Women's Club Volleyball (College) Tournament

[convergent]

My daughter played in a women's club volleyball (Div. 1 college) tournament this weekend. For those unfamiliar with "club" at the college level, this is something that I think is relatively new (last 5-10 years) and is growing. Club is in between varsity and intermurials. There is only one club team for the school and they play other schools in their region. Then they have a national championship too. She loves it because you can play multiple sports. This year she's playing women's volleyball, women's sand volleyball, women's basketball, and co-ed flag football.

I shot with the Mark III and 135 f/2. They were playing in the rec sports facility on campus and the lighting was OK, but not great. It was actually quite a challenge because there were huge skylights across the whole middle of the place, and as the day went on, the scattered clouds through my exposure all over the place. I ranged from ISO1600-3200 and 1/1000-1/640s at f/2. I should have probably shot Av but I fussed with Manual and am paying for it now. I've had to make a lot of exposure adjusments in post. Did all processing in Lightroom V2.

I've got 6 games to process and only done 2 so far... the full gallery will be here... http://gallery.victoryphoto.com/g/uncw_college_club_tournament

My daughter is #3... and she is the subject of all these. It was a real treat for me, because I've not gotten to see her playing volleyball in almost two years!

1.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_3041.jpg

2.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_3042.jpg

3.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_3082.jpg

4.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_2456.jpg

5.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_2560.jpg

6.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_2612.jpg

7.
http://www.northeastfoto.com/gallery/files/3/2/2/web-VP1_2680.jpg

[Pete's Prints]

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

[DonE]

These are great shots. Your daughter looks like an amazing player. Well done!!

[convergent]

These are great shots. Your daughter looks like an amazing player. Well done!!

Thanks... She lives to play ball!

[namasste]

Mike, these look very nice but #2...man that is just fantastic! Your daughter looks like she's quite the player (VB, of course :o:lol:). Glad you had a chance to shoot and watch her do her thing...of ywah, and letting us see the work too. Nicely done under less than ideal circumstances.

[convergent]

Yep, I like that one too. I had the benefit of a catwalk to shoot from up top. I usually have to shoot just from the floor and to get any "over the net" shots I have to try and weave my way between the defenders. Shooting over their heads was fun.

[disneydork06]

Thanks... She lives to play ball!
I hear ya. or her....don't know what I'd do if i couldn't play...darn acl...but if it wasn't for club vball there wouldn't be opportunities for guys to play in college.

[mizouse]

wow, nice shots. Wish my school had a catwalk or something to shoot from up high.

[convergent]

wow, nice shots. Wish my school had a catwalk or something to shoot from up high.

Thanks... I'm not used to it either. I could actually stand just over where they started out at when they served, which is pretty close. I should have probably used the 200 1.8 up there, but I really wasn't supposed to be standing up there because it was their running track, so I was trying to be more stealthy so I didn't get kicked out. The big white lens might have done the trick.

[CoonCreek]

Looks like your daughter has some serious up's! Nice series of pic's. I recently was able to photograph my daughter's match from an elevated box, offers a nice perspective.

[convergent]

I'm actually kind of surprised. I usually try to shoot the "over the net" stuff with the 200 1.8, from a kneeling position behind the serving line. Its really hard because there are always people you are shooting around and one out of 10 shots is good. I also have a lot of trouble from that distance at f/2 with the net throwing off the focus. I try to pre-focus on the player while they are on the ground and then turn off AF as they go up. It hit or miss. I shot with the shorter lens, from about the same distance and that helped a lot with the depth of field and not being so sensitive to the net... but I had to crop everything... but... I also got full bodies to work with instead of just the final crop which can be tough if you are off a little bit. Anyways, shooting from above, you can get some really good stuff. It does flatten the girls a little bit, vs. the lower perspective... but it also makes them appear to be WAY up over the net, which I'm sure they will like.

[Croasdail]

As long as they beat Carolina, that is the main thing... ;)

Anyway, yeah, club sports are fun to shoot. If you want to shoot Rugby or Hockey at the college level, its the only way to do it in the triangle. Really nice variety of shots here, it is fun when you only need to shoot one player and get to cover all aspects of their game. Congrats to you.... she looks like you have more then enough reasons to be proud of her.

Cheers.

[convergent]

Mark, thanks for the kind comments. They actually lost... it was their first match. They played well, but their club is very young. I actually didn't just take pictures of her... I got a lot of shots of players on all the teams... but just wanted to post a few of her here.

[cevad]

Let me guess... your daughter is #3! :razz:

Very nice shots... great facial expressions. Thanks for sharing. I'll check out your site for more.

[convergent]

Yep, she's always been #3 or #13 throughout her sports days.

[casp3r]

Lovely shots, and lovely lady if I'm allowed to say so. Dumb question though - by shooting her game do you feel you missed watching her play? - if that makes sense :)

[clarence]

Au contraire, I find when you photograph a specific player of interest, you also watch his/her role more than you would than if you were just watching the whole team as a neutral observer.

It helps me to be able to focus on one player... when neighbors ask me to photograph their kid, I'll follow that specific kid for ~75% of the time, where as normally I'd just follow the ball.

So in this case, he could roughly pre-focus on his daughter, pre-compose, and work on getting the timing of the action. That's easier/better than just chasing the ball amongst both teams.

Great shots.

[convergent]

Actually, you do miss some of the play, and then you see better some of it because you focussed in. But, I didn't just shoot my daughter. I shot all the girls on all the teams... although I got a lot more of my daughter and her team. I hadn't had a chance to see her play any sports in over a year, so I did spend more time watching her than the others.

[west walker]

Great volleyball shots. I have been shooting my twin grand-daughter's high school games (volleyball). It is a job but great fun. I use a 70-200L IS and 85m f1.8. The low light is a problem. I don't know whether to use the IS on the monopod or not. Do you hand hold or monopod? I use the canon 20d. Thanks for any suggestions.

[convergent]

I handhold everything indoors. To me, volleyball is to much random movement to use a monopod. I don't use a monopod with the 70-200 ever though... just the bigger lenses... 200 1.8 and 400 2.8, and only outdoors. You don't really want to use IS with action sports unless you are trying to do panning on cars or something... and then only mode 2. The 135 f/2 is a good lens for volleyball too.

[Dan-o]

#2 is fantastic Mike!

[convergent]

#2 is fantastic Mike!

Thanks... its actually a tighter crop of the next shot after #1. I just liked the eyes in that one... looks like she's looking right at me.

[mobilezen]

Very good pics regardless of choice of setup... her expressions are priceless...shows determination. :)