UCLA vs. USC - Women's basketball

This is my first time shooting basketball in over a year. Be Kind. Just kidding, let me know what I can do better.

First time shooting NCAA Div 1 basketball, so it was exciting. I forgot the exact score, but I do know that USC won by 3. UCLA came back from a 16 point deficit, but just didn't have enough.

Here are some of my shots. All with 10D at f/2.8 on 70-200 IS. ISO was 800 and I shot manually at 1/400(possibly could have pushed 1/500).

This was at the Sports Arena in LA, which is where LA Clippers used to play before Staples. So the lighting is pretty good for a college place, I'd say.

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I've shot in that "dark hole", the light just sucks. IMHO
When I shot in there I was using my 10D 70-200 2.8 and the only
way anything came out was at iso 800 and 1/250.

It was fairly good. I wouldn't say it was stellar, but to be able to shoot at 800 and get good exposures at 1/400, wasn't too bad.

Your exposure is great in these. All are quite good, but number 7 is my favorite. I find it amazing how aggressive female players are these days. Sometimes I think they're worse than the guys.

Thanks for sharing!

A good set overall. The exposures look good too.

Not too sure about some of the crops though?

For example the very last shot is cropped square - which leaves the top end of a little yellow cone in the bottom right corner... however, the pic prior to that is cropped vertically. Why the different approach?

Also, I'd expect to see a bit more variety in the shots since you were using a zoom - i.e. a few more frames from further down the court with the zoom cranked out to 200mm.

I'm also thinking that perhaps you were a little bit too close to the hoop to work comfortably at 70mm on the 1.6x crop body... #3, #6, #9 and #12 show evidence of this as the players' feet are being clipped off at the bottom of the frame.

Was there an opportunity to work from a higher viewpoint as well? That 120-300mm lens of yours could have made from some excellent images if you could have shot from a mid-level point in the stands.

...and one more thought - where's the basket?

But, like I said, as a whole they're a pretty good batch of images... a couple more games and you'll really be back in the groove!

---- Gavin

gmen wrote:
A good set overall. The exposures look good too.

Not too sure about some of the crops though?

For example the very last shot is cropped square - which leaves the top end of a little yellow cone in the bottom right corner... however, the pic prior to that is cropped vertically. Why the different approach?

Also, I'd expect to see a bit more variety in the shots since you were using a zoom - i.e. a few more frames from further down the court with the zoom cranked out to 200mm.

I'm also thinking that perhaps you were a little bit to close to the hoop to work comfortably at 70mm on the 1.6x crop body... #3, #6, #9 and #12 show evidence of this as the players' feet are being clipped off at the bottom of the frame.

Was there an opportunity to work from a higher viewpoint as well? That 120-300mm lens of yours could have made from some excellent images if you could have shot from a mid-level point in the stands.

...and one more thought - where's the basket?

But, like I said, as a whole they're a pretty good batch of images... a couple more games and you'll really be back in the groove!

---- Gavin

Well, it was USC's court, so I'm not sure if I would have the opportunity to move. Since it was my first time, I think I'm happy with where I got to be, on the baseline. Im going to try and get moving on a second body. I had my 50 with me, but since i was able to get 1/400 at 2.8, I kinda just stayed there(i just have to shoot more).

For the crops, I did go tight, on some. I'll upload some of the original versions so you can check them out.

As for as the cone, I just wanted to give an idea of what was going on, but I guess i didn't use it well.

Yeah, I defintely was slow on the shots elevating towards the net. I cut off usually too much.

I do have some further out shots though, which I'll post more of then.

I do know that soft of the images were soft. I guess my rust showed in my first time. Thanks Gavin.

These are nice shots, especially exposure. I agree with Gavin that cropping could be improved. Not necessarily all pictures should be cropped in same sizes, but it will look better if they are cropped in same orientation for similar shots.

Have some questions for you though.

1. Did you get in there with a regular ticket?
   
2. If you did, how did you manage to bring in the 70-200 IS lens?
   
3. You mentioned you were at the baseline. Was it at the baseline at the seat or on the floor?

Thanks everyone for your input. I very much appreciate it. I'll look over the photos soon and see what I changed and why. And if I have time try to post the uncropped.

Well to answer all 3 questions. I go to UCLA and am on the Daily Bruin, their newspaper. So I have press access. I had the proper photo credentials to move around sitting on the baseline. Basically if you were watching the game, you'd see me sitting where the other photographers are.

Here's the article from the game, and the photo they used.

http://www.dailybruin.​ucla.edu/news/articles​.asp?id=35542

all good shots. It also looks great in the news paper. Great job

Thanks all once again, hopefully i get to cover another game soon(possibly men *hopes*).

Now to someday get my soccer shots up(im so lazy).

Hey - looks like you were enjoying the lighting in there. I do agree with Gavin, the crops aren't all my favorites... but then again, this isn't my work either, so that is just fine - they are yours and how you saw the game. I do really like the ladies game a lot. While the guys have more flash - the ladies games seems more pure basketball. Nothing against the guys... love to shoot them too... but I think the ladies don't get the credit they deserve. Hope you get to shoot more, and share some more too....

Grego,
Any chance you'll be making the trip to CAL for the mens game on 3-2-06?
I'm scheduled to shoot the game, so if your going to be there PM me.
Pauley is a great place to work, good lights and all of those banners to view.

Mark,

thanks for commenting. You were one of those that I hoped to get an opinion from.

Yeah, I got to get more variety. Most of the crops had the feet cut out. Being my first game, i just didn't decide to change my lens. I really am wishing for that second body now, although I'm planning for it later this year. I defintely need the 16-35 or 24-70 for some wider POV. But I do have my 50, that I could stick on. I just figure with one body it wasn't as versatile considering my lighting was good at 2.8 and 1/400.

I love the comments though. It'll give me more to think about. I do know that I was slow to react a lot so I got a decent amount of soft photos that showed more.

I doubt I will, but I will defintely see if I can. I know UCLA's budget isn't that big so only for important games although Cal would be IMO.

Haven't shot in Pauley yet, but I am not far off from shooting there.

I'll defintely let you know if I can do that game.

So, do you get paid for shooting at the game? Just curious.

Im like on the staff, but not on the paid portion. Editor positions and some shooters. You have to do a lot of crap to get on it because they don't hand out many of those positions and Im not going to put in that much time, because I think my grades are more important.