Honestly have never shot basketball. Did a lot of football this year and while that season officially ends today down state, local teams didn't make it so I'm home playing with basketball.

Went to try 2 different techniques. One, remote flash, the other, using the monster lens (400/2.8) to catch action. Got a loaner 400 from Canon before my teams were eliminated so wanted to do something useful with it while I have it!

One camera (5D) was setup with the Pocketwizard transmitter for lit shots, while my other camera (5DII) had the Canon 400/2.8 on it... I believe the 5D was at 800 or 1600 depending on the shot, I was playing around a lot with it. While the 5DII with the 400 was at 2500 most of the night.


Remote flash, 2 flashes set in the stands, set to 1/8 power. Roughly positioned at the top of the key.. used my Canon 580EX and 550EX.

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Much harder to shoot with on a smaller court (1940's building, about 6 feet behind the baseline one one side, 3 on the other. Ugh) was the 400/2.8...

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15. This is the crop you get on a full frame shooting the other side of the court @ 400...


16. This is the crop at half court... TIGHT???


C&C welcome.

I know I suck shooting basketball, like I said, first time out and I was experimenting. Nothing like trying new things, but that's why I went.. before I get assigned to shoot one of these games for the local station I work for, I want to work all the bugs out. Game last night I really didn't need the flash. It metered 250/2.8@1600. No issues there. However, there are a mix of deep dank holes in our area along with shiny new multi-million $ schools, I need to be able to get consistent results from anywhere I shoot, hence playing with the flash.

Thx

Jim

One of the biggest problems I see is your cropping, you have a lot of dead space above there heads in #3,#6,#9,#11,#14 and #15 just doesn't work for me. You want tight just like any sport and try to stay away from so much dead space like this.