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Archive 2014 · Volleyball Variety Pack

  
 
lhryshko
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Volleyball Variety Pack


A few from this weekend's volleyball tournament in a crappily lit gym. Just wondering if any of these work.



© lhryshko 2014


1.





© lhryshko 2014


2.





© lhryshko 2014


3.





© lhryshko 2014


4.





© lhryshko 2014


5.




Feb 23, 2014 at 01:33 AM
rolette
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Larry,

#1 would look great with a pano crop, but doesn't work for me in its current form. My eyes automatically go up to #7 and I have to work my way down to the action.

You might be able to save #4 with a narrow, vertical crop of the outside hitter but it won't be one of the traditional aspect ratios. That doesn't bother me unless it gets really extreme, but some opinions on this vary considerably.

I'm kinda diggin' #5. Just wishing there was a little less blur on the ball and her hand.

The others would be straight to the bit-bucket for me.

Jay



Feb 23, 2014 at 08:51 AM
lhryshko
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Thanks for the reality check, Jay. I was just playing around with trying to find some other shots rather than the traditional "en face" blocks or spikes (based on your previous comments actually).

I'll keep at it. Each gym presents new opportunities and challenges so this should be fun.

Best wishes,

Larry



Feb 23, 2014 at 09:52 AM
OntheRez
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Larry,

I consider volleyball the toughest sport to shoot. Of course I've never done gymnastics or rhythmic dance or tennis as my work is mostly confined to small school team sports with the occasional rodeo and what not thrown in. And yes the light invariably is lousy.

First, some great facial expressions. The girls always get weird when they see pix of themselves in action

#1 has a lot of potential but I agree with Jay in suggesting a radical crop, maybe trying to cut down to just the upper 2/3s of her body and ignoring the other players. Expression on #2 is great, but then the ball hasn't cooperated. A tighter crop on #4 might save it, but the foreground players make it hard. Five has the best chance, but again like Jay I see the ball movement as a negative. I found myself wondering if #7 got called for breaking the plane. I find that I can't go below about 1/800 in VB. Many times 1/640 works, but if the ball has real movement it will blur. That forces me to wide aperture primes which introduces its own set of problems, mostly very narrow DOF. At least you got a nice clean background on these pix. Generally there are teams, benches, officials, the crowd, etc., cluttering things up.

Robert



Feb 23, 2014 at 11:59 AM
Paulthelefty
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Good comments above. I shoot a lot of volleyball, and like any sport, shoot tight and crop tighter! I personally will sacrifice ISO for shutter speed. Get the shutter speed you NEED (1/500 absolute minimum), and let ISO be whatever it is.

Volleyball is a very challenging sport to shoot. Following the ball will lead to lots of frustration and late shots, but following players will lead to many missed opportunities. And, as OnTheRez says, players and parents always say "don't you have any shots without that face?" and all you can say is "That is her game face!" and hope they still buy. They want the peak action, but not the face. Go figure.

Keep shooting, that is the best way to improve!

Paul

PS - if the ball broke the plane, she is good to go... Hard to tell from this angle.



Feb 23, 2014 at 01:50 PM
rolette
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Volleyball Variety Pack


lhryshko wrote:
Thanks for the reality check, Jay. I was just playing around with trying to find some other shots rather than the traditional "en face" blocks or spikes (based on your previous comments actually).

It almost isn't fair... Volleyball is one of the toughest sports to shoot and on top of the technical challenges, the number of "different" shots you can get feels pretty limited. I know by the end of the season shooting a particular team, it starts feeling really repetitive.

Digs generally aren't repetitive just because they are so random in the first place. I figured out ways to improve my odds of getting good dig shots, but it is at the cost of pretty narrow coverage of the game while I'm at it.

I always get excited about gyms that have balconies or that are just huge so I can do *something* different than normal. Outside of that, it's the emotions on the girls' faces and catching their personality in little moments. For all the matches I've shot over the years, I'm still not good at making sure I catch the celebrations and jubes consistently.

I'll keep at it. Each gym presents new opportunities and challenges so this should be fun.
Hopefully my feedback isn't coming across too negative. I've seen some really nice shots from you. Given your capabilities, I haven't been soft-pedaling things, but I don't want to discourage you.

