Carl Auer
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 p.2 #2 · How to shoot BBall without too many pictures? | |
First in response to:
I cant imagine ever using flash photography at these games. I would get bounced! Flash is sure to distract players and screw up the flow of the game.
Strobes, not on camera flash, when mounted correctly, are not a distraction. In Colorado, the High School Activities Association actually has written into the rule book regarding photography that Strobes are approved for all sports. The only exception is the start of swimming because the flash can compromise the start computer electronic eye. After playing HS basketball in many venues strobed, as a player, you never notice them. Since you are in Canada, I suggest watching a Raptors game. You will notice flashes every once in a while. 4 or more strobes up in the rafters.
Scott brought up something too I was thinking about. I shoot differently for who I am shooting for.
If I am shooting for a paper, I am looking for that one to four great shots. If I can get that in the first quarter, great. I might shoot 50 or 60 shots and move on. Might be with my paper strobe quick kit (2 vivitar 285's, Pocket Wizards, and super clamps) or it might be shooting ambient. Either way, I shoot as long as I need to to get what I need.
If I am shooting for MaxPreps, I am using 2 to 4 strobes, and I will shoot between 200 and 500 shots a game. I will download via PhotoMechanic, and do an initial edit. I will quickly go through the photos looking for missed shots, out of focus, strobe miss fires, etc. After that initial edit, I will go through again, at 50% zoom looking closer at focus. After two passes (maybe 10 to 15 minutes) I will be down to about 80 to 150 shots. I import these into Aperture, edit one photo, then batch the rest (strobes, your exposure should be pretty close to the same in every image). I export these, open in photoshop and crop via MaxPreps requirements and send off.
If I am shooting for the wires, I do not ingest all the photos. I tag photos in camera as I can, and open the images in PhotoMechanic on the cards and copy over to my computer only the 15 photos I will send out. That could be 15 out of 200-300 images per half. I will edit and caption those photos quickly, then after the game when I get home I will go through all the images, delete junk, and archive.
When I shoot, I am constantly looking for different things. For example, when shooting the University of Colorado, I know there are three players to really focus on. Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson, and Askia Booker. Dinwiddie is on the Cousy Award watch list, so I look for that iconic NBA logo Bob Cousy dribble, play calling, jumpers and lay ins and will shoot heavy on that. Roberson is rated as one of the most underrated players in D1, and he is fun to watch. So anytime he has the ball, he is going to do something special, and Booker, when his game is on, he is almost unstoppable. So I will go heavy on these three players, and go heavy on any of the opposing teams star players, and then just follow the action of the other players and grab anything that looks like it might be interesting. Break-a-ways, jubes, ally oops, etc. Also looking for interesting shots of mascots, fans, cheerleaders all are important.
The key when doing a final edit is dumping the junk quickly. At first it will take a while, but as you get a routine going, you will see it speed up.
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