Some Basketball Shots

[phlanklin]

Hello forum, I'm a new user to this dSLR world and would like some feedback from other people (;
Please keep in mind that I am a 13 year old boy beginner..


IMG_1258 by Franklin Zheng, on Flickr


IMG_0191 by Franklin Zheng, on Flickr


IMG_0070 by Franklin Zheng, on Flickr

Well.. Here they are..


Feel free to check out all of my pictures: Flickr: Franklin Zheng's Photostream
Any tips on shooting would be awesome! Basketball season just ended and I would like to take some pictures of soccer, but I only have a 50mm prime. Any ideas?

Thanks.
-Franklin

 

[weepete]

Hi Frankin, welcome to the forums

I follow my local basketball team and am usually there with my camera so I've gained a bit of experience doing it and it is a bit of a technical challenge. I started off shooting with a 10D and a 50mm F1.8 so I am familiar with that setup and the challenges using it. I can see some shots where you have good timing and a lot of my initial shots looked like yours too. I think I have progressed a wee bit so am able to give some advice I think, though there are many on here that are far better than me.

First of all a lot of people on here wont follow links, so grab the bb code off flickr of 3 (or 5 at the most) of your best shots and post them here, that way you will be more likley to get feedback.

I notice some issues with your shots, what settings were you using? I normally use ss 1/800th sec (you may be able to get away with a slightly slower shutter speed but I'd suggest not below 1/250th sec), f4 or 5.6 (otherwise I run into DOF issues when so close to the action with a 50mm but if I'm further away I use a 70-300mm). Single or expanded AF-point and AI Servo, CWA metering mode with the camera in manual and auto ISO, high speed burst mode and I shoot jpegs to get the maximum framerate with all in camera processing off. I compose the image centrally and try to shoot wide and crop later in post. I also set a custom white balance.

What I'd say about composing these kind of photographs is conflict is interesting, I've noticed a marked improvement in my shots since I started trying to show the conflict between players on the court. I'd also say that you need to show the face of at least one player and ideally the ball needs to be in the shot too. Try and crop out anything unnessicary and include the whole of your player (yes, I still crop off a lot of feet too ) try and focus on the main player who is almost allways the guy with the ball.

I think there could be a nice wee series in here of the interaction between the small player and the big guy in the centre, but the basics of exposure, shutter speed and framing need to be right too.

Bear in mind as well that I might go to a game and fire off 700 odd frames and get 3 keepers if I am lucky. One of the guys around here that shoots some top class sports action is imagemaker46, I'd have a look at some of his shots.

in fact here is one of his threads with some cracking action shots, never mind the bs that goes with it.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photojournalism-sports-gallery/336344-beach-volleyball.html

 

[phlanklin]

Thanks weepete! I'll try to take those in mind as I take even more photographs and gain more experience. Man, I wish our gym has better lighting. I just hate how one side of it is dark and filled with florescent lights and the other side gets filled with sunlight. I've edited my post so that the bbcode in.

-Franklin

 

[vintagesnaps]

The nice thing is that the gym is well lit, the challenge is that as you said it's partly sunlight, partly indoor light. I've done mostly hockey but have done some Bball, you seem to be seeing and following the action.

Keep trying different vantage points as you've been doing and see where you get the best photos; you might need to adjust your metering when you face different directions (in mixed lighting sometimes I aim my camera slightly downward so the meter isn't reading the bright light in the background, then I reframe). I think yours look pretty good; you might want to jot down what you did so you remember later when you go thru your photos and see what worked and what didn't.

You might in general want to think about how you're framing your shots and bring your camera down a little, many of them have plenty of space above the heads and you want to keep feet in the picture (unless you're doing a photo like some of the candids that are faces/upper body). It will probably look best to have the photo framed to end (or crop as needed) just above the waist/hem of the jersey, or between the hips and knees, usually not at a joint.

It can make for distractions to have other players or part of the net etc. in the edge of your photos - shooting sports is a lot about the timing and it'll take lots of practice. At first I didn't see many verticals but saw some later (or earlier?) in your photostream - when you want to get the player with the ball and the basket think about a vertical shot because you don't necessarily need all the background of a horizontal for those.

Notice your backgrounds, for example when you face the stage with the large red mat you probably don't need that in your photo so when you're facing that way you might try framing shots so that end of the stage isn't in the frame. You seem to be keeping your camera straight most of the time which I think is important especially in sports where there are a lot of lines, posts, etc.

You might start trying for quality more than quantity and maybe go thru each games' photos and pick out what you think are your best and why. I think you're doing well - keep practicing and keep having fun w/it.

(Maybe it would help to have one of the Mods move this to Sports/Photojournalism if you want more feedback.)