MORE Ambient basketball

[liam5100]

Ok, so I posted a thread the other day with a couple ambient light basketball shots. In this thread I complained about the lighting in the gym for that game.

Well it seems karma does exist, because after last nights game I long for the days of the crappy lights from the last post. The gym last night has now officially taken the spot of the worst high school gym I have shot in to date. (until next weeks karma bites me in the ass again, I'm sure).

The gym last night had horrible cielings with those old dome like fluorescent lights, almost like a spot light.

First of all there weren't nearly enough of those "spots" to light the gym adequately, and they were spread out so they had the effect of circles of light all over the floor. Well that in itself is a problem, since a player moving 8 or 10 feet one way or the other could drastically alter the exposure. And heaven forbid they ended up under one of the burnt out bulbs.

Secondly, they had differnt colored bulbs in them all over, so those irritating "circles" of light not only had different exposures, they had different color to them making color correction a nightmare. Post was such a joy.

Depending on the spot on the floor, I had to range ISO from 2000 all the way up to 6400. I've really got to learn to stop complaining!

So as with all things in life we play the cards we are dealt, here is a couple from the end result.

[liam5100]

And one more just for good luck.

[L.Morey]

Look pretty good

[FOX2PRO]

They look fine to me.
One of the few time's i've seen an 85L 1.2 used for sports.

[liam5100]

They look fine to me.
One of the few time's i've seen an 85L 1.2 used for sports.

Thanks, I use it all the time in very low light gyms, I carry two Mk III's, one with the 85 1.2, and one with the 70-200 2.8.

The 85 1.2 isnt as fast with the focus as your traditional sports lenses, but if my aim is decent it gets the job done.

[Anderson-Photography]

Ok, so I posted a thread the other day with a couple ambient light basketball shots. In this thread I complained about the lighting in the gym for that game.

Well it seems karma does exist, because after last nights game I long for the days of the crappy lights from the last post. The gym last night has now officially taken the spot of the worst high school gym I have shot in to date. (until next weeks karma bites me in the ass again, I'm sure).

The gym last night had horrible cielings with those old dome like fluorescent lights, almost like a spot light.

First of all there weren't nearly enough of those "spots" to light the gym adequately, and they were spread out so they had the effect of circles of light all over the floor. Well that in itself is a problem, since a player moving 8 or 10 feet one way or the other could drastically alter the exposure. And heaven forbid they ended up under one of the burnt out bulbs.

Secondly, they had differnt colored bulbs in them all over, so those irritating "circles" of light not only had different exposures, they had different color to them making color correction a nightmare. Post was such a joy.

Depending on the spot on the floor, I had to range ISO from 2000 all the way up to 6400. I've really got to learn to stop complaining!

So as with all things in life we play the cards we are dealt, here is a couple from the end result.

Let's play can you top this. My home gym is a cavern with the same old dome lights but to make things even more challenging, since the teams colors are black and orange they have painted the walls orange - how's that for color cast problems. On top of all that, when they play games they turn off the lights at either end of the gym so just the floor is illuminated so when you're at one end of the floor shooting you're looking at a dark, orange wall. I generally shoot at ISO 1600, sometimes 3200, aperture priority of 2.8 and get a speed of 1/250, 1/320 at best. It's a geat place to learn to shoot with ambient lighting.

[liam5100]

OK, I'll play... and those orange walls are nasty. I'll let you know about the color cast since I'll probably have to shoot there next week, seems to be how my luck is going.

Here are a couple from the same gym as the original pics in this post. These two shots show and example of the "light spots vs the dark spots" all over the gym floor.

This was a series of shots 10fps of the girl running towards me. You can see in the first shot where she is standing in a light zone and by the last shot in one of the many "dark holes" Both were shot at ISO2000 1/500

[Anderson-Photography]

Serious contention there with those images. Nothing like inconsistent lighting to make your job just a bit tougher. Here's one with the lights off at the other end of the gym and the dark orange wall in the background.

[daveb99]

Very nice for ambient light.

