Raquetball tips?

[laq]

im taking some pics of my dad and his buds playing tomarrow or the next day with my a620. is there any tips you sports guys could give me for shooting some decent pics? of course its indoors. so far the only things i can think of are maybe increasing the shutter speed and taking ALOT of shots. im worried about blur and the pics are for family and friends so it really doesnt need to be Sports Ill quality.

any help would be great!!

-tony

edit...im sorry if i posted this in the wrong spot..please feel free to move it if needed.

[Little Fish]

I don't know if I've ever seen RB photos here and it is probably because they are so hard to take. I assume that you will be in the gallery shooting photos which means you are looking down on the action and the action is mostly going away from you. Not an ideal shooting position and as you pointed out, the lighting is usually poor for action photos.

That being said, here are some suggestions:
1) Look for shots where the action is as still as possible. For example, if you can't get a good shot of the racquet meeting the ball because of slow shutter speeds, then try to catch that moment when the racquet is cocked and ready to come forward. A good example would be to get the server with the racquet back and ready to serve instead of just trying to catch the moment the racquet hits the ball.

2) If it's not a distraction to the players, catch them coming back after their opponent has hit a ceiling ball. That has them looking back and up at the camera. Most of that action will probably be going to the backhand corner.

3) If possible, get there a little early with your dad and get on the court to take some shots from the front wall. This is assuming that they are decent enough that you can get off at a side angle and they can accurately hit straight ahead or towards the other corner.

As for shutter speed, my guess is that you need to find a way to get to 1/250 at the minimum. That isn't going to freeze the action but it will give you some decent shots. A faster shutter speed is obviously better unless you have to set the ISO up to the point that there is just too much noise. And be sure to take a lot of photos as you mentioned--it will give you a better chance to come out with a good photo on this first attempt and it will give you a lot of input on what to try in the future. Have fun.

[laq]

thanks alot for the info! im thinking alot of serve pics and, as you said, pics comming back towards the ball would be best. lob shots may also prove to be ok. im going to use the burst mode a bit also. however, the lighting has me the most concerned.

i may get some shots from ground level also due to a plexiglass court. we shall see!

thanks again!