Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships

The University of Indianapolis' big bubble was filled with hundreds of athletes and spectators.

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Nice series

Looks like the big bubble had good light - nice shots

Very nice photographs! Looks like you covered the event well.

Bryan

watt100 wrote in post #15650187
Looks like the big bubble had good light - nice shots

Here's something unusual: no rants about difficulties because there were none. The inflatable bubble that housed the meet has a translucent ceiling which lets in diffused outside light. The illumination is the equivalent of a cloudy day with no harsh shadows. Those who dislike harsh daylight would have enjoyed this experience. It's still necessary to use a high ISO and employ a fast lens, a non-stabilized Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 in this case. It's also necessary to adjust exposure, because the center of the bubble had brighter illumination than the edges.

Another enjoyable part of this meet was access to the individual events. If you stayed aware of where the athletes were and stayed out of their way, you could go pretty much anywhere you wanted to go, testing different angles and finding out what worked best. Those who are familiar with covering major events have encountered the phrase “mixed zone,” used to describe limited areas where reporters, photographers and competitors can meet. For this event, the entire infield of the bubble was a mixed zone . It was a refreshingly open environment as long as you showed restraint and were polite toward the athletes and spectators.

Also, a note for those who are afraid because they've "heard" that some equipment contains mysterious flaws that renders it unsuitable for some purposes. The camera used in this case was a Canon 60D. Despite the fears that some people have about this camera's suitability to capture action, the 60D performed perfectly. With a good angle, and good distance to subject the 60D delivered good pictures with no problems or shortcomings. The main challenge was to track the action and keep it properly framed, then to press the shutter button at the correct time.