Still not getting the voleyball right

Have had some great suggestion on the site here. One big issue is the lighting in this gym is terrible. The second was had to stay in the stands for this match so could not get really close. 7 D with my 70-200 canon lens. Had the ISO 3200, f2.8 1/640s 70-200@110mm. Had to put in photoshop and play around with them a bit.

My issue is the other settings on the camera and some tutorials I had tried to follow. But I know I made mistakes. The main player in many instances was always out of focus. Now What I did do is continuous shooting with 3 to 6 very quick all at 20 mbs in raw. Have a good card so think it can take it. With volleyball wanted to get the action in sequences for a video of the team at the end of the year. any thoughts and help appreciated. Two pics to show the focus issue and the three action together pics. If for anything please take note to the 3 action and the height this girl gets. She is a junior and also plays basketball. Her hang time is unbelievable.

Also need to mention, using this setup outside, no issues, but in a gym like this with the bad light, very hard to get anything good. Maybe I am hoping for too much. Did use noise reduction on all pics.

In the first shot, the focus is on the background. That probably means that you allowed the active focus point to walk off the subject briefly. In general, tracking and shooting erratically moving athletes is very hard for your camera to do well. You need to give the AF system the best data possible to arrive at the correct focus solution, and so you have to pick up the subject as early as possible and then track them consistently up to the shot.

On the others, they feel like the focus is close to where it should be but not quite there. Either the camera was in the process of changing subjects or it just could not keep up. I think you just need more practice with tracking the action and keeping the focus point on the subject, but that isn't a definitive conclusion outside of shot #1.

Then there is the perspective of the shots. When I shoot volleyball, I either want to be down on the floor or up higher than the net. Next time you are confined to the stands, move higher up and shoot over top of and back across the net. That is a good angle for the front line. I don't think the middling height you were at here works very well.

Thanks Jeff. I was limited to sitting there and the bleachers were not the best. Should I be using that back button to do focus when trying to take continuous pics? Got to go to a meeting but will be back in 2 hours and will list every setting the camera is on for your review. Maybe you can suggest a change on something. Thanks again.

I followed several forum threads on settings and have set to what everyone suggests. I think you are right on my focus on the subject needs to be better. Would you suggest anything for doing those continuous pics?

It's a bit like the way to Carnegie Hall.....practice.

I will suggest this. Try what is a bit easier first and then get more aggressive. Here is what I mean.

1) Suppose your team is receiving the serve. Get low and pick one of the three in the back line who you think will get the serve. Get the focus on her, and shoot her as the ball comes. If the ball goes to the other two, give it up as a bad job. Just focus on getting the AF point on that one girl and concentrate on tracking her perfectly as she takes the serve. See if this yields sharp, in-focus shots.

2) Similar, when you team has the ball in play pick one girl to shoot per sequence and stick with her. Either grab the setter or pick one hitter and just follow her. If another hitter takes the shot, let it go. Just focus on getting one good shot when the girl you are following does indeed take the shot.

Later, as you are successful with this conservative approach you can get more aggressive. I often can shoot the pass, set and hit in a sequence because I have done it a lot. But even so, I get some focus misses and if you do not pick up each athlete early and track them perfectly then you get nothing but OOF shots.

That's why I suggest starting slow. Pick one girl per sequence for a while and see if you can get sharp shots of what hits that girl does take. It's a slower way to work, but not slower overall if you are getting few keepers when trying to hit all the action.

Volleyball is one of the most difficult sports to shoot because of the way the action moves and the deliberate deception built in to the game. I can't tell you how many shots I bin of the misdirection hitter (perfect focus, perfect timing, ball went someplace else).

Jeff, thanks so much for the help. Really appreciate it. I am going to a match tomorrow and will follow your advice.

Amadauss wrote in post #16403715
Have had some great suggestion on the site here. One big issue is the lighting in this gym is terrible. The second was had to stay in the stands for this match so could not get really close. 7 D with my 70-200 canon lens. Had the ISO 3200, f2.8 1/640s 70-200@110mm. Had to put in photoshop and play around with them a bit.

