Tips for shooting volleyball

samsen wrote in post #4007797
Thanks Mike.
Considering double image mobilizer in these cameras (That you expect to act as 3-4 stop to say the least, ISO 400 with D-IS should act at least equivalent to 1600 if not 3200 in terms of motion blur prevention.
A main purpose of high ISO or wide open F is to freeze the ball in addition to players motion. I personally think a blur ball is quit a pleasing view in sport event shooting, just to add that 3 dimension; Time. Now a player can be frozen in a right phase of extreme motion such as when force of jumping meets the gravitational force. So if enough frame per second images are available, it won't be difficult to find that right frame in 15 fps of a rapid shooting. I will try to get out with my S3 to just get a taste of it but 15fps is something that I am curious about.

Good luck with that, let us know how that works out for you...

it will be interesting to see the results...

You KNOW we will be pissed if you get decent results with those cameras while we spent all that money on ours....LOL

I just returned from my first volleyball game, and boy was it a major challenge. I've done baseball, soccer, motorsports, cycling, track & field, kids and dogs, and this was by far the most difficult action photography I've done to date.

I had my new 40D with 70~200 f/2.8IS combination, and my backup 5D, along with the 28 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8 and flash in my backpack. I also had read this informative thread and the links provided by some of the posters, so I had some idea of what I was supposed to do.

The 40D was set to 3200 ISO, and the shots ranged from 1/250' to 1/800, with most in the 1/400~500' range. So I was able to at least effectively freeze the action. The difficulty was in getting the focus right.

With the camera set to AI-Servo mode, and using all focus points, the focus of my shots were hit-or-miss. Much of the blame lies on operator error, as I couldn't quickly enough anticipate where the ball was going AND zoom the lens to closely crop the subject and the ball to enable the focus-tracking to focus on the main subject. In trying to capture the ball in mid-air above or in front of the players, I zoomed out too much.

I've at least gotten the hang of where to position myself for the action, and to keep both eyes open to both follow the action and to frame the shot. I'm going back out there again tomorrow to practice some more, this time with the 40D and 85mm combo. I'm also going to be a little more aggressive shooting in burst frame mode.

Sounds like a good first outing. Why don't you share some of the specifics of what you learned...

EORI wrote in post #4023398
With the camera set to AI-Servo mode, and using all focus points, the focus of my shots were hit-or-miss. Much of the blame lies on operator error, as I couldn't quickly enough anticipate where the ball was going AND zoom the lens to closely crop the subject and the ball to enable the focus-tracking to focus on the main subject.

I turn off all focus points except center, and use CFn4-3 to allow me to focus and then re-frame. I try to avoid zooming during the play, preferring to set the zoom to a larger area than expected, and plan on cropping. Actually prefer my 85 so I don't try to zoom. I found that all focus points will pick the back wall instead of a player on the court when multiple points pick up the wall, and only 1 on the player.

Agree, use center focus and CF 4/3 (thats what I like)

Best way to learn is post some examples with the EXIF and get some specific pointers...

samsen wrote in post #4007797
Thanks Mike.
Considering double image mobilizer in these cameras (That you expect to act as 3-4 stop to say the least, ISO 400 with D-IS should act at least equivalent to 1600 if not 3200 in terms of motion blur prevention.
A main purpose of high ISO or wide open F is to freeze the ball in addition to players motion. I personally think a blur ball is quit a pleasing view in sport event shooting, just to add that 3 dimension; Time. Now a player can be frozen in a right phase of extreme motion such as when force of jumping meets the gravitational force. So if enough frame per second images are available, it won't be difficult to find that right frame in 15 fps of a rapid shooting. I will try to get out with my S3 to just get a taste of it but 15fps is something that I am curious about.

As others have said, IS won't help you. If you like the motion blur, then that's your choice. I think what you've maybe seen that looks good is when maybe the player is sharp, and their arm or the ball is blurry. You won't get a sharp player even at the slow shutter speeds, and to me a totally blurry player is really not very appealing. Finally, the response time of even the most advanced P&S cameras is going to have a sizable lag from shutter release to image capture. Volleyball requires, much more than many other sports, extremely precise timing to capture the action.

EORI wrote in post #4023398
I just returned from my first volleyball game, and boy was it a major challenge. I've done baseball, soccer, motorsports, cycling, track & field, kids and dogs, and this was by far the most difficult action photography I've done to date.

I had my new 40D with 70~200 f/2.8IS combination, and my backup 5D, along with the 28 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8 and flash in my backpack. I also had read this informative thread and the links provided by some of the posters, so I had some idea of what I was supposed to do.

The 40D was set to 3200 ISO, and the shots ranged from 1/250' to 1/800, with most in the 1/400~500' range. So I was able to at least effectively freeze the action. The difficulty was in getting the focus right.

