Yet more ambient light, small college bb

[Back288]

Newspaper assignment shooting hs bball is coming up this Friday, so I squeezed in more practice shooting basketball in ambient light over the weekend. This was true practice for the newspaper's deadlines too, almost no pp (crop, quick shot of levels, and a little usm), and shot only in jpeg instead of raw like I normally prefer to shoot. C & C always welcome and appreciated, thanks for looking!

1
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9694esc.jpg


2
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9665esc.jpg


3
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9661esc.jpg


4
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9647esc.jpg


5
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9643esc.jpg


6
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/Back288/Lakers%20Mens%20Basketball/IMG_9668esc.jpg

[dawiyo]

Those look really nice Mike, especially for ambient.

[Magic 24]

Since my Uncle lives in your town and the other team is from my next of the woods...you have my bias opinion...they're good!!

[HighPixel]

Very nice job! 1/400th at 1.8 never looked so good...
HP

[Back288]

Those look really nice Mike, especially for ambient.

Thank you Dave! I really appreciate the kind comment! I only shot my first basketball game a few weeks ago, so I'm still on the learning curve, and the gym lighting is tricky.

Since my Uncle lives in your town and the other team is from my next of the woods...you have my bias opinion...they're good!!

Thanks! Wow, it's a small world isn't it? What are the odds? It was a fun game to shoot, both teams played extremely physical and it was a close one right up to the end.

Very nice job! 1/400th at 1.8 never looked so good...
HP

Thank you HP! I usually shoot at f2 or 2.2 with the 85, but tried it wide open at this game. Really didn't notice much of difference in IQ so I may stick with wide open to get more flexibility with shutter speed and ISO when I shoot my assignment on Friday.

[NGC2141]

Nice......good shots

[lauderdalems]

I found I was having better results with the 85 on a 40D shooting at 2.0 or 2.2. Of course my ISO runs 1600/3200 also.

[namasste]

You did a very nice job on these indeed. 1.8 is not an easy aperture to shoot action with so hats off on handling it so nicely.

[superdiver]

Nice work, from my little experience with papers they wont want to run a good shot, but some hokie one...good luck...lol

[xtreme3]

I am wondering, as I am so new to this. My wife has been trying to take some shots of hockey games...particularily recreation hockey. She has been getting some great shots, but the images are not coming out quite right. I have racked my brain, and searched through here, to no avail. Are these pictures you have posted here achievable using my existing equipment?
Rebel xsi, EF-S 18-55mm f/3,5-5,6 USM, and EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS. :cool:

[superdiver]

post some pictures, otherwise any advice is just a guess at best...

I would say it would be tough due to the poor lighting for indoor sports in general and lack of fast lenses in your collection,...but just a guess

[Back288]

Nice......good shots

Thank you Christopher!

I found I was having better results with the 85 on a 40D shooting at 2.0 or 2.2. Of course my ISO runs 1600/3200 also.

I was always shooting at 2.0 or 2.2 too, but just tried 1.8 on some of these as an experiment...seems a little less forgiving at 1.8, but it was nice to find out it was possible to get halfway decent results wide open just in case lighting dictates it in the future, thank you for your comments!

You did a very nice job on these indeed. 1.8 is not an easy aperture to shoot action with so hats off on handling it so nicely.

Thanks Scott! No where near as nice as your work, but I keep practicing and trying...maybe in a few dozen years I'll get close:D

Nice work, from my little experience with papers they wont want to run a good shot, but some hokie one...good luck...lol

Thank you David! I've been the freelancer at the local paper since September '08, and they're pretty cool about it. They tell me what they're looking for, I shoot it and get to pick the best 2-4 shots for print. So far they've only printed the ones I've selected so it's worked out pretty well:) (except for once when their people who fit the photos in the paper accidentally forgot to resize one of my shots for the front page of the Sunday edition, thus cutting off the main subject)

I am wondering, as I am so new to this. My wife has been trying to take some shots of hockey games...particularily recreation hockey. She has been getting some great shots, but the images are not coming out quite right. I have racked my brain, and searched through here, to no avail. Are these pictures you have posted here achievable using my existing equipment?
Rebel xsi, EF-S 18-55mm f/3,5-5,6 USM, and EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS. :cool:

I've never shot a hockey game, however I assume the lighting would be somewhat similar to basketball or any of the other indoor sports. If that's the case, I've found that anything with a higher aperture number than f2.8 doesn't really allow you to get the shutter speeds necessary to freeze action without severely under-exposing the shots. If you plan on shooting a lot of indoor sports, I'd recommend the 85mm f1.8 lens, it's fairly inexpensive and works really well in gym-type lighting. I have a 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens too and it usually never comes out of the bag at basketball games anymore because of the results with the 85mm at 1/5 the cost.

post some pictures, otherwise any advice is just a guess at best...

I would say it would be tough due to the poor lighting for indoor sports in general and lack of fast lenses in your collection,...but just a guess

I agree totally, f1.8 - 2.8 are your friends when shooting indoor sports or outdoor night sports.