UGH! What am I doing wrong?

[asysin2leads]

I am taking pics of my son's basketball "league". The lighting is rather bad....as with most indoor places. Here is the EFIX data for the attached picture:

Shooting RAW (.CR2)
Aperture: f/1.8
Shutter: 1/320
ISO: 1600
50mm

I don't get it. Some of the 1/320 came out fine and some didn't. Some of the 1/400 came out ok and others didn't. The lighting can be fixed with just a little bit of PP'ing.

HELP!!!!

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/9100/titusbasketball800nh4.jpg

Here's a link to a larger version of this. Thanks for all of y'all's help.

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/3454/titusbasketballze3.jpg

Edit: I've gone back through the basketball pics. I'm seeing most of them shot at 1/500 with 1600 iso. I'll try that next Sunday. Hopefully I won't screw it up that bad. I'm a newbie and still learning.

[Box Brownie]

Hi

OK the lighting as you say you can do something about in PPing but for the sake of myself and others here what else is it about your images that you UGH! You have posted one image that looks pretty sharp though you have chopped his foot off ;)

So what problems are you seeing and in that respect what changes were you seeing as a result of the shutter speed differences?

:)

[RonnieA]

Welcome to poorly lit gyms and the 50mm.

Gym lights cycle, giving off different light temps per instance. The gym in which I shoot, I'll rip off a quick burst and one will have nice light, the next a shade of yellow and the next maybe a darker shade of yellow. That's just the nature of the beast.

As for the 50mm, I find it's not the quickest AF lens around, but decent.

[asysin2leads]

Hi

OK the lighting as you say you can do something about in PPing but for the sake of myself and others here what else is it about your images that you UGH! You have posted one image that looks pretty sharp though you have chopped his foot off ;)

So what problems are you seeing and in that respect what changes were you seeing as a result of the shutter speed differences?

:)

I saw the foot about 1/2 second before you mentioned it. Thanks. I didn't notice it before. I was soliciting advice from others who shoot basketball at the amateur level. I know with bigger colleges and pros, the conditions are better. I've seen several other posts in regards to camera settings and it seems they vary a bit. The pic just doesn't seem all that satisfactory to me. Perhaps I am being too critical. I am a bit of a perfectionist and probably shouldn't be in photography. Thanks.

[RonnieA]

Don't give in!!

Let the action get closer to you - helps out my exposure tremendously. And, as you mentioned, dial up the SS to 1/500, if doable without underexposing too much.

[Damian75]

If the lighting is consistant all be it bad you might want to try shooting in M and take the time during warm up to adjust the exposure so that the faces are properly exposed and not blown out. As for the slight bit of motion blurr you may have better luck on shots where they are moving across your frame and you can pan the camera than shots where they are coming at you. I don't know if the 350D will go up to 3200iso but if it does then you might want to give that a try also.

[GBRandy]

Well, my 2 cents says you moved the camera as you took the shot. Nothing is really in focus here...at that shutter speed you should have had the face & jersey in focus.

Proper camera holding is critical in sports. I find it easier with bigger heavier lenses actually....

I agree with the previous post. set the exposure manually in warm ups. I would also suggest a pre-set WB. But if you have fluorescent lighting, all bets are off :)

[Tareq]

First 350D couldn't go to 3200 because maximum is 1600.
Second, go and borrow 30D or 1Dmk2/N and try again and post some shots to see.

[DavidEB]

the lines on the floor behind the player are sharper than the player himself. here's a list of possibilities (no particular order)...

lens/camera combo doesn't focus fast enough to keep up with forward motion of player
...
you're in one-shot rather than AI-servo
...
using multiple focus points rather than center point
...
finger slipped of the * button while using CF4-1
...
20D incorrectly hopping to wrong center point (it's known to do this in some settings)
...
lens has back-focus problem at wide aperature


good luck....

[Hurricane_777]

the lines on the floor behind the player are sharper than the player himself. here's a list of possibilities (no particular order)...

lens/camera combo doesn't focus fast enough to keep up with forward motion of player
...
you're in one-shot rather than AI-servo
...
using multiple focus points rather than center point
...
finger slipped of the * button while using CF4-1
...
20D incorrectly hopping to wrong center point (it's known to do this in some settings)
...
lens has back-focus problem at wide aperature


good luck....

Bingo, all the way around. :)

That looks backfocused to me, which is not infrequent in those shooting conditions. AI Servo + a lot of practice and they'll go down, but I don't think they ever go away. :D

[superdiver]

The problem with your pictures and set up is that the picture is OOF, the set up you have will work, but not as well as if you had an 85 1.8

The 50 1.4 focuses slower and I find that when I use my 50 I miss alot of shots like this...you need a lens that can focus fast...especially when he starts moving faterer and faster...

[asysin2leads]

Thanks for the info. I really didn't buy the 50 for sports, but wanted to try it out. I did shoot in manual. I'll have to check to see if I am in AI Servo. The gym he plays in has only about 4 feet beyond the endline to shoot from. I did shoot a few with my 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6. Yes, they were darker, which I fixed in PP, but the blur seemed to be gone. Here's one that was shot at 28mm.


I know the face is blownout a bit. Just wanted to show the focus mostly. Here's the data.

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/6787/dataia1.gif

[superdiver]

I think alot of the problem is the composition...you have it at 28mm, way to wide in my opinion...it is more in focus, but shoot alot tighter, get the exposure right, catch him with the ball in his hand...alos get the DOF down as low as you can, If you can isolate/focus on him and make everything else blurry it will look better...