Basketball Shots - First Time: Yesterday I shot my son's basketball team. It was the first time I shot in a gym. I must say the lighting conditions present a challenge. I used custom...

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

Yesterday I shot my son's basketball team. It was the first time I shot in a gym. I must say the lighting conditions present a challenge. I used custom white balance; although the auto white balance was pretty close to the custom. I shot these in shutter priority at 1/500. I set the ISO to auto; the camera selected 3200. I switched between my 70-200 2.8 and my 50mm 1.8.

Attached are a few of the pictures.

2.8 88mm 70-200
2.8 88mm 70-200...

2.0 50mm 50mm
2.0 50mm 50mm...

2.8 88mm 70-200

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Excellent! You did good!

CaptJimmy Loc: VA

What a difference that 50 makes.

briace Loc: liverpool uk

Fran wrote:

Yesterday I shot my son's basketball team. It was the first time I shot in a gym. I must say the lighting conditions present a challenge. I used custom white balance; although the auto white balance was pretty close to the custom. I shot these in shutter priority at 1/500. I set the ISO to auto; the camera selected 3200. I switched between my 70-200 2.8 and my 50mm 1.8.

Attached are a few of the pictures.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

Thanks all. The 50 made a big difference! Makes me wish I had a 1.8 85mm! Santa can you hear me??? :)

WildBill Loc: South West Florida

Fran wrote:

Thanks all. The 50 made a big difference! Makes me wish I had a 1.8 85mm! Santa can you hear me??? :)

I was going to say the same. 50mm made a big difference. I use the 85mm f1.8 and love it for basketball and volleyball. Does not do too shabby photographing the HS orchestra either. Hope Santa is nice to you. :)
Good shots.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Fran, your pictures look good. I would try dropping your shutter to maybe 320 or so- you will still be fast enough and you would brighten the 2.8 shots without changing anything else. As for the white balance, it looks good. The gym is better and more uniformly lit than most- lucky you!

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

WildBill wrote:

Fran wrote:

Thanks all. The 50 made a big difference! Makes me wish I had a 1.8 85mm! Santa can you hear me??? :)

I was going to say the same. 50mm made a big difference. I use the 85mm f1.8 and love it for basketball and volleyball. Does not do too shabby photographing the HS orchestra either. Hope Santa is nice to you. :)
Good shots.

I might have to add the 85mm to my collection. It's on sale now at b&h. Merry Christmas to me??? Lol. Merry Christmas Wild Bill!!!

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

Db7423 wrote:

Fran, your pictures look good. I would try dropping your shutter to maybe 320 or so- you will still be fast enough and you would brighten the 2.8 shots without changing anything else. As for the white balance, it looks good. The gym is better and more uniformly lit than most- lucky you!

Thanks for your comment and the tip. I'll definitely reduce the shutter speed. I'm afraid I'll get too much blur from movement; but what the heck! it's all about experimenting. I was pleased with the white balance. I've seen some gym shots that were really off. Stay tuned for next week when I post the pics at 320ish.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Fran, you will be fine at 320. I use that speed and it is fast enough for basketball. I also use a 70-200 (Nikor) on a D600. I generally sit in the bleachers and use a monopod extended enough so I can look through the viewfinder as I would if standing. You can leave VR on.
Looking forward to seeing your post next week.

hj Loc: Florida

Fran wrote:

Yesterday I shot my son's basketball team. It was the first time I shot in a gym. I must say the lighting conditions present a challenge. I used custom white balance; although the auto white balance was pretty close to the custom. I shot these in shutter priority at 1/500. I set the ISO to auto; the camera selected 3200. I switched between my 70-200 2.8 and my 50mm 1.8.

Attached are a few of the pictures.

Good shots. May be subjective to the individual, but in post processing, I would want to boost the exposure to brighten the pics.

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

hj wrote:

Good shots. May be subjective to the individual, but in post processing, I would want to boost the exposure to brighten the pics.

I agree that they could be brighter. Especially those shot with the 70-200. I processed these in Picasa and made adjustments to either fill light,contrast and brightness depending on the image. I'll try a few in Elements; I suspect it wii do a better job with the exposure. Thanks.

Fran Loc: Northeast, United States

hj wrote:

[

Attached are a few of the pictures.[/quote]

Good shots. May be subjective to the individual, but in post processing, I would want to boost the exposure to brighten the pics.

I processed two of the images in Elements and took your advice to brighten them. I also made some additional tweaks. What a difference! Here they are.

hj Loc: Florida

Fran wrote:

hj wrote:

[

Attached are a few of the pictures.[/quote]

Good shots. May be subjective to the individual, but in post processing, I would want to boost the exposure to brighten the pics.

I processed two of the images in Elements and took your advice to brighten them. I also made some additional tweaks. What a difference! Here they are.

What a tremendous difference! Great job!

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Fran wrote:

hj wrote:

[

Attached are a few of the pictures.[/quote]

Good shots. May be subjective to the individual, but in post processing, I would want to boost the exposure to brighten the pics.

I processed two of the images in Elements and took your advice to brighten them. I also made some additional tweaks. What a difference! Here they are.

Looking good Fran.