Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I sit on the bleachers to the right of the net. Then I will move to the back line to shoot the serve.

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Jules, nice work, you and many others were an inspiration for me joining Maxpreps earlier this year (I'm just a rookie with a few galleries (15 at the moment) and still posting now since the Fall season is here ~ I'm a Canon shooter btw). And yes, Jim R (Maxpreps) makes you really think about what how to take sports photos and what equipment (typically the reach of the lens) to use for certain situations Jim will always mention 'Fill-Frame' and 'Little Cropping'. Well you actually have to crop when you take a landscape photo of a vertical player, which means, at times you lose nearly 2/3rds of the image (plus the 3 x 2.216 aspect ratio), so yes I crop still.
As for volleyball, never shot the sport, crazy fast. First few VB games I shot everything (with okay results, of course Jim had his pointers which speed up my learning curve on do's and don't s, sometimes I'm still figuring out the don't s). Most comments I read is to keep your camera in a zone and follow the action for 5 points or so then move on, same goes for positioning. I find myself sometimes up in the stands on the side of the parents (net level) either middle, or either end line. I also move to the other side of the court (typically the score desk side) and go into the stands (same as the other side). Most of shots are sitting down by the score keepers desk (either side, change every 5-10 accumulative points between the 2 teams to keep the images even between schools).
Now to white balance, indoor I use custom white balance. I actually unfold my exposure grey disk (white/grey/black ~ this really makes you look at your histogram when you're toying with portrait exposures) and lay it flat and take pictures of it. I'll dial in the image into custom white balance, set my camera to custom white balance and see how the results are. The other photos were submitted, just a few of them, to Maxpreps and all of them accepted (I always sweat bullets during my submissions).
As I said earlier, Canon is my gear. 1st body is a 1dxMK2 with 300mm f2.8 mk1 (bleach shots, end of court shots, and a few of those service shots by the score keeper). 2nd body is R6 with 70-200mm f2.8 mk3 and used exclusively for the shots by the score keeper (I try to be zoomed in at the max 200mm if possible which makes it crazy difficult to shoot the sport but really separates the athlete from the background). Both bodies where typically 6400 ISO, 1/1000 - 1/1250 (had more keepers with 1/1250), f2.8, and single point AF (I'm still trying out different AF point selections because of the nature of the sport).

All feedback is welcomes, I think Jim R has already knocked me done to reality a bit :)
Rick

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Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Rick:

Welcome to Maxpreps. Yes Jim has a way about him that makes all of us to get better. We may not not like what he says, but the funny thing is he is always right.
These shots are great. Sharp, wonderful white balance. Good stuff. Post more. Where can I see your galleries on Mp. like your state and full name?
Tonight I will shoot varsity football, thankfully it starts at 6 instead of 7 1 hour more light. The school has new led lights so I can shoot at 1/1250 at 2.8 with a 300 2.8 and 2nd camera 70-200 2.8.
Again welcome to Mp you have accomplished a great feat. Everyone does not make it.

tom kf4wol

Hi Tom,

I like Your photos, great action, and they look very good.

Don't beat Yourself up, one thing you have the same Gym background as Our local High School those darn Yellowish or orange bleachers in my opinion screw up white balance, background, contrast.

Volley Ball is so fast, tough to capture. At age 81 plus I am just not capable to get the in close shots. Thus I shoot wide to give some lee way.

My old faithful Nikon D3s is off to the KEH Repair Camera Hospital (no not a case of Covid. ha) Darn Battery compartment latch I cannot remove the Battery. Gonna have them fix it, clean the sensor, and give me an estimate to replace the shutter. If it does not bankrupt the wallet will have shutter replaced while there. I have given some thought to upgrade, but love the D3s plus the time I have left being able to wobble out hardly justifies two or three grand for a new Camera.

Have a great day, Be well, Be Blessed.

