Rookie 235

Shooting indoor volleyball for the first time, any tips or thoughts I should know, thanks

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I find a Monopod helpful in rotating the camera across the net. Shutter speed of 1/500 to freeze the ball

jacklewis014

You really have to anticipate the action to get the "money" shots. VB moves very fast and focus is challenging. When I am on the floor level, I shoot from the side or at a 45 degree angle to get players faces. from the floor it is hard to get the players faces above the net. For those shots I move up into the stands. If you have the ability to shoot from an elevated location at the end of the court you ca get some really nice face shots when the players serve and spike the ball. One problem is working around the Refs. If you shoot on the floor around midcourt, you will have to work around them. To capture the emotion of the sport, be prepared to shoot the players after the point is won. Facial expressions and celebrations are spontaneous and a huge part of the game. My go-to lens is they 70-200 mm. It's a fun sport to shoot, try to avoid too many shots of players facing away from your camera. Good Luck!

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Would help if we knew what you have in your kit to shoot with first. Then we can give better tips.

ratjones

For Volleyball - the first thing to keep in mind is that you can't use flash...(action too fast - and officials/players/coaches will never allow it). You must use very high ISO to insure a high enough shutter speed (around 1/600th of a sec to freeze ball and player motion and sufficient f/stop for depth of field) by high ISO I mean well over 8,000 ISO depending on lighting in the play area. If shooting mirrorless (I use a Nilon Z6) you can safely (no appreciable digital noise) go up past 16,000 ISO for dark gyms... For DSLR cameras - better to stay below 12,000 ISO (for cameras like the Nikon D4s/5) To shoot blocking/spiking action focus on players legs below the net...If focus is through the net - good luck on getting anything sharply focused... For serving action - stand to one side of mid court - also for closeups of ind players receiving/bumping/setting stand on the side closest to team you are following... for blocking/spiking shots stand at the opposite corner of team you are following to capture their spikes or their blocking... Action is too fast to use a monopod - hand held is better...

gleneric Loc: Calgary, Alberta

Positioning, ISO settings, shutter speeds and all that stuff aside, I thought I would mention white balance. I shot a lot of different sports in gyms when my sons were in high school and in those days (15-20 years ago) most gyms had nasty lighting that your Auto setting for white balance would never know what to do with. Not sure if they have gotten any better.

Once I figured out how to set a custom white balance I was good to go... my preference is using an ExpoDisc. I would make sure I was at the gym ahead of the game so I could have everything set and ready to go before the action started.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

In general, you could use Manual mode, the lighting doesn’t change. Pre-meter on skin tone, use high ISO to get 1/500 or faster, wide open aperture, use follow focus if you have it, shoot in burst mode. And try to catch facial expressions.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

If you anticipate the action, which comes with knowing the sport and experience, you can shoot at speeds as slow as 1/250. To me totally frozen action does not always make the most interesting shot. I like to have a shot that shows some motion in the ball or in the hitter’s hand or even arm. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

When I shoot drag racing if I totally freeze action it can appear that a car is parked on the track. But do a panned shot that shows motion or even tire motion is more interesting. As is the front wheels off the ground, tire smoke from a burnout, open parachutes, and flames out the header pipes. Think about how to add drama to your shots.

ratjones

All of my Nikon DSLRs and the Z6 mirrorless have very accurate auto white balance - hardly ever have to fiddle with it post shoot...

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Minimum shutter speed of 1/500 sec. You could choose Shutter priority for this. Up your ISO until you can get that minimum. I always try to close my lens 2 stops from wide open. ie. if you maximum opening of your lens is 2.8 , then shoot at at least 1/500 sec. at f5.6

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Because you are going to be pushing your ISO have a noise reduction strategy ready to use for when you go to look at your shots.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

When my granddaughter was competing (Jr.HS/HS)I made it a practice to get to the venue well in advance of her team taking the floor to experiment with location(s) and exposure settings. I had two Canon dslr's with me (7d MII, 5D MIII) and two lenses. (EF 24 - 70 f/2.8II, EF 70 - 200 f/2.8 II) I set both cameras to continuous focus. After determining exposure settings I usually shot from the floor with the 24 - 70 and from longer distances, up high in the stands with the 70 - 200. Practicing on the teams playing prior to my granddaughter's competition was extremely helpful. I think I was able to get many quality shots. It's a challenging venue.
Mark

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Rookie,

You can ignore anyone who is suggesting you shoot at 1/500 second without first establishing whether or not your camera has an anti-flicker mode. Without it, you'll need to stay at 1/125 sec or longer because of light cycling, which will cause uneven illumination/color across the field. Using 1/500 will freeze action, but as Notorious T.O.D. pointed out, you may find using a slower shutter speed - showing slight blur - can make some more appealing images. You can get away with slower speeds at longer distances, but if you are on top of the action, even 1/500 will not eliminate all of the blur.

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Cameras/Anti-Flicker-Mode.aspx

https://photographylife.com/light-frequency-issue

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/4115/do-fluorescent-lighting-and-shutter-speed-create-a-problem-with-color-cast

The 70-200 F2.8 is almost a necessity, unless you have access to a Sigma 120-300 F2.8. It really does help to use a full frame camera because you will likely be shooting at ISOs that are at least 1600 and likely much higher, depending on how bad or uneven the lighting is at the venue. Newer

Shoot raw, so that you have better control over the white and color balance, noise control, and have that slightly wider dynamic range.

If the gym is older, they may use metal halide bulbs which are notoriously difficult to establish any kind of white balance. As they age, they become dimmer and change color, so while you may use a gadget to establish a white balance under one bank of lights, the color settings will likely be off for other areas. The same goes for illumination levels. Newer gyms may have upgraded to LED lighting which still has the flicker problem, but is more consistent, and likely to provide more even illumination as well.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

If you are shooting action and can't shoot at least at 1/500 don't bother.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Shoot Trina 400 pushed to 1600 using your nifty 50. Motor drive helps. Oh, wait, its 2020 not 1971.

Lots of questions

1. What equipment do you have?
2. What level are you shooting at? High school, club, college, olympics
3. Where are you allowed? Side-lines , stands, parking lot?
4. Does facility have strobes? Can you access them?
5. Is it personal (shooting daughter, etc) or professional
6. Do you play so you know flow of game? VB, especially at upper levels, is very fast with spikes exceeding 100 mph off the hand and a defensive player has less than .04 secs to react. Therefore angles are extremely important and so is being able to shoot in burst mode so I would recommend shoot in jpg so your camera can shoot at it's highest rate. Back focus button and continuous autofocus or prefocusing on a spot. Framing is important. Do you want the expression of a spike as he or she hammers it, or the view of the entire action?

Class of 71 NCAA Men's VB runner-up, staff photographer Volleyball Mag.