Jimbo9948 Loc: Zephyrhills, Florida

Recently I received a last minuet request from a local Weekly Newspaper to shoot a high school basketball game. I had never been to the gym, had no idea of what the lighting conditions were nor if a flash was permissible. Upon arriving for the game I asked the school if flash photograpy was permitted. The answer was unfortunatly NO. Upon entering the Gym I first looked up to the ceiling to check the light sources. The thought that came to my mind was "WHAT THE @$*&%$^# IS THAT!!!. Literally every light on the celing was a different color. There were yellows, greens, reds and blues. I quickly got out my D-7000 and started taking test shots during the JV Game. The lense I decided on was a AF-S NIKKOR 55-300mm f4.5-5.6G ED with VRII. Shooting in RAW and JPG knowing a decent white ballance was almost unatainable (tried auto white ballance) every shot had to be corrected in post processing. A shot to right court produced a Green tone. A shot to mid Court produced a red/orange tone and a shot to left court was on the yellowish side. My question here is, has anybody ever come acrossed this situation, and what could be done to make this task a little easier? Here are some processed shots from left, center and right. The next time at this venue I will save the originals to show the comparisons.

Left court


center court


right court

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

High and middle school gyms are all terrible. I did a game Saturday afternoon with lighting similar to what you described. In addition a door to the outside was open at one end of the court and sunlight was spilling across the polished gym floor. I shoot RAW and batch process for white balance in groups according to where on the court they were taken. Hope this helps.

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

You think that's bad...oh man....High School gym wrestling tournament.....on black mattes...omg what a nightmare.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Bret, been there - done that. Two of my grandsons wrestled for several years it is a nightmare compounded by the horrible poorly lit gyms and understandably no flash rules. You have to wonder why it seems all gyms are so poorly lit- you would think there would be specifications for gym lighting- not for photographers but for players/participants I could understand the bleachers area being dim but the playing area- the poor participants are in danger of going blind! :)

gfinlayson

There's no a lot you can do about a situation like that. The very varied colour temperatures are usually due to ageing of the fluorescent tubes, and often a mixture of different types of tubes. The colour temperature often varies over the 60Hz cycle as well, so any shutter speeds faster than 1/60 make it noticeable in the images.

Adjusting colour balance frame by frame is really the only way to get good results. In some respects you were lucky, as the white team uniform makes it easier to pick a custom WB setting ;-)

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Jimbo-yours look prety good considering the circumstances. Makes me glad the paper where I worked in the'70s only ran color on the front & back page of each section. I used Tri-X in Diafine. No color to correct if you're shooting black & white!

mxshooter60 Loc: Spalding, UK

Have you considered a custom WB? I generally do one for indoor work by either using a Gray or White card for the first shots but lately, because i've been shooting Equine indoors and outdoor I use a custom setting of 4200Kelvin....and have left it set as such even for every day shooting...

Incidentally, shooting Equine in an indoor Arena brings it's own problems with light. The one I've been shooting in recently has white 'let some light in' panels on the high roof, but not an over abundance unfortunately. It also has an excuse for lights but they are next to useless. The left hand side of the Arena is where the natural light comes in, and has a canopy extending some twenty foot outwards but that only stands at half the height of the ceiling but is a nightmare at this time of year while the sun is low.....as the Sun moves round it creates shaded areas that extend right accors the width of the Arena.....I have decided I don't like indoor Equine events...but money pays the bills LOL

There seem to be many different ways of resolving WB challenges, i hope you find one that works for you :O)

Martin

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

in spite of the crappy lighting..I think your shots are very good.

what ISO were you shooting at? that is a pretty slow lens you were using. with bad lighting and freezing action like you did....you did great.

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

This is about the best I could come up with at the time...way too slow on the shutter speed.

#1


#2

ole sarg Loc: south florida

If you notice most sports shots are in B&W. There is a reason.

Jaime Loc: Los Angeles

First of all, the shots are wonderful. You couldn't tell you wrestled with white balance at all. Secondly, when in that situation again, either take a gray card with you and take a shot of it, then use it to post process your color temp (probably the most accurate) or, and this is what I do in challenging situations, put the camera in live view mode and then, while looking at the back screen, scroll through your white balance settings until you see one that meets, or is close to, what you want to achieve. Set it there. Best to do both... Live white balance first, get it close, then gray card photo for post processing.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

They build the gyms for sports...not for sports photographers. I live with this all the time. I shoot with a Canon 5D mkII and fast L lenses...have come to shoot most basketball with the 135 f2 L prime. Your lens needs to be fast on two levels, the max aperture and weight and bulk. I often use a grey card..if it is as fubared as you suggest. I would either before or after the game, start at one end of the gym and walk down the floor making photos of your grey card or color checker every 20 feet or so...that should absolutely nail the color anywhere you shoot. I also highly recommend Phase One software...it will make your life much better........

Cappy Loc: Wildwood, NJ

I guess I'm lucky. For the local papers I shoot basketball games, wrestling, gymnastics, cheerleading, dog shows, etc. at the NJ Wildwood convention center. Consistant lighting.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

I routinely shoot in that type of arena and small town high shool basketball gyms (caves). The difference is literally...day and night!!!

Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

For the equipment you have, your photos are fine. Your variable aperture lens is slow for what you are trying to shoot. It wouldn't be a problem in a brightly lite gym but you don't have that option. I shoot in raw and do a custom white balance with 2.8 or better lens at a fairly high iso. With the VR, try to choose slower moving action. The VR is designed for camera shake not for action movement. Shots at the free-throw line will work. Try to use the shorter focal lengths, the 55 to 100mm so you can use slower shutters.

All equipment has limits. We just have to learn too work around it and take interesting photos.

The pictures you have here are fine for newspaper publication. They really are good.