[liam5100]

Lol, the sad thing is the editors expect the images to look like they are ready for SI, they have no clue on how envoirnment poses impossible challenges.

I shot in a small town gym the beginning of the season, they had GREAT lighting, I wish all the gyms would update their lights like this small town did.

Here is a shot from that gym, 1/500 at ISO 1600. I long for that lighting lately.

[Anderson-Photography]

I guess I'm lucky as my editor is happy with the images I submit. I did go out and get some Pocket Wizards and Super Clamps and am going to start learning how to use them as I get tired of looking at noisy images shot at ISO 1600 and 3200 all the time. Sometimes I forget what a shot looks like at ISO 100 and when I do take one I'm amazed at what my camera can do and then realize, of yeah, there's a quite a difference between ISO 100 and 3200.

[liam5100]

ISO 100?? Whats that? I have strobes to be able to get great light in gyms, just alot of venues wont let you use them around here, and its hard to set up and calibrate the days I have 2 or 3 games to shoot.

[TTurrill]

I recently shot basketball here in Michigan at a newer high school, but still had to deal with real dark spots all over. Plus the 60hz lights really can play havoc for us shooting, but since the rules will not always allow strobes we can only deal with the conditions....... ISO 3200 between 320 and 400 shutter speed...

[Anderson-Photography]

ISO 100?? Whats that? I have strobes to be able to get great light in gyms, just alot of venues wont let you use them around here, and its hard to set up and calibrate the days I have 2 or 3 games to shoot.

On occassion, say once every week or two, there's a solar flare that's bright enough so I can shoot at ISO 100. Can only get off a second or two burst but that's good for 15-20 snaps.

[liam5100]

lol, Ok Chris, I'll buy your tale of this magical light you speak off. But you still have to stare at orange walls.

[namasste]

Lol, the sad thing is the editors expect the images to look like they are ready for SI, they have no clue on how envoirnment poses impossible challenges.

I shot in a small town gym the beginning of the season, they had GREAT lighting, I wish all the gyms would update their lights like this small town did.

Here is a shot from that gym, 1/500 at ISO 1600. I long for that lighting lately.
liam, if we got lighting this good, we'd all be out of business! lol! seriously, this is really great but so were the original set given the lighting situation. I think you handled it as well as can be expected.

[liam5100]

liam, if we got lighting this good, we'd all be out of business! lol! seriously, this is really great but so were the original set given the lighting situation. I think you handled it as well as can be expected.

Thanks Scott, Thats the nice thing I miss about being an amature, you can pick and choose the places you WANT to shoot, then make yourself look good. When your a working photographer, you have to go where sent.

[namasste]

Thanks Scott, Thats the nice thing I miss about being an amature, you can pick and choose the places you WANT to shoot, then make yourself look good. When your a working photographer, you have to go where sent.and doesn't it seem like Murphy's Law that you always get sent to the worst lighting locales on the planet?? :lol::lol::lol:

[wyofizz]

liam,
They look good to me.
I'm stuck with the dome lights too, the spot lighting sucks.
One of our newer gyms even has them.
Luckily I can strobe most events. :-)
Dave

[liam5100]

and doesn't it seem like Murphy's Law that you always get sent to the worst lighting locales on the planet?? :lol::lol::lol:


It does Scott, usually right after I bitch about it. I have a hockey assignment next weekend. I was told by a friend "I should be fine on light, unless the place is a cave"... So guess what I'm expecting.

[namasste]

It does Scott, usually right after I bitch about it. I have a hockey assignment next weekend. I was told by a friend "I should be fine on light, unless the place is a cave"... So guess what I'm expecting.Captainnnnnn Caaaavvvvemaaaannnn!!! If you recall that show. :lol:

[newbie builder]

At the school I usually shoot at, I get about 1/250th, f/2.8, ISO 3200....and that's probably underexposed 1/3rd of a stop still. If I don't bring in some lights, it's just murder. And the walls there are also orange (although only partly so...it's a mix of orange and white, the school colors, so I guess I'm not doing as bad).
Nice shots though, they look very well done, especially given the circumstances.