p.1 #1 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Hi all. Although I am a longtime FMer, this is my first posting of pics in the Sports Corner. I have spent the majority of my time in the Nature and Wildlife forum but then I had a son and he started playing sports so that has become my primary focus. My goal in posting on this board is to get help to take the best pictures I can of him using the tools I have. I started w/flag football and felt great about my shots. Then I hit indoor basketball in elementary school gyms. Yikes! I have never trusted my 7d too much so recently picked up an old Mark IIdn. I am still using them both to figure out which gives me the best chance to get the shot. For basketball I have been using my 85 1.8 and 50 1.4 almost exclusively. Well here are some pics. Let the advice flow. My wife and I thank you in advance.
p.1 #2 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Color and exposures look real good. Be mindful of keeping your horizons straight and crop all of these tighter. The last is your best action wise, but I know it can be tough to get action at this age.
p.1 #3 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
P Alesse wrote:
Color and exposures look real good. Be mindful of keeping your horizons straight and crop all of these tighter. The last is your best action wise, but I know it can be tough to get action at this age.
Thanks! Beginner question - where is the horizon line in these photos. Is it where the court meets the wall? I changed horizon in pic #4 in my op below.
p.1 #4 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Paul gave you good advice, now I'm going to give you some more. Buy that boy smaller clothes that fit him so he doesn't get hurt tripping over his shorts!
p.1 #5 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Matt OHarver wrote:
Paul gave you good advice, now I'm going to give you some more. Buy that boy smaller clothes that fit him so he doesn't get hurt tripping over his shorts!
Smallest size they have my friend! Plus the kids where the shorts long these days (ok maybe not this long.) Just a note - he did score 10 of his team's 16 points in this game.
p.1 #6 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Your best bet is to look for a vertical line and use that to straighten your image. In that last shot, I would use the right-side edge of the blue mat on the wall.
p.1 #7 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
You are beginning what will be some of the best years of your life! Have fun with the photography, but don't become so obsessed with it that you don't take in the moments; these years pass too quickly. I know whereof I speak.
p.1 #8 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Looks like you have nailed your camera settings. That's the easy part. Now you need to look for the action. Youth sports can be tough, action wise, but even at this age you can still catch it.
While you won't see any dunks you can concentrate on getting the most out of the little things like dribbling. For example, catch the ball at the top of the dribble instead of flat on the floor. Jump balls can offer some good action and facial expressions and warm ups can provide some great shots of the kids shooting.
I'm guessing your son is in the 6-8 year old range so I linked a gallery of youth basketball for your perusal. http://tinyurl.com/7cv2pm9 Hopefully you can get some ideas from it.
p.1 #9 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Best piece of advice I can give -- look at every basketball post from the FM masters -- guys like P Alesse, Frank L, Aqualung, Marty Bingham, Russ I, Matt O'Harver, Grantland, Scott Sewell, Tim Gangloff (and many many more.) You have already heard from many of them here on your post. Look at how they shoot hoops, and try to do the same thing. I know it is easier said than done, but to me it's the ultimate case of imitation truly being THE most sincere form of flattery.
p.1 #10 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
Marty Bingham wrote:
Looks like you have nailed your camera settings. That's the easy part. Now you need to look for the action. Youth sports can be tough, action wise, but even at this age you can still catch it.
While you won't see any dunks you can concentrate on getting the most out of the little things like dribbling. For example, catch the ball at the top of the dribble instead of flat on the floor. Jump balls can offer some good action and facial expressions and warm ups can provide some great shots of the kids shooting.
I'm guessing your son is in the 6-8 year old range so I linked a gallery of youth basketball for your perusal. http://tinyurl.com/7cv2pm9 Hopefully you can get some ideas from it.
Thanks Marty! I am going to study these pics when I get home. Noah is 5 and the ball is basically bigger than his head. If I don't catch the driblle in mid-bounce or on the floor all you see is shoulders and a ball
p.1 #13 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
That is awesome. I noticed that myself when looking at these pics again. Noah took more shots in the game then probably everyone else combined including Francis. When I asked him why he never passed he said: "The guy guarding me (#5 Jordan) was wearing goggles (they were glasses and not sure why that matters) and I was a head taller (they were the same size) plus when the coach said pass I just shot and scored." Can't argue with the results ; )
p.1 #16 · My first sports post - Help me take great pics of my son!
I think BB courts should have the floor painted white. Then BB would just be as difficult to shoot as hockey! lol....
BB and Gym's in general are super hard to shoot in. It sorts out the body's from the lenses for sure? You can get great baseball, soccer, rugby and really look like you know what your doing and then........the Gym. OMGoodness.
I like the last of the first set......but - lol - I thought the little guy had his brothers shorts on! He looks soooooo determined?
Do they have lower hoops for children? Dont know a thing about BB. It kinda puts me to sleep? But i believe it was invented in Canada? So cant be all that bad?
