HELP! I am Shooting Vball in a CAVE

Picture is worth a thousand words.
Nikon D90 85mm 1.8 1/500 iso 1600. The only way I get any light is dropping to 1/250 and iso 2000

Please give any and all advise to get my exposure better.

Why not shoot at 1/500th ISO3200 and use a little noise reduction software if you feel you need it?

Or get a D700/D3 and shoot at ISO3200 and not even need any noise reduction software




Really looks pretty decent though as is, just adjust the levels a bit and your golden

Have you tried shooting raw at ISO3200 or higher? IMO, it is better to shoot at a higher ISO, slightly overexpose the subject and then bring down the exposure in post.

You could also bounce a couple of SB-900s off the ceiling and use FP sync, which would help.

But, unless you put some big strobes in the rafters or use direct flash, you're not going to be able to use lower ISOs and get anything close to pristine shots.

We are not allowed to use flashes.

I start back shooting VB this weekend. All evening games are shot at ISO3200 if I want a good ss. I sometimes get lucky at 1600ISO.


Last year's pix are still online
http://gamedayphotos.uwa.edu/

know your issues, have shot BB & VB for three years, some of those school gyms are really dismal for their lighting,, start cranking in some +EV and you will see them brighten up,, the schools I shoot at do not allow strobes or flash firing,,

I always arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the game to set my WB and then shoot several test shots on someones face to validate the skin tones and then several test shots on the players while they are warming up,, I never go below 1/320 and like the 1/500 for freeze action and then let the ISO float from 200 to 2000,, if you need to keep the ISO down in the 1200 or lower range, just start raising the EV and watch them brighten up,, do plenty of peeping so you not over exposing,,

Derry

joe chance wrote:
I start back shooting VB this weekend. All evening games are shot at ISO3200 if I want a good ss. I sometimes get lucky at 1600ISO.


Last year's pix are still online
http://gamedayphotos.uwa.edu/


What lens do you use?

derry1 wrote:
know your issues, have shot BB & VB for three years, some of those school gyms are really dismal for their lighting,, start cranking in some +EV and you will see them brighten up,, the schools I shoot at do not allow strobes or flash firing,,

I always arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the game to set my WB and then shoot several test shots on someones face to validate the skin tones and then several test shots on the players while they are warming up,, I never go below 1/320 and like the 1/500 for freeze action and then let the ISO float from 200 to 2000,, if you need to keep the ISO down in the 1200 or lower range, just start raising the EV and watch them brighten up,, do plenty of peeping so you not over exposing,,

Derry

How do you setup the iso float? Have not done that.

Mostly use my 85 1.8, 70-200 2.8, and sometimes the 50 1.4
Depends on what I am after.

You turn the auto iso to on, then set the max iso you want

I would set max iso to 3200
That should let u go up to ss 500 or 640
By the way I'd kill for that much light where I shoot, that's why I got a 700
+ what derry1 said.

Thanks everyone.
The gym the picture was in is the Freshman Gym, the JV/Varsity Gym is much brighter. Will be better next year when she is on the JV team . But for now, I will try out your suggestions tomorrow and look at the D-700.

As Kerry says up that ISO to 3200 expose to the right and shoot raw. We've got an excellent shooter on here that shoots a lot of hockey with the D300 at 3200, your D90 should be even slightly better.

Have you talked to officials about setting up a strobe off camera and bouncing it into the ceiling? That's not as distracting as direct flash.

I would set everything manual indoors because your in a controlled environment and the lighting is not going to change.

What is going to change is what the camera thinks is the correct exposure depending on what it sees, such as light or dark uniforms and the last thing you want is the camera thinking it needs to adjust for a girl wearing a dark uniform when the ambient lighting has not changed.

for sure expose to the right, just set it to shutter priority and iso 3200 and Exp. comp. to +1 then bring it back down in post. the results ive gotten from doing this look just as good if not better than properly exposed image at iso 640.

Hmmm, lots of suggestions here, some good, some less than good.

Technology these allows us to shoot in caves no matter what sport so investment in the right gear is key.

* Someone said D3/D700 for bodies. I agree.

* I would also agree about using fast primes, like 1.4 or 1.8's. Sometimes, you can get away with 2.8, but not always.

* For simplistic's sake, let's forget flash. The only exception is if we're talking college vb, where DI, DII, or DIII allows team photogs to strobe the house. But let's not go there.

* Shoot Manual mode, crank to the highest allowable ISO (3200 on D90, 6400 on D3 or D700, not 3200).

* Freezing volleyball. I disagree with those who say 1/500 can freeze the action. No, it can't. Compelling vb shots cannot be frozen at 1/500. It takes 1/1250 or higher to properly freeze indoor vb action. Before anyone claims to disagree, compelling means a DS diving to dig a kill attempt with the ball frozen on an arm or hand, or an above net shot of an OH or RS engaging in a kill attempt, or a catching a jump serve at point of impact. Any other type of shot is not compelling. Sure, 1/500 can freeze a bump, or a setter setting with hands on ball, or a serve toss in air, but you are not talking about compelling shots either.

* Know your venue. If you are relegated to a "cave", sorry...you won't achieve compelling, but a D3/D700 at 6400 with an 85 1.4 can get you awfully close if you know how to shoot volleyball.

* Joe Chance shoots at UWA in a poorly lit house with hanging incadescent(?) lights. Oh man, those are the worst. Lighting is uneven across the court. So then you have to avoid shooting at dark spots. How fun is that. Btw, what school is UWA? I'm surprised you can't strobe that place.

I'm not going to address "how" to shoot volleyball since we're only talking about cave shooting. I don't fully know the capabilities of the D90 for sports, let alone vb which is one of the most challenging to shoot.

I've shot vb for years in similar places but stopped right away because if I couldn't strobe or use flash, it wasn't worth my time. I moved onto fairly well lit DI schools around the Big Ten before walking away from vb shooting two years ago (I shoot one or two matches a year now).

Volleyball is challenging because the types of shots I call compelling are extremely limited (described above). All other types of shots are stock at best and uninteresting. Bump serve receives, serve motions, any type of pass, setter dumping, on and on are all dime a dozen. But this conversation is about ISO, shutter and freezing action.

Honestly, if ISO 6400 and a 1.4 prime can't give you at least 1/1250 on the shutter, I wouldn't shoot it.

Indy

Is there that much of a difference btw the NIKON 85mm 1.8 that I have and the NIKON 85mm 1.4? If so enough to buy one?

Thanks.

I'd say, just bump it up to ISO 3200, don't worry about noise reduction (because that just tends to mush up your detail). The one thing you do need to do however, is adjust the Hue setting in your picture profiles to the left (-2 or -3) to correct the colour-shift you'll get on the skin tones at a higher ISO.

a wise man told me that you can only shoot vball with a 200mm F2...

R. Francois wrote:
a wise man told me that you can only shoot vball with a 200mm F2...



Naw .... he said the only thing the 200MM f/2 was good for is volleyball ....

I went from shooting available light to off camera flash for VB last year and really liked the results ... of course the venues/leagues I shoot have no restrictions against flash.

I love my 85/1.4, but for this purpose, there isn't that much of a difference between the 1.8 and 1.4 - only 2/3 of a stop. Optical quality wide open is a better on the 1.4, but I don't think it justifies the extra price tag. For that price, I'd rather save up a little more, and get a used/refurb D700 for the extra ISO performance.

+1 to shooting manual. Same thing as weddings in a dimly lit church. Set up your exposure ahead of time. The light isn't changing, but the meter is easily fooled by changing background, or dark/bright uniforms.