With the camera set to AI-Servo mode, and using all focus points, the focus of my shots were hit-or-miss. Much of the blame lies on operator error, as I couldn't quickly enough anticipate where the ball was going AND zoom the lens to closely crop the subject and the ball to enable the focus-tracking to focus on the main subject. In trying to capture the ball in mid-air above or in front of the players, I zoomed out too much.

I've at least gotten the hang of where to position myself for the action, and to keep both eyes open to both follow the action and to frame the shot. I'm going back out there again tomorrow to practice some more, this time with the 40D and 85mm combo. I'm also going to be a little more aggressive shooting in burst frame mode.

I've not had much luck with bursts in volleyball, because the players don't hold the ball. Go with center focus point, and use the rear button to start/stop focus instead of half press of the shutter release. This will let you pre-focus easily and control when the camera is tracking and when it isn't. I do a lot better with timing it to get the best action.

KirkHMB wrote in post #4025861
I turn off all focus points except center, and use CFn4-3 to allow me to focus and then re-frame. I try to avoid zooming during the play, preferring to set the zoom to a larger area than expected, and plan on cropping. Actually prefer my 85 so I don't try to zoom. I found that all focus points will pick the back wall instead of a player on the court when multiple points pick up the wall, and only 1 on the player.

Good advice.

Thanks for all the pointers. Should I also turn off the AI-Servo if I am going to pre-focus? I'm going back out this afternoon, and will try to post some images over the weekend.

EORI wrote in post #4026577
Thanks for all the pointers. Should I also turn off the AI-Servo if I am going to pre-focus? I'm going back out this afternoon, and will try to post some images over the weekend.

If you have back-button focus enabled, AF mode doesn't matter. But you want to leave the camera in Servo the whole game anyway, and then just release the AF-On button when you've got the prefocusing set.

I switched to the * focus button and cant imagine going back...its SOOO much easier for sport, at least for me it is....LOL

I remember my first two weeks of sports shooting my friend tried to convince me to use * for focus (on my XTi) and I couldn't imagine any reason to do so (I actually remember being in his room and trying it out and thinking it was the craziest idea ever). Now I couldn't imagine being without it.

Except for One Shot at some casual events it's nice to just use shutter-button focus... and then when passing my camera off to someone else I don't have to either switch it or explain the extra button they have to press...

sbressler wrote in post #4036715
I remember my first two weeks of sports shooting my friend tried to convince me to use * for focus (on my XTi) and I couldn't imagine any reason to do so (I actually remember being in his room and trying it out and thinking it was the craziest idea ever). Now I couldn't imagine being without it.

Except for One Shot at some casual events it's nice to just use shutter-button focus... and then when passing my camera off to someone else I don't have to either switch it or explain the extra button they have to press...

I totally agree with you. When you use the * for AF, you get the best of all worlds. Takes a bit of practice but it works very well. Wouldn't be without it for sports.

Otherwise, you keep the shutter depressed half way to keep the AF tracking but you've just locked the exposure. You will have a lot better shots that are a lot better exposed if you use this.

J

Well, here are some images from my first attempts at volleyball. All shots were taken with a 40D @3200 ISO, 70~200 f/2.8IS, shutter speed generally in the 1/400' range. Images have been post-processed, first in Ninja Noise, then Lightroom.

EORI wrote in post #4038428
Well, here are some images from my first attempts at volleyball. All shots were taken with a 40D @3200 ISO, 70~200 f/2.8IS, shutter speed generally in the 1/400' range. Images have been post-processed, first in Ninja Noise, then Lightroom.

Not bad, but try the back area of the net. It takes lots of practice, your on a good start. Oh and beaware of the focused area when shooting behind the net.

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Thanks for the feedback Paul. I'll try more of that location the next time. I realized from looking at all of my shots that very few have a clear shot of the players' faces, either because they had their back or side to me.

Of the few behind the net shots that I took, I had difficulty with the focus. Do you preset focus to a particular area behind the net, and then wait for the action to develop there?

I also see that you're images have more natural light; it looks like I need to do some work with the AWB.

EORI wrote in post #4038483
Thanks for the feedback Paul. I'll try more of that location the next time. I realized from looking at all of my shots that very few have a clear shot of the players' faces, either because they had their back or side to me.

Of the few behind the net shots that I took, I had difficulty with the focus. Do you preset focus to a particular area behind the net, and then wait for the action to develop there?

I also see that you're images have more natural light; it looks like I need to do some work with the AWB.

I focus on a player and I wait until they jump, Take 4 pics, delete 2 and so on. Be carefull of where your center focus is, that net can be a pain and ruin a great pic.