Girls HS Basketball - The Season has Started

Covered a four team high school tourney this weekend. Attached are a few of my favorites. Mark III with a combination of 135 f/2 and 85 f/1.8. All ISO 2000, f/2 and 1/800. No noise reduction, just some USM.

1.

Big K wrote in post #9066926
All ISO 2000, ............. No noise reduction,

Incredible results for that ISO and no NR.

Those are really nice.

In #1, I like the fact that the ball is not resting on the floor... shows that the action is still going. Great faces... all with a hint of a smile... like they're enjoying the game as they should. I'd crop out just a smidge more off the right edge to lose that dark pants leg.

2. Love the exhale. Love the drip of sweat between her nose and eye. Love the height differential... eveident that she's at midjump even without seeing her feet. Love the logo in the bokeh.

3. Check out the look on the cheerleader in the bg.

4. The player's neck is awkward, but I love the player on the floor in the background, under the jumper's feet.

Nice work Kevin. #5 is a beaut! That's tough shooting at those apertures and you did a fantastic job controlling the DOF.

The shots are incredibly well done. Let's save this thread and parade it out each time the 'ambient-versus-strobed' basketball debate rears an ugly head.

What were your USM sharpening numbers, if you don't mind sharing. They certainly don't look oversharpened and I'd like to give mine that treatment this season as well.

Very nice shots. Great action. Color balance perfect. Exposures completely nailed. Amazing what results you can get when all those elements align. Brilliant.

dave

Sibil wrote in post #9067581
Incredible results for that ISO and no NR.

Thanks. These were all helped by being shots when I had a surge from the light cycles so are a bit brighter and helps keep down the noise. Those at the low end of the cycle needed more NR to clean up.

clarence wrote in post #9067818
Those are really nice.

In #1, . . .I'd crop out just a smidge more off the right edge to lose that dark pants leg.

Oops, I posted the wrong version. That is the uncropped version and meant to post one where I cropped out his leg. Good spot. Thanks for the other comments. Much appreciated.

namasste wrote in post #9067868
Nice work Kevin. #5 is a beaut! That's tough shooting at those apertures and you did a fantastic job controlling the DOF.

Thanks Scott. That was one of my favorites as well. Most shots like that I have get ruined by the ball out front catching the AF.

The girl in shot #2 is the freshman I was telling you about in a previous discussion. She has put up 15, 11, 15 in her first three games and only played about half of two of the games because they blew out a couple of teams. She has a sweeeet jump shot. 5'8" with 27" vertical jump playing point guard. It is going to be a fun four years watching her.

snyderman wrote in post #9067905
The shots are incredibly well done. Let's save this thread and parade it out each time the 'ambient-versus-strobed' basketball debate rears an ugly head.

What were your USM sharpening numbers, if you don't mind sharing. They certainly don't look oversharpened and I'd like to give mine that treatment this season as well.

Very nice shots. Great action. Color balance perfect. Exposures completely nailed. Amazing what results you can get when all those elements align. Brilliant.

dave

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the nice feedback.

This gym is a dream to shoot in. All the orange in the gym gives a nice warming effect which I think really helps offset the typical green cast from most HS gyms. It is the only HS gym in my area that I am content shooting ambient. I do still love my strobes.

USM settings were Amount 100%, Radius 0.5 pixels, Threshold 3.

Wow, what a tribute to your skills at using the 135 f/2 and 85 f/1.8
Incredible stuff...

These look awesome. Tac sharp and good action with sensational exposures, I always find myself enjoying your posts which makes me start to wonder ...... if you have more money than skill ..... you must be loaded!

Big K wrote in post #9068011
Thanks Dave, I appreciate the nice feedback.

USM settings were Amount 100%, Radius 0.5 pixels, Threshold 3.

Thanks a bunch for sharing your USM recipe! Duly noted. Our first regular season games begin 12/4. Seems like an eternity!

dave

Big K wrote in post #9067967
Thanks. These were all helped by being shots when I had a surge from the light cycles so are a bit brighter and helps keep down the noise. Those at the low end of the cycle needed more NR to clean up.

Those cycling lights drive a novice shooter, like myself, crazy.

Big K wrote in post #9068011
USM settings were Amount 100%, Radius 0.5 pixels, Threshold 3.

Thanks for sharing the USM settings. I am always curious how folks post process their high ISO, ambient bball shots.

Again, these shots are fantastic

Very nicely done!

Dmab wrote in post #9068129
Wow, what a tribute to your skills at using the 135 f/2 and 85 f/1.8
Incredible stuff...

Thanks. Please keep in mind that most of the images I take get deleted when using these lenses. That shallow DOF is a killer. I kept about 1 out of 4 from this weekend's event.

butcha27 wrote in post #9068149
These look awesome. Tac sharp and good action with sensational exposures, I always find myself enjoying your posts which makes me start to wonder ...... if you have more money than skill ..... you must be loaded!

Ha, thanks. Acutally with the way the economy has been going in the US, more money should be changed to less money every day.

snyderman wrote in post #9068164
Thanks a bunch for sharing your USM recipe! Duly noted. Our first regular season games begin 12/4. Seems like an eternity!

dave

To expand on the USM stuff, these are the settings I use for posts to here. For prints, I will tend to increase the amount percentage and will go as high as 250% on occasion. It is really a trial and error thing and am getting to the point I have a good idea how something on screen will turn out in print. A lot of times, things that look oversharpened on screen will print out very nicely.

I will adjust the threshold depending on the amount of noise in the images. For stuff shot at ISO 400 or less, most of the time I will go with a threshold of 1. Again, it is a trial and error thing. I virtually never change the radius.

Sibil wrote in post #9068167
Those cycling lights drive a novice shooter, like myself, crazy.

I think they drive anyone, regardless of level crazy. This gym has two lights at each end that are on all the time and are much older than the rest of the lights in the gym. Shooting volleyball at center court, I virtually never have this problem but shooting basketball in this gym is a real challenge because of them. I was bugging the AD this weekend to replace the bulbs and as you might guess, he laughed at me.

nicmo wrote in post #9068213
Very nicely done!

Thanks.

wow, they look great. Gotta love fast glass.

Strobes would have added nothing to these K. Very well done.