docphoto Loc: Illinois

Greetings fellow Sports Photographers...as the basketball season continues in the high schools I thought I would share my personal experiences shooting high school basketball. Shooting in a high school OR junior high school gym is very challenging for multiple reasons (1) very poor lighting, (2) difficulty in shooting angles (3)using high ISO 2500-3200 or higher. This as opposed to shooting a professional basketball game, as in my previous post, where the arena is professionally lit for TV cameras.
As far as equipment, I would use a camera body that can shoot at least 5-8 frames/second, ISO at least 2500-3200; The best lens for under the basket is a 35mm 1.4 and a 85mm 1.4. or a fast zoom 24-70 2.8 ( all my lens are NIKON but Canon has the equivalent) For down the court, if you are in a stationary position a fast 200mm or 300mm. If you have the ability to move around, you can get some great shots using a telephoto from on top of the bleachers, looking down on the players as they do "lay ups." As you can see in these high school shots it's very hard not to have a distracting background.( always sit on the floor in the corner as opposed to sitting in the stands if you can get permission) As professional photographers will tell you, "never show empty stands" and always try not to have a distracting background. This very hard in junior/high school gyms....but you can still get some great shots that the parents will love..lol. Please share your thoughts and your experience shooting basketball. Also, you shouldn't use direct flash when shooting basketball.For the shots in this series,(1) NIKON D4s 35mm 1.4 @1/400 sec at 2.2mm ISO 3200; (2)NIKON D4s, 35mm 1.4 shot at 1/250 sec, ISO 3200 (3 & 4 )D4s 35mm 1.4 shot at 1/500 sec 2.0mm ISO 3200; (5 & 6 ) D4s 35mm 1.4 @ 1/500 sec, ISO 3200

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AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

These are great. I think the lighting has tweaked your colours just a bit, but the images are great. I love the intensity of HS ball. The kids play with all their hearts.

whitewolfowner

You should never use flash unless you want to affect the score and outcome of the game. Flash blinds the players and they can't see. Yes, it is much harder to shoot high school sports than professional sports; the lack of lighting can drive you crazy. Try doing it with a Nikon D80 (where 1600 ISO is grainy as all get out and an f2.8 or F4.0 lens. Did it for years and was constantly published after hours of post processing.

docphoto Loc: Illinois

Thanks...actually the lighting was readjusted in Lightroom. I think when I downloaded them to UHH the color changed.
That has happened before when I have sent pictures to UHH. Has that ever happened to you when you download photos to UHH ??

docphoto Loc: Illinois

AMEN to that !!... Shooting in gyms with that awful fluorescent or tungsten light is terrible. Also if you shoot high school football games at night, the stadiums are not well lit so you have to use a fast lens as well as a higher ISO. It's still not as bad as a gym light..
What I have done in the past ( with film ) but not in a few years is to use two 2000 w/sec NORMAN Power Pack. Place one in each corner with a remote on the camera with both flashes pointing up at the ceiling at one end of the court triggered by the remote.
When I did this I could shoot at 1/250-1/500 sec @ 2.8-5.6 with an ISO about 400-800. It takes a while to set up but the results are professional quality with an even spread of light. The downside is that is only good on one side of the court and is not good for
down court. Plus when I did this i was still using Fujichrome 400 with excellent results for the small colleges I was hired to shoot for. With the advent of digital cameras and quality software the grain/noise is drastically reduced even shooting at ISO 3200.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

When I shoot HS Basketball I do a couple of things. The first thing is to get a custom white balance which I usually do with an ExpoDisk. The second thing I do is shoot wide open. I may use a variety of lenses but I try to avoid zooms as I tend to spend too much time zooming. Almost all of my lens selections are f2.8 or faster, including a 50/1.4 and an 85/1.4. For longer shots, I much prefer my 180/2.8D as it is sharp as they come and very light to boot. Sure, I've used my 70-200/2.8 but I try to avoid it because it is a zoom. On a crop camera, I use my 20/2.8D as well. All my gear is Nikon, but Canon makes similar gear. Another trick, if the time is available, I try to walk the court and measure the light level with a Sekonic meter. This has helped me stay out of trouble, upon occasion. Finally, this year I will have the anti-flicker systems in both my D5 and D500 and I do plan to see how well they work. Best of luck.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

Why shoot in color? B/W can really bring drama to a sport. Noise often enhances the photo.

whitewolfowner

B & W is great; it's all I ever shot back in the newspaper days with film. The 135mm telephoto on the minolta SRT 101 and the Konika Auto S2 with it's fast normal lens. Outshot the big guns from the big city newspapers with their motor drives on the 2 1/4 cameras.

dickwilber Loc: Indiana (currently)

When I began professionally shooting basketball (primarily high school) two decades back, it was ISO 400 B&W film (mostly HP5) and flash was the only way you got the shot. Fifteen years ago, I started experimenting with digital, and when I bought a D100, that became my tool of choice. With my 70 - 200 mm lens, I had an efficient system, but, high ISOs were not very usable and flash was still de rigueur! It wasn't until 2007 that I had a gym where the light (and my camera) were good enough to photograph sans flash, and that was just one out of many.