My issue is the other settings on the camera and some tutorials I had tried to follow. But I know I made mistakes. The main player in many instances was always out of focus. Now What I did do is continuous shooting with 3 to 6 very quick all at 20 mbs in raw. Have a good card so think it can take it. With volleyball wanted to get the action in sequences for a video of the team at the end of the year. any thoughts and help appreciated. Two pics to show the focus issue and the three action together pics. If for anything please take note to the 3 action and the height this girl gets. She is a junior and also plays basketball. Her hang time is unbelievable.

Also need to mention, using this setup outside, no issues, but in a gym like this with the bad light, very hard to get anything good. Maybe I am hoping for too much. Did use noise reduction on all pics.

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Wow I am surprised you are only have to shoot at ISO 3200. I usually have to shoot like at ISO 8000 for volleyball to get a decent shutter speed. I had to use my 85mm f2 lens to get any decent shutter speed before I upgraded to my 1d Mark IV.

Volleyball is a tough sport to do. Just be patient and just keep shooting.

A lot of touch up in photoshop. Thanks. Going to do the match today at 6400 and see what happens.

Amadauss,

I agree with everyone's comments. Use back button focus, pick a player, focus on her and track her until she either receives the ball or it goes somewhere else. Focus is often a challenge, so use AI-SERVO, the center (most capable) focus point, and frame so that you can keep the center focus on the chest (as long as there’s high contrast there) and get the composition you want even if you have to crop significantly in post processing. Set the focus options to follow quick moves and stick with the subject. I typically shoot at f/2.8 or maybe f/3.2, 1/640, and ISO of 6400 up to 25600 in rare cases, and expose to the right to get the most out of the limited light. Shooting the hitters is a good idea, but I’d also try shooting the player who receives the serve. Often most of the serves are returned by a libero so you can follow her, and you can get some great shots if the she is aggressive and you crop close.

I’d crop more aggressively than you do to make sure everything in the photo contributes. E.g. in your first shot the hitter, the blocker, and the ball all contribute, but the space in back of the hitter does not so I’d crop it out. In the second photo I’d crop out the girls around the hitter and the bottom half of the photo because the lower half of the hitter is obscured and therefore not very interesting. In the last photo the girl in back of the hitter adds nothing, so try cropping to portrait orientation to include only the blocker, ball, and hitter. Generally I leave the legs and hips in only if they’re interesting and add to the photo, otherwise I crop them out.

Good luck,

Mike

Thanks Mike

I didn't read the suggestions and maybe this was covered but when I viewed the EXIF data of the images you posted most were are at focal length of 70mm.

I would suggest using a Canon 85mm f/1.8 or the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 instead of the 70-200.

You will pick up either more light or more SS speed or a little of both.

There is enough light at this venue to give you adequate image quality with your 70-200 f/2.8L IS II. We get to see some nice IQ on shot #2. JeffreyG has some good suggestions in his post.

1. The hitter is out of focus and the right arm is obscuring the face. This is a very difficult angle to get a good view of the hitter's face unless it is a low set with quick tempo. This is a higher set and by the time the ball is seen in the image, the right arm is in the way.

2. Nice image quality but the image is way too loose. Players not directly involved in the action are spectators. Crop them out. Shoot tight, crop tighter.

3. This angle is normally a good one to shoot setters. Typically, this angle will give you a good two eye view of the setter. Shoot it much tighter to allow us to see the facial expression more clearly. A tighter full body image is OK. Don't be afraid to go even tighter to get a shot from the waist up.

4 and 5. The wrong angle to shoot a shot of a right handed hitter. The action cannot overcome the fact that we are looking at the back of her head.


Phil

http://zivnuska.zenfol​io.com …-to-photograph-volleyball

Thanks Phil for the help!

One tip! You're canting your camera - everyone of the photos you posted is crooked and before I did anything else with respect to editing I'd make sure you got the "horizon: right.

Just for your own information turn on "show focus point" in your processing software to show what you are actually focusing on. When I shoot volleyball with a 7D, I use center point expanded, so that the focus point does not fall between 2 players and grab focus on the background.