Varsity VB - District Finals

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Archive 2009 · Varsity VB - District Finals

clarence3
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p.1 #1 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Volleyball at the high school last night.

No flash allowed, so I used 3200 on my 1D2 and 6400 on my T1i. Alternated between the 85/1.8 and my 70-200/2.8L

I haven't looked at EXIF yet to see which body/lens/ISO combo had the most keepers... I enjoy doing that after I pick my favorites.

1.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/800", 73mm, f/2.8

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2.) 1D2, 3200, 1/1000", 85/1.8

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3.) 1D2, 3200, 1/1250", 85/1.8

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4.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/1000", 93mm, f/2.8

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5.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/1000", 93mm, f/2.8

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6.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/640", 120mm, f/2.8

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7.) 1D2, ISO 3200, 1/1250", 85/1.8

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8.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/1000", 93mm, f/2.8

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9.) 1D2, ISO 3200, 1/1250", 85/1.8

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10.) 1D2, ISO 3200, 1/1600", 85/1.8

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11.) T1i, ISO 6400, 1/800", 98mm, f/2.8

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Both teams advance to the Regionals next week.

Edited on Nov 08, 2009 at 03:02 AM · View previous versions

Nov 06, 2009 at 08:22 PM

dwerther
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p.1 #2 · Varsity VB - District Finals

#11 is fantastic. Great job of getting the other team in the BG and the looks on their faces are the perfect counterpoint for the winner's expressions. Perfect composition and exposure. Love it.

Nov 06, 2009 at 08:39 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #3 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Thanks David. I wish I had more faces, but I liked the background expressions too.

Nov 06, 2009 at 08:50 PM

dwerther
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p.1 #4 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Please don't take this as any sort of diminishment of your talent. I have seen lots of your posts and your expertise is unquestionable. I just had to write again and tell you my thoughts about this shot.

Clearly a lot of what you have in this shot (#11) is intentional. However most of the time as a sports shooter everything is happening so fast that it is all you can do to get into position and frame the shot. In this case you were in exactly the right spot but you had a lot of luck on your side!

The arrangement of the girls on the winning team - basically tallest on the left to shortest on the right - leads the viewer's eyes to the one face on the winners team, and then to the losing team. No, you didn't get a lot of faces on the winners, but the one full-on face that you did get (as a result of the lucky alignment) tells the story and suggests to the viewer, along with their body language, that the rest of the winning team is also jubilant.

Then there are the expressions of the three out of four girls on the losing team. You could not have asked for better faces to tell the story. Great timing? No doubt. But also tons of luck.

And the trophy in the shot really makes it. The trophy is obviously the object of the losing girls' "angst", and the winner's joy. The shot would have been okay without the trophy, but the inclusion of it takes the shot from good to great.

The uniforms and knee pads alone would have been enough to place the teams as volleyball players, but the inclusion of the net support is a brilliant subliminal anchor to time and place.

And the fact that the viewer can tell from the color on the back wall and partial team name that the game was won at the opponent's gym also adds a lot for me, and probably adds satisfaction for the winning team.

There is no doubt that the more sports one shoots the better one gets and the better one gets the "luckier" one gets.

Congratulations on taking the good luck you got and adding your skill to turn it into maybe the best post-game team shot that I have ever seen. Well done.

Nov 06, 2009 at 10:41 PM

canonet
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p.1 #5 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Hey Clarence, great shots!

Which camera shot what? The T1i loos great

Nov 07, 2009 at 12:52 AM

clarence3
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p.1 #6 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Thanks guys.

canonet wrote:
Hey Clarence, great shots!

Which camera shot what? The T1i loos great

Just got back from Friday Night Lights but I gotta go pick up my son. I'll look at the EXIFs late tonight... I don't know myself yet... I always throw them in the same folder and sort by time.

But I suspect that the ones where the WB makes their legs reddish... those are probably from the 1D Mk2. The pale legs are probably the T1i. Just my guess.

Nov 07, 2009 at 03:02 AM

mcarlson
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p.1 #7 · Varsity VB - District Finals

That trophy shot is great - obviously the expression on the losing side makes it..and I think it's one of those shots that works because you don't have too many winners' faces to 'distract' us from the loser.

The game shots...seem way too loose for such busy backgrounds. For me the action just gets lost in the chaos...

Nov 07, 2009 at 12:32 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #8 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Yep, I'd love to get tighter shots. I'm amazed at the guys that can shoot this game at 300mm or 400mm. (Plus, I'd just love to have a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8). But VB moves too fast for me even at 200mm with both eyes open.

I get my 3rd attempt next Tuesday. I'll try to force myself tighter when possible. Some of these were already cropped quite a bit. But if I sit on the sideline and target a specific player, I should be able to get a few nice tight shots.

I'm embarassed to admit that my keeper rate for this game was only 30%... I threw 70% away for no ball, OOF, or nothing but backside.

Nov 07, 2009 at 01:31 PM

canonet
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p.1 #9 · Varsity VB - District Finals

clarence3 wrote:
Yep, I'd love to get tighter shots. I'm amazed at the guys that can shoot this game at 300mm or 400mm. (Plus, I'd just love to have a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8). But VB moves too fast for me even at 200mm with both eyes open.

