Tried Out Volleyball

Tried my hand at some Volleyball. I've never shot it before and it is a little difficult to track the action. I struggled to shoot through the net as the focusing is tough and I needed 200mm really, which wasn't fast enough for this gym.

I wound up shooting almost everything from the side with the 135L at ISO3200, f/2 and 1/620.

Here are a couple for critique.

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nice work. the first seems a little crooked and the second looks to have a slight red tint?

Those darn bleachers sure highlight a crooked shot, don't they? OK, I can fix that one.

I agree the color seems 'off' on the second shot and I'm finding it hard to get looking right. I seem to have captured a moment of really strange flicker in the arc lamps.

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willshoot4food wrote in post #8841817
Second is better than the first noise looks ok for 3200 but both images look like they have a bunch or artifacts. Did you save these in Photoshop at a low quality?

Both were converted to jpg at low quality in order to meet the POTN image posting limits.

Even so, I'm interested in your comment. Can you point out the areas that you see artifacts? Thanks!

Here is the complete set in low resolution with no extra compression:
http://www.flickr.com …h/sets/72157622​605643632/

I'm not real sure the 1st shot is crooked player #8's feet are even it maybe just the angle of the photographer to the bleachers / back wall

Good for your first time. When you shoot indoors with those types of lights you don't see it with the naked eye, but those lights cycle on/off very fast. You'll notice it a lot if you take fast action series. Was there a higher spot you could have shot from? Or do you have to shoot from floor level?

Gary Wiant wrote in post #8847317
I'm not real sure the 1st shot is crooked player #8's feet are even it maybe just the angle of the photographer to the bleachers / back wall

her feet are even but her knee pads are not. everything in the bg is all angling down from l-r.

Net got in the way, huh? Well, with your camera in portrait orientation, select a focus point low on the focus point ring. That way you can shoot from the rear of the court (or side). The focus will grab the legs of the player on the other side of the net. You should be able to capture the player blocking or hitting the ball and their face will be in focus.
Mike