Another round of hoops

[tfaudree]

My second effort at hoops. I feel as though this might be as good as I can expect with my current lens/lighting setup. After my tax return, I'll hopefully be in the market for a 85 f1.8 or 70-200 f2.8L IS. I think the latter will better suit my all around needs. Took the advice from my last try and knocked down the ISO and let the flash do a little extra work. Seemed to turn out pretty nicely. There was a little PP to bump up the exposure and adjust the WB that was a little too cool with a custom setting, but overall, I'm satisfied. Too bad there wasn't much action in this blowout of a game. Fortunately, though, my team was on the giving end of the butt whooping.

Click images for larger versions.

1
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/3226326520_5edfa69439.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/3226326520_6ac3476173_o.jpg)

2
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3225468155_1bd2fb60fd.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3225468155_eab575fb46_o.jpg)


3
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3225469575_536823247d.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3225469575_14727c94ab_o.jpg)

4
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3122/3225470085_4dc7536d4a.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3122/3225470085_64e91a4fe1_o.jpg)

5
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/3225472405_afb65884c4.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/3225472405_05fa6a44b7_o.jpg)

6
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3226327602_0dff17683d.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3226327602_2bb8002b68_o.jpg)

7
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3226329022_05d5dd5d6c.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3226329022_fc333730b7_o.jpg)

8
I know you can't see the shooter's face, but the look on the defender is priceless
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3225473881_e5961db3cc.jpg?v=0 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3225473881_0cca76c613_o.jpg)

[snyderman]

Can you tell me about your flash? #1 looks light straight on because of the shadows clear at the other end of the gym. I'm going to risk using a flash tomorrow night. Still up in the air about how it's going to work.

Oh, and pretty nice action shots! Have you tried cropping them a bit tighter? #2 and 5 would look GREAT nice and tight on the action.

dave

dave

[tfaudree]

That's something I forgot to comment on. I have a 550EX on the hot shoe. I shoot portrait with the camera rotated 90* CCW, as you would with a grip. Since the flash is on the left, that's why all the shadows are to the right of the subject. I'm thinking that maybe if I buy a bracket, I can keep the flash more in line with the subject and avoid the shadows. Someone might chime in on that idea. I didn't have a bounce card or try bouncing off the wall during this game, but it probably would have worked nicely since I had a nice big white wall about 10' behind me.

I agree with cropping #2, but I had to be careful going too tight since the action was only in the center 15-20% of the frame and it would have gotten quite noisy. Didn't get zoomed in quite enough to fill er' up. #5, I wanted to show the ball about to go in the hoop for the And-1 foul.

[Simon Turkin]

Nice shots

Why are you shooting portrait though??

[tfaudree]

Nice shots

Why are you shooting portrait though??

Basketball is a vertical game, so why not shoot vertical?

[HighPixel]

^^^I try to shoot portrait in basketball every chance I get. Have you tried bouncing light off the ceiling? Nice images.
HP

[tfaudree]

Have you tried bouncing light off the ceiling? Nice images.

The ceiling in this gym was about 40' high, so I don't my little ole 550EX would have had enough juice to get up that high. The ceiling at the home court is made of dark wood, so that won't work either. I think my best bet is bouncing off the wall behind me. If my work schedule allows me to shoot any more games this season, I'll give that a shot, otherwise I'll have to wait until next season.

[DHMN]

I've only just started the basketball stuff myself and it seems like the vertical pictures all look better and work better when you're using anything 50 mm or larger to get the hoop and player and ball. The first few times I took basketball pictures I stayed horizontal and honestly had to crop a lot more out of pictures besides not getting the face, ball, and hoop (or net) in the shot like I can vertically (or portrait as is being discussed.)

[Simon Turkin]

Basketball is a vertical game, so why not shoot vertical?

That makes a lot of sense Im just trying to read up and ask some questions because im going to ve shooting a hs basketball game this weekend I wasnt challenging anyone