Shooting in a Gym

[onesix]

Here is the situation. I have a shoot coming up at my kids school. Most of the school has overhead fluorescent lighting. I know this will cause a yellow tent to my pictures. How do I compensate for that? I'm guessing I change my settings to fluorescent lighting and it will be all good?

I'm new photography but ever newer to indoor shooting and want to make sure I do it right.

 

[Dao]

One recommendation will be shooting in raw format. In that case, you do not need to worry about the white balance setting that much at the gym.

 

[wes]

One thing you can do is shoot a picture with your lens cap on and set that as a custom white balance. The shoot in RAW. The picture on the LCD will look green but when you process the shots in your RAW processer set the WB you want.

Most gym lights these days are halagon and will cycle on and off so be careful.

 

[onesix]

I have noticed that some places will turn the lights off and just use the model lights. That will cut down on the problems you might have with the lights, right?

I will shoot in RAW but would't be ideal to try and work around it insted of relying on post processing to fix it?

 

[Sodak]

I will shoot in RAW but would't be ideal to try and work around it insted of relying on post processing to fix it?

Sure, it's always going to be best if you can nail it. The thing is though, white balance is one of the easiest things to fix on the computer. When shooting in the gym your going to have a lot bigger problems deciding what ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. In other words, how much light you can get is a lot bigger issue than what color of light.

 

[Dao]

I will shoot in RAW but would't be ideal to try and work around it insted of relying on post processing to fix it?

I do not believe it is fixing it. It is let you decide later without altering the original RAW image data vs JPG is kind of like let the camera do the post processing once and if that is not what you like, you use software to fix it to the way you want.

In other words, it is like no matter what, you need to apply the white balance setting to the photos once. Either apply it at the time you take the photo or apply it later.

 

[JerryPH]

I will shoot in RAW but would't be ideal to try and work around it insted of relying on post processing to fix it?

Not really and let me explain why. Chances are very high that you will be adjusting it in post anyways. The colour consistency of the WB varies in 99% of the places as you go from one end of the floor to the other.

Age, manufacturer, and loose manufacturing tolerances of these lights all help in creating as much as 750-800 k differences in different areas. Yeah, you can come a little closer, but you will have to correct for it in post anyways. A 500k difference or a 2500k difference both take me about the same amount of time to fix.

I just shoot in auto WB and adjust in post.

A bigger issue will be exposure settings in the sense of high ISO and shutter speeds needed vs grain. Flashes at most venues are forbidden or useless (too far away), and not everyone shoots a D700 or D3... lol

 

[In2daBlue]

Actually, I think most school gym deal type of events with kids allow flash photography. Just strobe it. You have an SB 800 which can be used from across the gym effectively.

 

[Jaszek]

One thing you can do is shoot a picture with your lens cap on....

What? Since when can you set custom white balance with the cap on? Last time I checked the images are completely black when shooting with a lens cap on.
Also Just like everyone mentioned, I suggest shooting in RAW, this way it is much easier to change the white balance in post processing if your camera didn't set it properly.

 

[Seefutlung]

Assuming this is a sporting event, don't shoot sports with a flash. Many refs/coachs would allow it because the flash may interfere with the play.

Typically, if it is a basketball game, you won't be moving around much, you'll shoot the offensive end (switching sides at half). So use a white card take a photo of the card before the game starts at both ends of the court. I seriously doubt in a small arena as a HS gym that there will be much if any variation in color temp.

Then in RAW set your white balance on the card. I've shot in many gyms and usually I just set auto balance and make slight changes in processing.

As a previous poster stated ...light will be more of an issue than color balance. Make sure you're taking at least a 2.8 or better.

Gary

 

[In2daBlue]

Assuming this is a sporting event, don't shoot sports with a flash. Many refs/coachs would allow it because the flash may interfere with the play.

Typically, if it is a basketball game, you won't be moving around much, you'll shoot the offensive end (switching sides at half). So use a white card take a photo of the card before the game starts at both ends of the court. I seriously doubt in a small arena as a HS gym that there will be much if any variation in color temp.

Then in RAW set your white balance on the card. I've shot in many gyms and usually I just set auto balance and make slight changes in processing.

As a previous poster stated ...light will be more of an issue than color balance. Make sure you're taking at least a 2.8 or netter.

Gary

Hmmm. I disagree. I have shot so many high school and college basketball games it would make your head spin and I routinely used a strobe. Top of camera was never really a problem, but in the cases where the refs/coaches got mad, I just clamped a strobe on a rafter and used a PW. Problem solved.

The original poster seems to have deep pockets to purchase camera gear (as determined by his gear listing) and probably can pop for a PW set up if he doesn't already have it.

But, yeah, when all else fails shoot RAW and take care of problems in post.

 

[Seefutlung]

Hmmm. I disagree. I have shot so many high school and college basketball games it would make your head spin and I routinely used a strobe. Top of camera was never really a problem, but in the cases where the refs/coaches got mad, I just clamped a strobe on a rafter and used a PW. Problem solved.

The original poster seems to have deep pockets to purchase camera gear (as determined by his gear listing) and probably can pop for a PW set up if he doesn't already have it.

But, yeah, when all else fails shoot RAW and take care of problems in post.

I should have been more specific with "camera mounted flash". As a former news photog, we would never use a camera mounted flash, because of the possibility of affecting the play ... no matter how remote the possibility ... the potential is very real. And I seriously doubt that you could make my head spin. And for additional clarity, while I have seen smaller papers and non-news photogs shoot sports with flashes, as a general rule, major news organization do not shoot sports with camera mounted strobes becasue they are to report news not make news. (The electronic news media notwithstanding ... lol)

Gary
Gary

 

[moodi_94]

sure you thats what I would do i'll chane it to fluorescent lighting.

 

[Guido44]

Onesix,

I'm wondering what lens your planning on using?

I've had trouble(some blur) with my D300 and the 18-55 lens indoors. Too small an apurture to get a fast shutter speed.

What lens would you all recommend? I know the Nikon 70-200 2.8would be awesome, but I think it's around $1,900. Yikes!

dan

 

[onesix]

Thanks guys for all the help. I ended up using my 85mm with my D700.

The shots I was taking were a father/Daughter dance. The overhead gyms light were giving all sorts of trouble. I ended up fixing it is PP but it was over 300 pictures I had to fix. I still have not caught onto the "batch" fix but I will look up that easier unless there is someone that can break it down for me.