Basketball

My first C&C (so not too much tough love). I had the pleasure of attending a Wichita State game over the weekend and had very good seats. I took only 800 pictures and was fairly happy with how some of them turned out considering I am a newbie and I had to stay in my seat for pictures. I used my 20d with either my 28-135 or 75-300, ISO was set to 1600 and shutter was set to 1/200 to 1/500 depending on the shot.

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Here are two more.

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I also tried to take some 'non-basketball' photos. The referee looks to really be bored and the lady is a mother of one of the players on the WSU team.

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Anyone?

Most of them seem soft, but that's expected with both your lenses. The first one is a good capture, but it is very cluttered with a busy background and some body parts slightly cut off. The 2nd one just isn't very interesting. If there was a ref or someone in the shot to show whom the ballholder was looking at, it would be better. The mascot one is fine, but again just isn't interesting. The dunk one is okay, but again lots of clutter especially with the ref in the way. It might benefit from a better crop, but I'll let you decide. Overall, they are not bad captures just need to practice your composition and timing.

Thanks ghms421. I appreciate your feedback. I'm hoping to get to sit on the floor in an upcoming game so I can get better composition options, being able to take photos from a fix position (my seat) really stinks when you know it is not the best angle. Thanks again.

Well, I apologize if my old photo editor demeanor comes out here...but I looked at the first one closely.... and here are my comments on just that one:

The shot needs to isolate the players from the crowd. Most folks do that with a small depth of field and Av set at f2.8 or lower. Here you have selected f5.0 which begins to bring the crowd into focus somewhat and you lose the isolation effect...

Secondly, the selection of f5.0 has dropped your shutter speed to 1/250th. That is right on the edge of stopping real sports action such as a slam-dunk or layup like this.

Lastly, this, and many of the other shots, are soft. It could be the noise reduction application you are using, but I'll guess these are Jpeg's right from the camera...just cropped. if the latter is true, make sure you are not moving the camera as you release the shutter. The "leverage" created by a long telephoto (short ones too) can create motion blur across the entire shot if you dip or pan the camera while you push the shutter button.

Changing to f2.8 would get you up around 1/500 or so....better to stop action, isolate the action and reduce the potential for camera motion blur.

I'll save composition and leveling for another day.

If I offended, I apologize and you can just ignore me But keep posting....

GBRandy,

Absolutely not offended. Thanks so much for the tips. They were jpegs from the camera. I had the worst time getting the entire body in the shot due to my angle. The players that were on the bench were right in front so I couldn't get the players in frame well unless they were at the other end of the court. Again, thanks for the tips and I'll keep practicing.

My CC...

1)appear soft, probably the lens and possiblyt he slower shotter speed
2)the landscaping orientation should be portrait orientation
3)the last one isnt bad, just would like to see his face...

Best advice would be to get a better/faster lens...

much better start then my first ones...keep working at it...