to invest in a 50mm f1.8 to shoot than to go in to shoot thinking you're going to use flash and you can't.

table1349 · Jan 29, 2011

sierramister said:
gryphonslair99 said:

When shooting sport from the field or floor you should never use any form of strobes until you have checked with the officials, for that event and if allowed you understand how they are allowed. Being a "photographer" means nothing in the overall scheme of things. You are just a spectator with a camera and a good view of the action. The competition between the athletes is the important thing and a good sports photographer never intrudes into that competition.

Click to expand...

Sometimes you get an AD or ref on a bad day. It's easier to invest in a 50mm f1.8 to shoot than to go in to shoot thinking you're going to use flash and you can't.

Which is one of the reason I own no lens slower than f2.8, I get there early so I can speak to the officials when necessary and make sure we are all on the same page, long before the sporting event happens.

SimplyCanon · Jan 31, 2011

Wow! Thanks everyone for the info. I ended up using my kit lenses, putting the ISO at 1600 and lowering the shutter speed. I ended up getting some shots I can use, but I'm thankful I wasn't getting paid to capture the event! =)