University Basketball (56k Warning)

I must admit, basketball is a hard sport to shoot.
I think I got the technical part of the camera down pat, but trying to capture action with more than one player, and the ball in frame, while keeping the background blurred, is very difficult.
I spent most of the first game trying to find a seat I liked. I moved from the first row corner, to first row mid court by the end.
Oh, and men's bball is much harder to follow than the women's.

I shot all pictures in M mode, alternating between 1/500s and 1/400s depending on the position of the play on court. Under the hoop it was quite a bit darker than the center court. Oh, and for the heck of it I brought out the 420ex for some fill flash. I had dialed in -2 FEC as I didn't want any harsh shadows. However, I think a flash with manual power setting would be much better, as I sometimes got too much flash which caused a few ugly shadows.

All shots were taken at F2.8, ISO3200. Noise Ninja was used on a few underexposed images. Full series of images HERE

Warmup:

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there was bball here tonightbut i skiped it in celebeltartion for raembrance day.

I don't see why you can't do both. I did!

hey - looks like you do have the lighting side down pat. And I don't think you have anything to worry about with this... sure a hot peak action shot would be nice - but I have found I have more stuff like this used then the peak stuff... for what ever reason - usually a player high light peace or something like that.

I am about the head off to shoot volleyball tonight - then I am going to come home and put the camera away so I don't get sucked into trying to shoot Basketball. The school I have been shooting at is picked to go all the way this year - and I don't even want to begin to get sucked into trying to do that kind of shooting... it is best just for me to turn and walk away and enjoy the season as a spectator. I am spending way too much time on this already and I can see this would become another obsesion for me. Best of luck with your season.

Croasdail,
Good luck tonite.
Without actually being allowed on the court, it's very hard to get any interesting, under the hoop shots. I could zoom out, and get something fromt he side, but to me it just does not look good. If I go to the center of the court, all I get are the backs of people's heads
Ahh, volleyball, another difficult sport to master. Again, it's alot of the backs of players' heads, or their faces through the net if you want to get the ball in frame. I do look forward to trying again this year. I can't wait to see your shots from tonite.

Those are nice shots!

Thanks photosguy.
Wow, look at your number of posts!

I need to get a life!

Err, sorry about my previous post... but that was after I came home from an afternoon and night out...

Where are you from drisley? Nicely done shots, I hope Regina lost!

Haha, I knew you meant you were "celebrating" by the spelling in your post!
Regina women lost, but men won.

dont they have the palming rule in canadian basket ball? Looks like these guys and gals are palming when dribbling. Who do they think they are? NBA pros? LOL. Oh I thought canadian B-ball was on ICE?

Killer shots Drisley. Color is stellar.

Great colours... these are excellent sportraits I'm sure all the players involved would be very pleased to see/buy these images.

---- Gavin

Haha, thanks Dante. I know so little about bball, that perhaps one day I should put the camera down, and just go watch a game.
Bball on ice, now there is an idea!

Gmen, "sportraits", eh? I love that term!