Hey all, happy holidays! University student here doing some sports photography, mainly Water Polo and Lacrosse. I haven't had any problems with lighting while shooting lacrosse, but for water polo, my team's games are all indoor in older, dimmer pools, so I never quite have enough light during games.
I am shooting on a Fujifilm X-T3 and typically a 55-200 f3.5-4.8, so a majority of my pictures are all the way zoomed out at 200mm and f4.8. I'd like to shoot faster at 1/2000 and a lower ISO, but a majority of my pictures are at about 1/1000 and 10000 ISO and I usually have to do some post-work to bring some light back in.
I know pro areas have the strobe lights for photographers but would using a flash during a game work/even be ok for the players? Should I try shooting from a shorter focal length and cropping? Just curious if anyone has any tips for shooting water polo indoors or even just general sports indoors!
Thanks so much in advance, and Happy (early) New Year!
I shot Michigan HS Water Polo for about 10 years while my kids played. I only have a few shots at my flickr page however I have taken thousands of WP shots in some of the dimmest pools ever.
I shot 90% of my photos with a 70-200mm f2.8. All on Nikon crop and FF sensor cameras.
I don't think I ever shot much over 1/500 sec. Maybe image sensors are better now and you can crank up the ISO. I don't think I ever shot above ISO 3200. When I stopped, I was shooting with a D750 and D7000 I think.
I looked through some of your photos. I like some wide shots however it would be nice to have more up close photos. Can you get close to the pool?
Sounds like you are asking more about light. My comments are going to be more about composition.
Waterpolo is more of a "headshot", so even though you feel close, you have a small target. Even when I'm close, I shoot with my 400 most of the time. Since you want the eyes in focus and their arms will come up, I set my AF point down a little. This gives the arms room to come up.
Next, for most sports, I like to get really low. For water polo, this can give you a messy background, so I sometimes go up a little. Not high, but just high enough for a clean background.
I also agree with the comment above, get closer and try to shoot tighter. My personal guide is the ability to count eyelashes, so close.
Light, well, the hard thing here is that gear matters and a 2.8 lens will help a ton. A 2.8 lens will cut your ISO in half much of the time. I start with shutter speed. I love 1/1000th as a base line. Then, open as wide as possible and set ISO for the best exposure. I'm ok with some things being blown out as long as the face is exposed right. If you need to boost in post, you will boost a lot of noise. The more you get it right, the better your noise will be. What else can you do? Lower the shutter. Will you get motion blur? Sometimes yes. When they are treading water just holding the ball, you might get lucky down to 1/640 or 1/500th. Shooting... you'll want closer 1/2000th for the strong players, so time your shorts.
If you can get exposure right, also try shooting jpeg with in camera noise reduction. Increase the sharpness and test it out. I shoot a lot of stuff over 12,800 and 10,000 is common for me. My body (Nikon D5) handles it well, but the jpegs come up very nice. Better than I can easily do in post on RAW images.
Flash... depends on local rules. The strobes we use in pro arenas are not cheap. High power and very short duration. It is the short duration that freezes the action. Setting them up in arenas can be tricky and you will want multiple units. Some arenas have a dozen or more. Many people instantly think flash is bad for the athletes, but I've asked a long and none ever know unless it is an on camera pop-up style. Today, most cameras have good enough high ISO that strobes aren't worth it.
So long post, but I think you can drop shutter and time pictures with less motion. Get closer and work on composition, but do light and composition at different times until you get comfortable with each. Build your confidence and your images will get better every time.
Looked through the thumbnails of what you posted. You have some solid action/moments/timing, but shoot tighter if at all possible.
I’ve shot a decent bit of sports at night and indoors. Lens speed matters a lot, unfortunately. Shooting wider and cropping doesn’t add much—higher resolution images with more noise can be downsampled better than a deep crop with a faster but wider lens (within limits, this works much like a TC where, for example, 100mm f/1.4 is comparable to 140mm f/2 or 200mm f/2.8 in total light gathering because the physical aperture is of similar size…)
On full frame, I’d shoot water polo at 70-200mm f/2.8 or 200mm f/2… I’d probably use 1/1600s or faster if I could. You can shoot sports on a Fuji, but faster glass would be ideal. What is your goal/intended output for this photography? What else do you shoot?
I can’t recall if DXO PureRAW is available for X-trans sensors yet. It’s 2-3 stops better than Lightroom can do in many circumstances IMO. Keep shooting and looking for key action. Faster and longer glass will help if you can afford it.
I looked through your photos. As I got more experienced I learned that almost all of the best shots had the player with the ball/puck/glove about to receive the ball eyes in the photo. the reason I say almost all, is that sometimes you want the defensive player's eyes in focus in the image. Many of your images with the ball in focus had the player facing the opposite way. I would try to get the offensive player's face in the photo. I also agree with those above who said tighter is better.
