basketball photo suggestions
Hello everyone,
First, I want to thank all of you whose posts have taught me so much.
I work for a small weekly newspaper in Iowa, and I have been taking photos of high school sports for three years now.
I have two photos that I took at a recent BB game. The first was using a borrowed EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens.
The second, is using the same equipment that I normally have available.
The lens is the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 non-IS. With this lens, I am using a Speedlite 430EX, angled at about 60 degrees, and a piece of white card stock rubber banded to the flash to bounce the flash.
Both of these photos are as is off the camera, I have not processed them.
Using the first photo as a sort of reference, do any of you have any suggestions for adjusting my settings, or methods that would improve my photos?
Thanks in advance.
Tom Lundvall
Sports Editor
The Vinton Eagle
First, I want to thank all of you whose posts have taught me so much.
I work for a small weekly newspaper in Iowa, and I have been taking photos of high school sports for three years now.
I have two photos that I took at a recent BB game. The first was using a borrowed EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens.
The second, is using the same equipment that I normally have available.
The lens is the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 non-IS. With this lens, I am using a Speedlite 430EX, angled at about 60 degrees, and a piece of white card stock rubber banded to the flash to bounce the flash.
Both of these photos are as is off the camera, I have not processed them.
Using the first photo as a sort of reference, do any of you have any suggestions for adjusting my settings, or methods that would improve my photos?
Thanks in advance.
Tom Lundvall
Sports Editor
The Vinton Eagle
0
Comments
Here is the second photo. Also, I have attached some of the exif data for both photos.
Photo 1:
Model: Canon EOS 20D
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 1600
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/400
Focus Mode: AI Servo AF
White Bal.: Fluorescent
ICC Profile: sRGB Profile (embedded)
Contrast: 1
Sharpening: 0
Quality: Fine
Photo 2:
Model: Canon EOS 20D
Lens (mm): 55
ISO: 800
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/250
Focus Mode: AI Servo AF
White Bal.: Fluorescent
ICC Profile: sRGB Profile (embedded)
Contrast: 1
Sharpening: 0
Quality: Fine
Are you saying neither photo was even cropped? This was the original framing? If so, the IQ of the kit lens is really killing you in the second shot. There's just a lot of lost detail. Lost detail I usually attribute to cropping and noise reduction. If neither has been applied then I have to attribute the difference to a lens issue. Of course there's also the added issue of DOF. I.E. a 55mm 5.6 lens is going to have a lot of dof which means the backgrounds are going to be more distracting. In reality, I would suggest investing in at least a 50mm 1.8 lens. It won't be any slower to focus than your kit lens and it will be sharper - especially if you stop it down. The 85mm 1.8 is a better option still.
Also - I see you're using Flourescent WB. THe problem is, in shot 2 you've introduced flash so the WB isn't really flourescent. This is leading to a slightly off WB (a bit cool). It's not a huge problem which is why it doesn't jump out and smack you in the face. But it is there.
Other than the poor detail, it looks like your flash use in shot 2 was good. It's not overpowering. The framing is also good. But the lack of detail and the greater DOF are what I believe is contributing to your dissatisfaction. The WB may be too but probably not as much.
Are you saying neither photo was even cropped? This was the original framing?
I apologize, I did not consider cropping.
Yes, the second photo was cropped much more than the first.
The first photo was cropped from 7.8"x11.7" to 5.6"x10"
The second photo was cropped from 11.7"x7.8" to 2.7"x5"
Tom Lundvall
Sports Editor
The Vinton Eagle