First Time Basketball Pics

[Dave Throgmartin]

Any comments & constructive criticism are welcome!

I took these at a local high school basketball game. The typical shot was f/2.2 - f/2.8, 1/500 second, Auto ISO (most were 1600) and shot AI Servo with center point focus. Camera used is 60D and lens used is 135L. All shots are as taken in camera except resized and sharpened for web posting.

[rlriii13]

These are some great captures in the game Dave. I'm interested to know where you were shooting from and why you chose that spot in the gym. Were these your regular seats, or did you just go to the highest spot you could?

I'll also comment on the cropping, although this is entirely my personal opinion. I would have liked to see either a tighter crop (or a longer lens) or a wider shot (or wider lens). To me, the shots are a bit "in between." The moments captured are great, but I feel like I'm missing some of the story with the framing - either not seeing the hoop, or cutting off the player's bodies. On the flip side of that though, I don't mind missing those things when I can get in really tight. For example, the first shot is a classic shooting pose. Can you crop that any tighter on the player?

Overall, these are great shots. Personally, I would try and get either tighter or wider, depending on what story you're trying to tell. And with that 135L, I would first try to move a little closer next time (or crop in PP) to get some "player portraits." Also, I really like the plays in shots #3 and #4. Thanks for sharing!

[Dave Throgmartin]

These are some great captures in the game Dave. I'm interested to know where you were shooting from and why you chose that spot in the gym. Were these your regular seats, or did you just go to the highest spot you could?

I'll also comment on the cropping, although this is entirely my personal opinion. I would have liked to see either a tighter crop (or a longer lens) or a wider shot (or wider lens). To me, the shots are a bit "in between." The moments captured are great, but I feel like I'm missing some of the story with the framing - either not seeing the hoop, or cutting off the player's bodies. On the flip side of that though, I don't mind missing those things when I can get in really tight. For example, the first shot is a classic shooting pose. Can you crop that any tighter on the player?

Overall, these are great shots. Personally, I would try and get either tighter or wider, depending on what story you're trying to tell. And with that 135L, I would first try to move a little closer next time (or crop in PP) to get some "player portraits." Also, I really like the plays in shots #3 and #4. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent question on why I sat where I did. The gym had lower level seating on each side and an upper level on the one side. I choose to sit in the upper level area because I didn't want to risk being too close. Truthfully I wasn't that sure of what I was doing and this was primarily experimental. Next time I'd try to move around a little bit and take some shots from the lower level.

I cropped 3 of the images to what I'd consider "story telling" compositions. Are these what you had in mind or would you make any other changes?

Thanks
Dave

[ChadS]

@Dave That's a good set if it's your first. My first football pics were atrocious and my first hockey pics even worse!

Having shot a lot of sports the temptation is always to focus on the "money shot" that you'd see on the cover of SI. All your shots are in the act of shooting (and you do need some of those shots). However, you can often get more drama from facial expressions on the grunt plays - scrambling for a loose ball or the look on a defender's face when the guard does a crossover and the defender's knees break. When I shot my son's football games I'd always get a shot or two of the boys running the ball. But after that I'd focus on one position for a given play and just be ready to snap a shot if anything interesting happened. Looking back on the season the shots the parents loved best were not the breakaways but of their son grimacing in total concentration and effort to block a guy, etc.

Children's sports are often great if you focus on the team that's down. The team that just got scored on, etc. At the end of the game it may be no fun to shoot those expressions but in the middle of the game it's neat to see the kids are really down but they're trying so hard to ignore it. By college and certainly the pros most athletes have become hardened and just know it's time to go back to work most of the time.

[Dave Throgmartin]

. However, you can often get more drama from facial expressions

I tried a few of these too, but didn't post them because I thought people would be more interested in the action shots.

Dave

[Busted Knuckles]

Dave, man I really love the block shot,#3, Well done.

[ChadS]

@Dave, I love the first shot of the new batch where #5 is blocking out. You can feel the tension. The pictures of the guys taking shots (with the exception of where the shooter is about to get blocked) are all in motion and the interesting bit has already happened. In this new shot everyone is (likely) standing mostly still trying to time their jump as the ball comes off the rim. The anticipation and tension tells a great story.

[bob williams]

@Dave, I have never shot sports indoors but I think you have a very good start at it. Considering the terrible lighting conditions in most gyms, your exposures and ability to freeze action was pretty good. Don't be afraid to go to ISO 3200 if needed, you can always overcome noise, but you can't do anything with motion blur. I agree with most of the others in that the crop or framing is paramount and I think you did a good job with your edits. When you have a chance to shoot again, try and capture a few moments of the individual players such as facial expressions after a missed (or made) shot, the actions of those on the bench when a key shot is made or the ref makes a bad call----all of these types of scenerios also make for good story telling---don't forget about them.


Very nice work and thanks for sharing.


Bob

[Dave Throgmartin]

Thanks guys. This was a good first start and I appreciate the tips.

Dave

[HDNitehawk]

Dave, the advice so far is all good.

To me the pics appear a tad hot, the white balance doesn't appear quit right. You said you took the pics in camera, did you take them as JPG format and had the settings on auto white balance?

Rick