With my 70 - 200, I took to shooting primarily from the corners of the gym. I liked the zoom and was able to get good action around the periphery and near the rim. I experimented with dual flash, one on a light stand, and fill flash on camera, which worked well enough, but I had to be in the right gym for the light stand, etc., to not be a hazard. Today's cameras with high ISO capability happily make flash obsolete, but having retired before that became the norm, I didn't experience many problems from light flicker.

whitewolfowner

If you were shooting anywhere's in my area, the coaches and ref's would have had you thrown out of the gym. Flash is extremely rude to use; it blinds the athlete's and out right pisses people in the crowds off. I started shooting high school and college sports back in the 70's, used HP5 (pushed it as high as it would go; around 10,000 ASA), never used flash and always got the shot.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Back in my film days I used to shoot college basketball for a local paper. They had pre-installed four rather powerful flash units in the ceiling accessible by catwalk which were fired by a radio remote. By the time a game was over the entire crowd had a tan as I swear you could feel the heat from those things. As digitals got better, things like that went away, to the point that today flash is neither appreciated, necessary or allowed at many venues. If used poorly, from the floor, it will and does interfere with the players and can interfere with the outcome of the event. For that reason, it is rare that a venue allows flash at a sporting event today and many never have. Gymnastics is one sport that I've shot where I never was able to use flash and the pictures used to suffer. Today's light are getting much better but there are those venues with a mix of bad to terrible lighting. With the D5, as well as a couple prior versions, I no longer fear any of this. It's been a real pleasure and marvel to see digital get as good as it is today. Just when you think "what will they come up with next?" they do! On the other hand, keeping up with technology can be an expensive endeavor indeed. But I must admit it is fun! Best of luck to all. Basketball season starts for me this week and I can't wait to try out the D5/D500 combination to conquer it!

whitewolfowner

Even from the ceiling they disturb and affect the game. It was local politics that allowed that. Bottom line, flash was not needed; I never used it and not only got the shots but won multiple national awards for the paper I worked for.

dickwilber Loc: Indiana (currently)

In the region I was shooting in, Northern half of New Jersey, far eastern Pennsylvania, and the area around and immediately north of New York City, in the mid-nineties through 2007, flash was used and accepted for high school basketball. (I shot very little college BB, so won't comment there.) I witnessed any number of other shooters for newspapers, et al, all using flash. About the time I left the industry, a few were beginning to use the gym available light, but most venues were not well enough lit.

As my equipment and technique got better, I learned to use my 70 - 200 and shoot mostly from the corners of the gym, which reduced the impact of the flash on the players. (And, I saw an improvement in the resultant images, still able to shoot close-ups on the action at the net, albeit from a different angle.) Also, shooting wide open at f/2.8 helps lower the flash power, which reduces the affect on the players.

Of the indoor sports, only basketball, swimming, cheer leading, and wrestling were shot during competition with flash. And with both basketball and wrestling, I made the effort to work from the corners and use off camera flash which helped mitigate the affect on the competitors. Most of the action for the remaining indoor sports (diving, gymnastics, fencing, volleyball, etc.) was shot with flash during warm-ups, so as to not affect the athletes during competition! (Shooting volleyball sets and spikes during warm-ups from the umpires tower gives spectacular results! And you can get an angle on the fencer unobtainable during competition.)

Throughout my photographic life, I never used an ASA/ISO designation above 1600, and hated that due to the awful results! I cannot conceive of turning over photos from HP5 shot at a reference speed of 10,000 for publication, so more power to you, Whitewolfowner.

whitewolfowner

Newspaper is one of, if not the worst media for reproducing photography and much defects in film where hidden. I never had a problem and neither did my publisher or editors. Like I said, I won national awards for my work. Perhaps you should switch places with the athletes and let someone blow a flash in your face as you are taking a shot at the basket and then you are supposed to instantly turn around and run down the court to take a defensive position. I believe one experience on the other end of the situation would give you a rude awakening of reality. Many communities have addressed the blowing of flashes in athletes faces and banned it for the exact reasons I have sited. Some just could care less.

dickwilber Loc: Indiana (currently)

As I was shooting for publication but not newspapers, quality was of concern. But, as noted above, I did consider the athletes as best I could. I started shooting from under the basket, but moved to the corners in large measure to ameliorate my impact on play.

Your responses tend to indicate an anger towards those who followed any path but yours. There is no need for you to be angry. I tried to work with the coaches, refs, and, most of all the athletes that I photographed. I was available for their input but all I was ever asked is how they could get pictures. I never had any negative feedback. And I really made an effort not to have any affect on play!