I get my 3rd attempt next Tuesday. I'll try to force myself tighter when possible. Some of these were already cropped quite a bit. But if I sit on the sideline and target a specific player, I should be able to get a few nice tight shots.

I'm embarassed to admit that my keeper rate for this game was only 30%... I threw 70% away for no ball, OOF, or nothing but backside. Have you tried a custom WB for the lighting in the gym?

Nov 07, 2009 at 02:24 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #10 · Varsity VB - District Finals

canonet wrote:
Have you tried a custom WB for the lighting in the gym?

I definitely will next time.

Nov 08, 2009 at 01:34 AM

canonet
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p.1 #11 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Clarence, i;m envious of your gym lighting as ours are pretty bad overall in my city.

Nov 08, 2009 at 02:16 AM

clarence3
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p.1 #12 · Varsity VB - District Finals

canonet wrote:
Clarence, i;m envious of your gym lighting as ours are pretty bad overall in my city.

Yeah, not bad lights at all. But I couldn't do f/2.8 without ISO 6400.

I went back and looked at the EXIF (I added the info to each picture in the first post)...

Looks like 6 of my favorites were from the T1i... 5 from the 1D2. Well balanced.

6 shots using the 70-200/2.8L - 5 using the 85/1.8 wide open. Well balanced.

Looks like I need to use more of the 100mm+ range of my 70-200 to shoot a lot tighter before I worry about playing with a 300/2.8

Notes to self... on Tuesday's Regional game, take custom WB and zoom in more with the 70-200mm.

Nov 08, 2009 at 03:09 AM

canonet
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p.1 #13 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Thanks clarence for the info!
Keep them coming!

I have to start up D2 college bball this weekend but using a monolight and my 1D and/or D1H go into service.

Nov 08, 2009 at 10:45 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #14 · Varsity VB - District Finals

canonet wrote:
Have you tried a custom WB for the lighting in the gym?

This made a HUGE improvement with tonight's game!

I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Nov 11, 2009 at 05:24 AM

clarence3
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p.1 #15 · Varsity VB - District Finals

A) T1i, ISO 6400, 70-200/2.8L at 125mm, 1/800"

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B) 1D Mk II, ISO 3200, 85/1.8, +1/3, 1/1000" I used Auto-contrast on this one, but the others are straight out of the camera with the Custom WB

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C) 1D Mk II, ISO 3200, 85/1.8, +1/3, 1/1000"

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D) 1D Mk II, ISO 3200, 85/1.8, +1/3, 1/1000"

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E) 1D Mk II, ISO 3200, 85/1.8, +1/3, 1/1000"

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F) 1D Mk II, ISO 3200, 85/1.8, +1/3, 1/1000"

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In addition to Custom WB, I also started shooting RAW+JPG which I rarely do. But I gave up on that after seeing the remaining shots counter dropping like a rock at 35Mb per click.

Our home team won and advances to the Semifinals on Thursday.

I don't see it in EXIF, but is there any way to retrieve what Color Temp the Custom WB was so I don't have to do a white sample every time I shoot in the same gym?

Nov 11, 2009 at 01:50 PM

canonet
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p.1 #16 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Clarence, they look great! I'm happy the custom white balance made the difference for you. It does give a ½ stop advantage in light with custom WB.

What did you use to create a custom WB?

Also, i;m darn impressed with your results with the T1i body. Keep up the good work!

Nov 11, 2009 at 02:15 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #17 · Varsity VB - District Finals

canonet wrote:
What did you use to create a custom WB?

Also, i;m darn impressed with your results with the T1i body. Keep up the good work!

I used the back of the player roster that they gave me... just a white sheet of copy paper (well.. almost white... it had an empty tournament bracket on it). I set it on the edge of the court, zoomed in, snapped a picture, then selected that image as "Custom WB" in the menu.

The T1i definitely does a good job at high ISO, but in reviewing my shots last night, I had 3x as many keepers with the 1D Mark II (as evident in the labels on the selected shot above)... they were all sharper. But there were several factors beyond the body... I kept the 85/1.8 on the 1D2 (the 70-200/2.8L isn't notorious for being sharp wide-open), plus the 1D2 was at 3200 instead of 6400 on the T1i.

The 1D2 is definitely snappier on AF... I just point in the general direction (using my left eye open, plus my right-eye through the viewfinder), and press the *-button and it locks in.

The T1i needs a split second more to lock in. But there's no way I could shoot ambient at f/2.8 without having ISO 6400. Plus the extra megapixels really help with NR.

I just bought some strobes, so next year I hope to use those... I have to get the AD, coaches, and refs comfortable with the setup and results, so I'll be practicing when the basketball team practices.

Nov 11, 2009 at 02:52 PM

canonet
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p.1 #18 · Varsity VB - District Finals

Clarence, you are going to love strobes and basketball.
When placed right, can come out like this with one light:

http://stevenworthy-photo.blogspot.com/2009/02/sports_13.html

I use my 1D bodies in shooting basketball and have been extremely happy with the results.

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Nov 11, 2009 at 03:44 PM

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