YMCA National Gymnastics

Another season has come and gone and I am so happy to be done with high ISO shooting for awhile. Gymnastics photography has proven to be the most challenging sport to shoot for me not just technically, but in backgrounds and positioning as well. These events are packed on to basketball courts and things are very tight.

The YMCA National Championships were held here in Wisconsin these past four days. 1300 gymnasts from across the country...it was a fun event to watch and shoot.

(My daughter took first place all around with a 35.45 and will be moving on up to level 8 next year BTW...sorry proud parent moment there )

Anyway....some shots from Friday and her level 7 team. EXIF data is all there for you pixel peepers....ISO 1600 - 3200.

Some bar shots.....
#1

Great shots! And congrats to your daughter - what an achievement! You did really well with the backgrounds on these shots. They're all very clean.

Nice shots, especially w/ the backgrounds, and congratulations to your daughter! That is quite amazing.

Good series! Tell your daughter we said

Great shots. Number 7 is my favorite. I enjoy watching vault. Unfortunately, not my daughters best event. Two more months until we start up again.

great shots !

terrific!

Ever think about goin with Nikon for the High ISO benefit? If you have, what are you finding? I'm starting to look that way since Canon haven't been showing us Prosumers much in the way of High ISO capabilities in a modern moderately affordable camera (under $2,200). The ISO shots I've seen from the D300 look comparable to the 5D, even better. They have a new D700 now too that I can't wait to see some High ISO pics from. I like to shoot volleyball and shoot my friends Midget Racing including some night stuff and it's like the gymnastics, which begs for the best capabilities of the lenses and the bodies. I'd been looking for faster Canon mount lenses, but I can't ignore it when a body could give me a good boost as well. Nice to see the ISO 3200 from the 1D MkII. That's something I've been looking at as well.

Those are some very nice shots! I especially like the vault shots...lot of midair shots...very cool

Congratulations to your daughter...you must be very proud

Great shots

CanadianKitKat wrote in post #5815167
Great shots! And congrats to your daughter - what an achievement! You did really well with the backgrounds on these shots. They're all very clean.

That is the trick...the backgrounds and sight lines in these gyms are awful. I just snap on the old 70-200 white lens and walk over and tell the scoring table I am going out on the floor....they always say OK

manutd101 wrote in post #5817337
Nice shots, especially w/ the backgrounds, and congratulations to your daughter! That is quite amazing.

Thanks!

PhotosGuy wrote in post #5817744
Good series! Tell your daughter we said

[GIFS ARE NOT RENDERED IN QUOTES]

She'll like that

felixapproach wrote in post #5834675
Great shots. Number 7 is my favorite. I enjoy watching vault. Unfortunately, not my daughters best event. Two more months until we start up again.

The vault shots are tricky in that it is a bit like trying o get an image of a bullet in a dark closet. I like #7 as well.

Kilo1One wrote in post #5834690
great shots !

Thank you

c3p1 wrote in post #5837868
terrific!

Thanks!

StuffNJunk wrote in post #5838662
Those are some very nice shots! I especially like the vault shots...lot of midair shots...very cool

Congratulations to your daughter...you must be very proud

Great shots

Yea... I rarely brag on my kid, but she did very well and did this after dislocating her knee back in December....lots of rehab top get to this point.

tkoutdoor wrote in post #5837913
Ever think about goin with Nikon for the High ISO benefit? If you have, what are you finding? I'm starting to look that way since Canon haven't been showing us Prosumers much in the way of High ISO capabilities in a modern moderately affordable camera (under $2,200). The ISO shots I've seen from the D300 look comparable to the 5D, even better. They have a new D700 now too that I can't wait to see some High ISO pics from. I like to shoot volleyball and shoot my friends Midget Racing including some night stuff and it's like the gymnastics, which begs for the best capabilities of the lenses and the bodies. I'd been looking for faster Canon mount lenses, but I can't ignore it when a body could give me a good boost as well. Nice to see the ISO 3200 from the 1D MkII. That's something I've been looking at as well.

as noted in my little siggy thing I have a few years with Nikon. Some random thoughts:

1. I have shot with the D300. It's high ISO performance is not very good. The 5D kicks it. The MKIIn & MKIII are really the answers right now for Canon and the D3 for Nikon. As a side note, getting good high ISO shots is a long chain of events that start with the camera, include some tricks in exposure and some techniques in post process. I can make a d200 shot look great at ISO 3200...problem is I need a lot of light to do it

2. I left Nikon last year for a better ISO camera that works well in a gym...the MKIIn and the fact that prime lenses in Nikon are still run with a mechanically driven focus systems wer the reasons for baling. Nikon has caught up with the D3 camera....but the prime lenses I use for these events remain old technology from the Nikon side....so I am still here.

Our season starts again in October. If Nikon updates their primes...well I may just have to switch back. If Canon can convince me that the MKIII is really corrected (and I have tried several bodies) then I will upgrade to that and stay. An MKIIIn in September would be a pretty sight.

That 85 takes some sweet pictures at F1.4. You had nothing to do with it!

Very nice images. Good to see some gymastics images in here again. Congrats on the victory and the level change to your daughter. Quite an accomplishment!!!