It takes me a while to process the photos I take. Besides going in and deleting the ones that are obviously out of focus or blurry, I also have to cull the weak shots, trim them, straighten them, and usually fix the lighting (especially indoors). If you saw me at a meet, the photos will show up here and on my smugmug album.
Besides the posts on this blog about the various events and games I have been able to photograph, below are some direct links to my Smugmug album.
Game Info
- Date: January 24, 2012
- Score: Kamiakin Braves: 80 -vs- West Valley Rams: 49 @ Kamiakin
Photos at Smugmug
- Girls Basketball: Kamiakin vs West Valley – Girls Basketball Photos
- Boys Basketball: Kamiakin vs West Valley – Boys Basketball Photos
- Around the Court: Kamiakin vs West Valley – Around the Basketball Court Photos
Still learning how to shoot indoor sports. I am writing up my experience so that I, hopefully, won’t repeat the same mistakes (too many times) as well as to help others who venture this same path.
During first half I used only my Canon 60D in aperture mode with the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens set to f/2.8, ISO at 640, exposure compensation set to 2/3 underexposed, and the shutter speed left to the camera to decide. The shutter speed fluctuated between 1/60th of a second and 200th of a second. At the low end it was way too slow; way too many blurry photos. Many more were blurry when I accidentally bumped the aperture to f/3.5.
I decided to bump up the ISO from 640 to 1250, doubling the light sensitivity thus allowing the camera to use a faster shutter speed. The camera adjusted the shutter speed and I was amazed how much the exposure fluctuated. What this ends up meaning is that I will spend quite a bit of time in Lightroom adjusting photos since the lighting never really changed except possibly shadow detail.
At half-time I also decided to pull out my second camera, a Canon T2i with my 70-200mm f/4.0 zoom lens attached so I could get better pictures at the far side of the court. This camera I set up in ‘manual’ mode; the aperture wide open at f/4.0, the shutter speed set at 1/200th of a second to try to stop action, and ISO at 800. All the photos came out a bit dark, which was expected, but in Lightroom I just bumped the exposure up about 2/3 stop and only had to do some minor shadow filling.
Lesson Learned: In these indoor situations, it appears best to shoot manual mode since lighting is not really changing that much. When the boys play next, I will have set both cameras to manual mode and will see if I am right.
Other Camera Settings:
- Focus: AI Servo (continuous focus), using only the center dot. Camera set to use back button focus. Back button focus will be the subject of another post some day. With practice, I will be able to keep a player in focus even though others come between me and the subject. I just need to learn to ‘think’ while taking pictures so that I remember to release the focus when someone does come in between.
- Exposure Meter: Spot Metering. I think this was my problem in the earlier photos since the camera would adjust to the center spot even though the subject was not there. Using manual mode it will not matter as much, but will change the exposure metering to the Evaluative Metering mode so that I can keep an eye on my overall photo exposure while taking pictures.
Enjoy the photos!
Meet Info
- Date: January 17, 2012
- Score: Kamiakin Braves: 25 -vs- Kennewick Lions: 33 @ Kamiakin
- Story: Tri-City Herald
Photos at Smugmug
- Kamiakin vs Kennewick: Wrestling – Battle of the Bone – Kamiakin vs Kennewick
- Kamiakin vs Southridge: Coming Soon! Wrestling – Battle of the Bone – Kamiakin vs Southridge
- Mat Rattlers & Misc.: Coming Soon! Mat Rattlers Miscellaneous Photos
After shooting a basketball game, I thought I should try photographing wrestling. Wrestling appears to be much harder to photograph. In Cross Country & Track, the athletes are always predictable. They will be coming from a specific direction. Every runner, every time. In Basketball, the athletes are heading towards one basket or the other. Yes you will have their backs to you at times, but the defenders will most likely be facing you.
In Wrestling, the athletes rotate around the mat, facing this way and that. Even when they are pointed your direction, the athletes’ faces may be turned away or buried in the other player’s armpit. The photographer is also fighting the same low light situation you have for basketball and other indoor sports with the added difficulty that the wrestler usually has his face angled towards the dark mat, meaning their face is always in a shadow. In basketball the players are looking out towards either the basket or other players, a much better lighting situation in comparison.
Still, it was fun to shoot, fun to remember high school, fun to see and hear the parents cheering on their wrestlers.
Game Info
- Date: January 13, 2012
- Score: Kamiakin Braves: 62 -vs- Hanford Falcons: 35 @ Kamiakin
- Story: Tri-City Herald
Photos at Smugmug
- Boys Basketball: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Boys Varsity Basketball Photos
- Girls Basketball: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Girls Varsity Basketball Photos
- Around the Court: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Around the Basketball Court Photos
This was still my first day of shooting both basketball and indoor sports but after taking photos of the 2nd half of the girls basketball game I felt a little more confident shooting this game. I decided to let camera choose the best ISO setting and manually set the shutter speed and lens aperture. I chose a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second to try to stop the court action and not have too many arms or legs ghosting. My primary lens for the game was my Canon 17-55mm zoom and I set the aperture to its widest setting, f/2.8, to allow in the most light. This is the first time I had set both my shutter speed and aperture settings. Usually I set just the shutter speed if I am worried about ghosting or the aperture if I want to set the depth of field. The camera set the ISO for a majority of the photos between 1000 and 2000. The pictures look fine if you don’t try to zoom in 100% but would like to see if I can keep the ISO below 1000 next time.
Besides the girls game, I have some shots from around the court that you may want to check out as well.
Game Info
- Date: January 13, 2012
- Score: Kamiakin Braves: 61 -vs- Hanford Falcons: 37 @ Kamiakin
Photos at Smugmug
- Girls Basketball: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Girls Varsity Basketball Photos
- Boys Basketball: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Boys Varsity Basketball Photos
- Around the Court: Kamiakin vs Hanford – Around the Basketball Court Photos
The Kamiakin girls basketball played a great game against their cross-town rivals, Hanford High. This was my first attempt at photographing a basketball game. My son asked if I could get some photos of their student section as part of their effort to raise money for Alfredo Barajas who is under hospice care for a terminal heart condition. Since I would be bringing my camera, figured it would be a good opportunity to shoot some indoor sports.
Due to some prior commitments I wasn’t able to make it for the first half of the girls game but tried some photos at various locations on the court. Basketball moves quite a bit faster than Cross Country and in Cross Country you can almost always set yourself into a position where the athletes will be coming right towards you. In basketball the player is changing posistions constantly though he is rarely facing you directly and if by chance he does, more likely than not, a ref will block the photographers view.
I was asked to take some photos of the Cable Bridge Run this year for the Port of Pasco to use in some publicity pieces.
A nice blue sky would have been perfect.
Instead the day was cold and overcast.
If I get a chance I may teach myself how to ‘replace’ the ugly gray sky with a nice blue sky from earlier this year.
From my vantage at the Port’s building I would not see the 1 mile runners since they would not run this far.
The 5k runners ran along Ainsworth in front of the Port property while the 10k runners ran along the river on the back side of the Port property.
I went back and forth bewtween the front and back to try to get some shots that would highlight both the river trail and the rest of the Port of Pasco’s property.
All the photos can be found at my SmugMug album: 2011 Cable Bridge Run
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