I kind of randomly ended up shooting some high school girls basketball today. It was the first time I shot basketball ever. I'm working with a 5D2 and I started out using my 16-35/2.8 (it was a really small gymnasium) but found my cheapo 50/1.8 worked better, with f2.0 giving me cleaner images at a lower ISO. I thought the Nifty Fifty's AF would be too slow at first but it seemed to work not too badly for the relatively slow speeds of this game.
Welcome to the world of basketball shooting. The first thing I would ask is which camera body are you shooting. That will determine what ISO you can safely use -- which in tern will allow you to crank up the shutter speed to really "stop" the action -- thus avoiding blur from the moving hands, feet, ball, pony-tails, etc. A good place to start might be trying your camera with the 50 f1/8 in manual mode, shutter speed of 1/500th, aperature 2.8. I can't comment on the ISO because i don't know what body you are using (somewhere in the 1000-2000 range for dark gyms I would guess.) Give it a whirl and show us how you did. If they are dark at 2.8, drop to 2.2 or even 2.0 and see how it makes your depth of field a lot more shallow. Enjoy.
Color looks pretty good. The usual mantras apply... crop tighter (especially #4), shoot from a lower angle, avoid amputating toes (#5), use vertical lines in background as plumb lines for the horizon (#7), watch your background (bathroom sign can be cropped out in #9 and try to have the subject facing into the open 2/3rds when composing with the rule-of-thirds), include the ball (#8 & #10).
rddayton wrote:
I can't comment on the ISO because i don't know what body you are using (somewhere in the 1000-2000 range for dark gyms I would guess.)
OP mentions that he's shooting with a 5D Mk II. Also indicated by the EXIF in each of his pictures, with ISO 2500, f/2, 1/500".
Consider yourself very, very lucky if you're shooting "dark gyms" at ISO 1000, even at f/1.8
I liked your skiing pictures and even the ones that included the beautiful landscapes around the skiers. However, with most sports, like basketball, rarely does one want to see the "scenery" surrounding the players. Since this is your first time, I'll offer up a few comments:
1. picture is ruined by girl turning her back to play. Play is over, ref has blown whistle and action was missed. Maybe, and just maybe, if it was cropped a lot tighter, it might work.
2. maybe your best image of the set
3. too much motion blur, oof on girl catching or passing ball
4. much too loose...we don't want to see this much gym wall and person walking in court
5. need to adjust crop. cut off feet at bad location and girl in background watching doesn't add much.
6. not bad, but crop tighter
7. not bad, fix horizion, crop tighter
8. awkward and late on the action.
9. OK, but tighter crop to lose person with whistler (ref or coach?)
10. not horrible, but tighter and ball would be nice.
Generally, for these kinds of shots, I'd like to see you shooting from a sitting position.
Oh, and Rick and most of the middle school gyms around here are ISO 6400 to 8000, 2.8 and 1/500 or so...maybe worse. Even the best HS gyms are at ISO 3200 and the local D1 gym is ISO 2500 or so....If you got gyms that have an ambient of ISO 1000 to 2000, I wanna shoot there!
clarence3 wrote:
OP mentions that he's shooting with a 5D Mk II. Also indicated by the EXIF in each of his pictures, with ISO 2500, f/2, 1/500".
Consider yourself very, very lucky if you're shooting "dark gyms" at ISO 1000, even at f/1.8
Missed the Canon reference in the OP's post. Sorry. Guess I have my Nikon blinders on. and unfortunately I couldn't view the EXIF without the appropriate software at work. However with Nikon's new 50 f/1.8 AF-S on my camera (again, not a Mark II) I have taken many basketball photos that fall between ISO 1000-2000 even stopped down to f/2.2. Guess our local lights are better than I thought.
Some of the other shots I've seen on FM of girls HS basketball seemed to have pretty good motion-stopping at 1/500 to 1/640, so that's where I fixed my shutter speed, dropping the ISO as low as it could go: 2500 at f2.0 (I find 2.0 generally sharper than 1.8 on my Fifty so that's why I didn't shoot wide open). Next time I'll try cranking the sensitivity and shooting 1/800 or faster, but the noise does become a pretty big issue, to my eyes at least.
Seems like to really do basketball well you've got to set up a lighting system... and that's a whole other ball of wax.
Thanks for the composition advice, too. I tried a variety of styles to see what worked and what didn't. Clearly some worked better than others! It's tricky shooting with the 5D2, too, as you tend to have to bullseye your point of focus for reliable AF.
For sports in general you will get better results when shooting from a lower level than standing. You want the camera to be at or below the eye level of the athletes. For basketball with a 50mm I'd be sitting on the floor just beyond the end line where the right side of the lane intersects it. The 85mm f1.8 is another very good lens for basketball, it focuses faster than the 50. With it I will move out to sitting or kneeling where the arc intersects the end line.
Paying attention to backgrounds and trying to shoot when they are cleanest helps - visualize #8 without the doorway or #9 without the girl in orange. Also, you can clean up things by cloning out some distractions like the wall socket in #2 and the bell in #5.
Clarence's tips on composing and cropping are right on.
Thanks, WmPat. I'll think of getting lower the next time I shoot basketball. These are for a newspaper though so cloning things out or altering the content of the image is out of the question.
The lights are indeed fairly bright in this gym but seemed to cycle. White balance had to be adjusted differently for each shot. Still, much better than the local arena where the lights are dimmer and cycle much harder... It might be worth my while to invest in some strobes...
I've sought C&C here, and am more a student than a teacher of this. But I'll offer my C&C as someone who has made a lot of mistakes and is still learning the hard way.
Overall, exposures look good and WB is fine, and with one exception SS's are sufficient for the movement of the subjects. That is half the battle.
One responder suggested getting lower. Yes, shots from lower down look more dramatic, but they can also bring bright flourescent ceiling lights into the frame, and they look horrible. Try it, but be aware.
In particular:
1. Girl walking away + center of action not in center of frame makes this shot work less well than it could.
2. Very nice shot if your goal is to get a good shot of a player for a parent (that is often my only goal in shooting a game). For a newspaper shot there is not enough action.
3. Too much motion blur, ball too far away from faces disperses the interest. You want the ball near the faces (but not blocking the face, as happens all too often).
4. Crop tighter. Shot is just ok...look for closer more intense action.
5. Crop needs to be either tighter, or wider so as not to cut off the toes. Some shots just don't quite work, and this may be one...I typically take 300+ shots at a game, of which maybe 10% turn out well. This would be one of the other 90%...not bad, but not that much going on. Also, it looks overexposed to me.
6. Same thing...not really compelling action.
7. Good shot, though seems tilted. The most compelling shots to me are when the ball is just leaving the fingertips, or when players are leaping with the ball, but those are hard to get, and shots like these are fine and parents are glad to have them.
8. Love the expression, but the best shots have both face and ball.
9. Nice expression, and ball near face (good), but orange figure in the background is a huge distraction. I realize there's not much you can do sometimes...the background is what it is.
10. Not bad, would be better with ball in the frame. It's amusing that the girl has her tongue hanging out, but girls can tend to be self-conscious about stuff like that, and if she saw the pic, she might not like it.
and unfortunately I couldn't view the EXIF without the appropriate software at work. However with Nikon's new 50 f/1.8 AF-S on my camera (again, not a Mark II) I have taken many basketball photos that fall between ISO 1000-2000 even stopped down to f/2.2. Guess our local lights are better than I thought.
It's tricky shooting with the 5D2, too, as you tend to have to bullseye your point of focus for reliable AF.