Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

Sports Corner Rules
Sports Corner Resource
  

FM Forums | Sports Corner | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2013 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...

  
 
canav844
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


Been a few weeks since I last covered volleyball so it felt like I spent the whole first set and then some just getting my timing back, but I did manage to get a few shots...
1

2

3

4

5

6

7



Oct 13, 2013 at 04:26 PM
jcbradshaw
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


I shot volleyball once. Hardest sport I've ever shot. Nobody (other than the server) has the ball for more than an instant! Plus netting and other players in the way, and (in my case) terrible lighting. Great work!


Oct 13, 2013 at 08:39 PM
canav844
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


Thanks. Make no mistake about it, the lighting there is terrible and worse than most high school gyms, these are lights that come straight down and the ceiling is a plain series of curved concrete barrel vaults; most high school gyms that I've been in have a white ceiling that's usually pretty flat and will reflect a lot of light down. I also think if I could get a camera with a fisheye to shoot straight down on the floor then undistort it, I could sell it as the worlds largest color checker, no two lights are really the same temp at the same time. far end serves from my elevated position typically highlight it the most, and of course I don't go wide.

But you know what I'm not really complaining, I've learned to work with the light, I do take a few moments before to get an approximate custom white balance setup in camera before the game starts so the back of camera is close, and then at the intermission or after the match is over I'll actually drop a WB card in the middle of the court to set the temp. So that's pretty easily dealt with aside from the odd cycle. And the players do a great job of almost always looking up at the light to highlight their faces.

This will have been my 4th Volleyball match, and I will say it is easier than gymnastics; this carries a certain rhythm most of the time, that after following I can tell who the ball is going to be headed to next and pan to and attempt to get refocused before the ball gets to them (trying to track the ball really does get to be impossible and dizzying). I was fortunate enough thought to find some blogs over the last week or so that helped point out some of the more technical aspects of the sport, so I was able to take my understanding of what was happening based on gym glass many years ago, and actually develop it into something useful which also helped with knowing where to point and focus the camera. I'm definitely still learning.



Oct 13, 2013 at 10:44 PM
rolette
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


Are you looking for C&C on these or just sharing?


Oct 14, 2013 at 06:33 AM
canav844
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


I'll gladly take C&C, still very much learning here. I just didn't explicitly ask for it as my posts tend to receive few comments, and felt any discussion would help as opposed to making folks feel obligated.


Oct 14, 2013 at 09:25 AM
rolette
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · NCAA Volleyball from last night...


canav844 wrote:
I'll gladly take C&C, still very much learning here. I just didn't explicitly ask for it as my posts tend to receive few comments, and felt any discussion would help as opposed to making folks feel obligated.

FWIW, I've gotten to where I won't provide detailed feedback unless the OP has asked for it. I might chime in if there's a particularly good shot or set that I like, but that's about it. Not sure how others are about that, but I'd encourage you to not be shy about asking for feedback if you want it.

General Feedback
I'm having a hard time figuring out what you are doing with your camera settings. SS is all over the place even though you were shooting in Manual mode. Where you using Auto-ISO? In an indoor gym, the lighting really doesn't vary all that much across the court. Figure out your exposure settings during warm-ups and then stick with them.

On SS, there's really no need to be shooting at 1/2000 or 1/1600. Try 1/1000 and see how that does for you. It should be plenty fast other than for some fast hand/arm movement during hits. That will let you drop your ISO and improve IQ.

Exposures look fine generally, but WB is a little flaky on these. Nothing horrendous, but most of them are on the warm side, with the exception of #7 which has that lovely fluorescent green we all know and love. You mentioned you use a WB card to set a custom WB. That's ok to get you in the ballpark, but with cycling lights, you really end up needing tweak WB on each photo for best results.

Horizons are all good and you've done a good job with backgrounds. Some very clean ones when you were shooting from up high with your 300. The rest that were shot from the floor are pretty much par for the course shooting VB

Specifics
#1 - Delete. Serving shot without the ball or one arm. Slightly oof as well.

#2 - A bit of an "almost" shot. Focus is on the blockers, but it looks like they missed the block. I'd like to see more of the hitter on this one, but not 100% required since this shot is about the defense. The ball being chopped off in VB rarely works.

Careful with where you are cropping with regard to joints. You don't want to crop right on the joint or slightly off. Vertical crop would help eliminate the dead space on the right and give you the ball + better crop on the legs. Nice clean background.

#3 - Nice shot! Best shot of the set. Good timing

#4 - Crop at the knee is really awkward. Would like to see a little more breathing room around the setter in the frame on the right and top. Good facial expression and nice timing on the cradle.

#5 - Another crop at the knee. Hard to tell at this size, but looks like focus might be a little soft on her face. Not sure on that. Fantastically clean background. Nice angle.

#6 - This one is a bit unusual, but I like it - probably because of the big smile on her face. If it weren't for the big smile, I'd probably ditch it. Would be nice if the ball was closer to her hand, but it works for what it is. Slightly oof on her face (looks like the AF caught the logo on the pads).

#7 - Love the emotion on the jube, but you either need her feet or need to crop it higher (mid-thigh probably on her lifted leg).

Shooting VB is tough. Not bad at all for your fourth try at it.

Hope this was helpful.

Jay



Oct 14, 2013 at 07:26 PM





FM Forums | Sports Corner | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.