Basketball... Hoop-tastic action from the dungeon!

[gmen]

First hoops of the season. I try not to moan too much about lighting conditions - but this was fairly grim. A mixture of lighting types, including the dreaded vapour lamps and some really nasty highlight-blowing spotlights... add to that white shirts on one team and black on the other :rolleyes: ... I managed to scrape 1/500s at f/2 at ISO3200 thanks to those invaluable 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.8 lenses. Apologies for the odd colours on some and the nasty noise, but these are pretty much straight out of the camera - the paper will be reproducing them in B&W anyway *lol* ;)

Putting up a two-pointer...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg001.JPG

Firing a pass across the court...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg007.JPG

Around the back for some more valuable points...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg004.JPG

Poised to strike...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg002.JPG

Ouch! Is that a foul?...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg003.JPG

The new guy in action...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg005.JPG

Losing the aerial battle...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg008.JPG

Taking control of the rebound...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fg006.JPG

[QUASIPHOTO]

Great shots as always Gavin. I can see that an 85 f1.8 is going to be in my very near future. I didn't know that you played basketball over there in the old country. How big of a sport is it over there?

[PhotosGuy]

Ho, hum. The usual great stuff! :D

[gmen]

Great shots as always Gavin. I can see that an 85 f1.8 is going to be in my very near future. I didn't know that you played basketball over there in the old country. How big of a sport is it over there?Cheers Quasi... The 85mm f/1.8 is very much the lens of choice for these dungeons.

There's a thriving basketball league in the UK... however, support is not huge. The games I cover generally attract crowds in the hundreds rather than thousands.

Have a look at www.alleyoops.co.uk for some info on UK hoops.

---- Gavin

[gmen]

Cheers Quasi... The 85mm f/1.8 is very much the lens of choice for these dungeons.

There's a thriving basketball league in the UK... however, support is not huge. The games I cover generally attract crowds in the hundreds rather than thousands.

Have a look at www.alleyoops.co.uk for some info on UK hoops.

---- Gavin
Oops... shouldn't forget these as well: http://www.bbl.org.uk/ and http://www.englandbasketball.co.uk/ as well. It's a far cry from the NBA, I'm sure you'll agree ;)

---- Gavin

[DwightMcCann]

Hmmm, I have an unused as yet 50mm f1.4, but I can also see an 85mm f1.8 is in my future! These look almost overexposed on my monitor here at work, but as usual, you capture the precise instant of the peak of the action ... and something about a photowhore! :-)

[QUASIPHOTO]

Thanks for the links and info Gavin.....I appreciate it. Even though your basketball isn't the NBA......still doesn't deter from your images. Personally I think you could shoot mud and make it look amazing. In the furture (like around dec/first of the yearish) I'll be shooting the girls high school team. They are playing in a warm-up rec. league right now, so that will be really good practice for me to get ready. If I get any halfway decent images I'll post them for C/C so I can get better. But if you have any suggestions......I'm all ears. Thanks for posting your work.....great inspriation.

[gmen]

Hmmm, I have an unused as yet 50mm f1.4, but I can also see an 85mm f1.8 is in my future! These look almost overexposed on my monitor here at work, but as usual, you capture the precise instant of the peak of the action ... and something about a photowhore! :-)Thanks Dwight... the 85mm is everyone's future in my opinion :lol:

There was a real mixture of lighting, including some nasty bright lamps aimed at the walls and the court. Combine that with the the black and white jerseys and the mix of skin tones, it was a disaster waiting to happen. My photographic brain told me to push the exposure to its limits... underexposure was simply not an option - I simply couldn't afford not to see the faces. A little bit of post-production work would undoubtedly take the 'edge' off them *lol* but time is short... ;)

---- Gavin

[DwightMcCann]

LIFE is short! Use it wisely.

[Croasdail]

My photographic brain told me to push the exposure to its limits... underexposure was simply not an option - I simply couldn't afford not to see the faces.

So I tried this last week at a football game, overexposing to get faces... and sure enough, I had nice beautiful faces, but I also ended up with white uniforms with a lovely purple glow (fringe). I thought it was my lens, but then I saw the same thing with another lenses I had used... so it must be the sensor lens. Do you get the same issue and just deal with it.... or am I just completely loopie and doing it wrong.

[blinking8s]

1d mkII?

not shabby for that lighting although with my 20d i kinda resist pushing her to 3200 most of the time, you've shot here before though havent you? looks familiar...the 85 is HEAVEN in those situations though. I walked onto the court of my new university and got like iso800@2.8-500th which im pretty stoked about. Hopefully I'll get to shoot some this year.

[gmen]

1d mkII?

not shabby for that lighting although with my 20d i kinda resist pushing her to 3200 most of the time, you've shot here before though havent you? looks familiar...the 85 is HEAVEN in those situations though. I walked onto the court of my new university and got like iso800@2.8-500th which im pretty stoked about. Hopefully I'll get to shoot some this year.
ISO800! Wowser ;) Stoked is the word!

Yep, I shot at this venue a couple of times last season. Of course in the intervening six months or so, a number of lights have failed - and they've not all been replaced which is just great :rolleyes: ... and the ones they have replaced now give even more inconsistent lighting than ever before. You've just gotta love it!

---- Gavin

[DavidEB]

bet the replacement lamps have a different color than the older ones.

[gmen]

bet the replacement lamps have a different color than the older ones.*lol* You'd be 100% right there! :rolleyes:

[gmen]

a lovely purple glow (fringe)One way of dealing with the 'fringe' using PS... Go to Image > Adjustments > Selective Colour... Choose Magenta and then subtract some Magenta using the slider.... It's a rough and ready fix, but will work in some cases.

---- Gavin

[blinking8s]

you should find a way to rig it to the backboard and use those pocket wizzards...super wide, but it'll look wicked on those layups!

id love to see some more wide under the rim shots though, we always shoot long'ish and tight on this board...