Tom

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Jules,

Thanks for your comments. Yes I can be found within the Texas photographers 'Berns, Rick [15 galleries]'. I've been shooting soccer for years (not for Maxpreps), very loose I might add, for 2 local high schools (they hired me from my work I did when my son played back in early 2010's), which are my 1st two Maxpreps submissions early in the year. Maxpreps is a different paradigm, which I actually enjoy now. So now, with Maxpreps, I'm learning all these other sports, I never shot football before so you'll see my entries into Maxpreps for my 1st 3 football galleries, nor I shot volleyball, and that was buzz kill for me at the crazy speed shooting in a confined space. I'm still in the acquisition mode of seeing best camera AF settings (Canon) to use in various scenarios. The R6 allows me to configure 3 different back-button focus setups where the standard back-button focus that everyone uses, I set for eye detection, the others I set for either single point (which you really need for the thru the net shots in volleyball) or a group (5-point or 9-point which I control with RF-EF adapter control ring mounted on the R6). Tonight (football game) I will try the 3rd back-button focus where I can switch to the grouping from the single point or eye-detection. My photo keeper count may improve when I get more subject matter in the frame (sounds like Jim right) and I can switch to the 3rd back-button focus button (the AF group). My 400mm f2.8 v2 (non-IS) is an older generation (similar to my 300mm f2.8 v1) lens and sometimes I don't think its as snappy as I would like to capture those players moving at you or across your field of vision, my eyes adjust automatically but my darn camera and camera holding ability is not there yet on those shots, getting better. BTW, I use jpeg only and everything you mentioned about in-camera noise reduction came from Jim and Zamani Feelings. The internet has been a wonderful source.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

lol you sound like Jim jr. lol Good luck tonight have fun and stay in front of the play. What lens will you use?

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I just looked at your galleries. You are very good.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Beautiful action shots ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Jules,
Thanks! Like 30 yds in front of the play right? unless at the 20yd line! Or in the back field when the team is coming out of their end before the 50 and maybe want to pick up some back-field stuff like QB and Running-back action, QB sacks and so on..

How do you work it?

Lens I'll be using tonight will be the 400mm f2.8 on my mirror-less body (R6) and the 70-200mm f2.8 on my 1dxmk2.

What is your typical gear set for your football game tonight?

Should be a fun night.

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Thank so much Jules for your comment, this comes with high honor from you, and you have quantum leap above me in galleries too, probably the reason why I joined MP was from all of your Ugly Hedgehog posts with the MP logos.

You never hear of the positive things from the galleries us photographers post from Sir Jim, but that would be an impossible endeavor which I wouldn't want to do, just really need to be a hard-ass to keep the soldiers in line and providing the best marketable content to the MP brand. I guess picture sales is the tattle-tale sign here (I know its spec sales but it sure makes us better as sports photog's under the MP brand)!

Hey question, how do you market your stuff back to the teams? Stick something on their twitter feed pointing to your gallery of that particular game, contact both coaches with gallery info (I've done this only for the first game, the 2nd game, they see me there, why bother). Just need some expert advice, because these images do sale especially when MP periodically indicates sales are thru the roof.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Well I will be shooting at the same school where they have installed new turf and new lcd lights. That allows me to shoot at 1/1250 at 2.8 auto white balance auto iso which usually lands around 7200. I will be using Nikon D500 with 300 2.8 (can't afford a 400 2.8 & my wife would have a stroke) and D4 with 70-200 2.8 as my second shooter.
Maybe in post throw in a dash of Topaz Denoise Ai and mix it all up and come up with a nice gallery for Jim our master. Have fun yourself.

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joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Beautifully caught duo of action
🎯💎💎💎🎯

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Thanks a lot

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Thanks for your feedback. Learning the ropes from this group and others, such a great resource!

rickberns Loc: Conroe, Texas

Nicely done Jules on your 2 images. I don't use Topaz at all. My luminance noise reduction in lightroom seems to do fairly well and I have a good number night time photos speckled here and there in my current galleries. I may exercise Topaz Denoise here soon for a road test.
Yeah I bought my 300mm off of ebay and 2 years later bought the 400mm from ebay at nearly the same price. These older lens are great work horses and hopefully will last (no longer serviceable by Canon, but a lot of Canon shops out there that might handle the repairs for $$).