Regards,
Jay



Feb 23, 2014 at 02:55 PM
rolette
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Paulthelefty wrote:
And, as OnTheRez says, players and parents always say "don't you have any shots without that face?" and all you can say is "That is her game face!" and hope they still buy. They want the peak action, but not the face. Go figure.

How true that is! I had one season with all sorts of amazing dig shots of the libero and her parents were most excited about the shot I finally got where she was smiling instead of making "the face"...



Feb 23, 2014 at 02:58 PM
lhryshko
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Jay, my take on your critique is that you offered your honest, knowledgeable, and highly valued opinion. That works for me about perfectly. You can soft-pedal even less.

Robert, thank you very much for your comments. I'm throwing up a quick recrop of #1, not exactly as you suggested but at least somewhat less busy. My daughter already hates the picture due to her facial expression (as discussed so accurately by you, Jay and Paul). She vetoed the suggested crop.

I agree with you that volleyball is really tough but that's also what makes it fun. It took me about a decade to get decent at gymnastics. I plan on shortening that learning period a lot for volleyball so all of your comments are greatly appreciated. I could have and should have gone with a higher shutter speed in these (1/640 or 1/800) but I opted to stop down a bit (i.e. cheating).

Paul, your face comments made me laugh. For the girls on our team, and particularly my daughter, it seems to be the sole criteria as to whether a shot is good or not. Doesn't matter at all how great the action is. Player number 7 on our team is one of the most expressive players I've ever seen. Lots of fun to shoot and crazy facial expressions. She can crush the ball and then demoralize other teams with her ferocious battle cries. Big fun, but I almost always miss it. Thanks for your comments!



© lhryshko 2014


recrop




Feb 23, 2014 at 11:02 PM
rolette
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Your daughter must be really picky if she's worried about her expression in that photo. Looks like she's smiling!

Have you tried showing her a bunch of shots of the, um, slightly less flattering grimaces other girls make?



Feb 24, 2014 at 07:57 AM
Scroggins
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Volleyball is actually what got me into photography. I Have a 15 year old in club ball now, and 4 years ago once I realized my point and shoot wasn't good enough I bought a "really expensive" D5000 thinking I'd just spent more on a camera than I could believe was possible. Of course this still didn't do anything I wanted it to do (as far as indoor volleyball goes) and hence started my education of ISO, Shutter speed, fixed aperture lenses, etc and here I sit with my D600 and volleyball favorite 70-200 VRII lens!

Looks like a nicely lit (as far as volleyball goes) gym. Most of the stuff we play in is so dark and "orange" that it's tough to get such good WB. I find myself right around ISO4000 and 1/1000SS at f/2.8 pretty consistently and have learned how to "make the most of it" with LR. One trick I've always found really helpful with my volleyball shots is to ensure I either have a good horizontal or vertical snap. For instance on pic 1 you could have used any one of the white horizontal lines to square it off and make it parallel with the top/bottom borders, or in pic 4 used the antenna to ensure it was rotated straight up/down. Anyway, this is just one of the things that I've found work well for my pics to look consistent. Great job.



Feb 24, 2014 at 04:34 PM
lhryshko
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Volleyball Variety Pack


Thanks for your comments Scroggins. My daughter is also 15 and playing club. My camera upgrade pathway is also similar to yours, except that it was inspired by gymnastics. I appreciate your tip on using obvious vertical or horizontal lines in the court to orient my crops. Even though I should know this after five years on FM, I guess I just forgot.

Post some shots one day. There usually isn't a lot of volleyball around here.

Best wishes,

Larry



Feb 24, 2014 at 11:58 PM
lhryshko
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Volleyball Variety Pack


rolette wrote:
Your daughter must be really picky if she's worried about her expression in that photo. Looks like she's smiling!

Have you tried showing her a bunch of shots of the, um, slightly less flattering grimaces other girls make?


We save the best (i.e. worst) faces for the year end party. It's a hoot. Even then, some shots are just not suitable to be shown. I never understood teenage girls in my teens, and certainly even less now.



Feb 25, 2014 at 12:01 AM





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