HS Boy's Volleyball

Of the sports I've shot so far, volleyball for me, is the hardest. I still am trying to figure out the best place to shoot from -- maybe a variety of positions are fine.

I've tried from the bleachers (floor gives cleaner background), but most high school bleachers are on the sides, and I think behind the court from above may be better, but I've yet to be in a gym with bleachers on the ends.

Here are a few shots from last Thursday -- all taken with my Canon 20D, 70-200 f/2.8 lens and 1600 ISO

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The next 3 shots are taken from the baseline:

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Last one. I think next time I post pictures, I'll size them a bit smaller, for I was unaware of the 100K limit. I had to compress these down to fit the requirement.

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Hey, nicely done... I particularly like the last two. Shots like the second one bug me simply because the player is not watching the ball all the way through, but thats about the player, not the image, which is just fine. Well done again, I wish we had boys volleyball here to shoot.. but they don't .

And welcome to the forum!

do you shoot RAW or JPG?

Those look good!

You have some terrific picture there. Volleyball is particularly hard to cover. Good job.

I only shoot Large/Fine JPG.

The last two shots you posted are excellent! I know what you mean about this being a difficult sport to shoot. I hope to have a 70-200mm 2.8 by next year. It does look as though you have a good handle on what you’re doing.

Thank you.

From my limited experience, I find that shooting from the baseline is the easiest for getting spikes/block shots. I was quite surprised to get such a nice shot of that guy just about to bump the ball without having some other player from either team blocking the shot.

Now, for the setters, I have found getting them from the bleachers are nice because the setter is looking up towards the camera.

I do have a 85 f/1.8 that I tried the very first time shooting volleyball. I sat right next to the ladder which the ref/ump (not sure of term) stands on -- and had a very tough time. I may give the 85 another try in the future.

Any other tips would be appreciated by me, and I'm sure others.

A good tip for knowing what to expect is to watch for any of them using hand signals during hitting warmups. Try to find out what they mean (different teams use different set-numbering systems).

Once you think you've got it, watch the setters and hitters hands before the serve as they plan their offense. You'll know whether to expect a quick shoot set or a high outside, or maybe a slide set behind the setter.

Great tip! Used to be 1-2 fingers means a quick set at the center. They've probably refined that now. Then again, the pass makes a difference so remember that no plan survives 1st contact with the enemy!