High School Boys Basketball - C&C

MNGirl · February 17, 2010

I've been shooting basketball for a couple of years, but have only taken it out of program mode in the last 2 months. Also figured out setting my WB manually. The last couple of games have been with a Pentax K-x, prior to that a Pentax *istDL, and a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

I usually plant myself on the floor on the side of the court about even with the basketball hoop so I can get the close in shots under the basket.

Would love some C&C. In my most recent shots with the K-x I seem to have some good shots but the bodies are in focus but not the face. Any recommendations?

1. Pentax K-x, 1/200, 3200

2. Pentax K-x, 1/200, 3200

3. Pentax K-x, 1/500, 6400

4. Pentax *istDL, 1/250, 1600

There are always bleachers on both sides of the court, so impossible to avoid the spectators in the background most of the time.

More photos from the entire season at:
http://www.shetekphoto.com/Boys-Basketball/ABC-Squad-2009-10

Thanks!

johng · February 18, 2010

Hi Wendy.

It would help to see some slightly larger images. Tough to judge sharpness with these small images.

The first thing that jumps out at me is the WB for all 4 is different. Did you use manual WB on these?

Second - to answer your question about bodies in focus but face not- typically you'll get this when you focus on the body and you're shooting at a sharp angle - i.e. they're very close. In those cases there isn't enough depth of field. In general you should be selecting a single focus point only. I'm not familiar enough with the K-X focus system and whether the non-center points are just as accurate. In many DSLRs the center point is more accurate than non center. So often it's the center point that is used. If pentax has off-center points that are the same accuracy as center then you usually can get better composition using one of them. In any event - even if you're using center - focus on the FACE when they get close to you and you're shooting up. For example on shot 2 - a tight frame of the torsos head with sharp face would be killer. Much more interesting than including the legs.

Anyway, on to the shots:

shot 1: nice action - way too much dead space on top. Don't need the net - need to frame tighter so the two players fill the frame.

Shot 2: best of the bunch. Nice action and less dead space which is good. But I would argue this could be framed/cropped even tighter. The story is the ball and two faces. THAT is what needs to fill the frame. The second defender is irrelevant and thus distracts.

shot 3: doesn't work for me. Too cluttered - dead space on top and too many bodies doing nothing on the bottom.

shot 4: again too much dead space. Timing is a bit late but not bad - it's just the action (ball, hand, face) fill up such a small portion of the frame.

For just starting out in trying to shoot basketball seriously you're off to a decent start. But you need to embrace the mantra: Frame Tight, Crop Tighter. You won't be able to frame loose and crop down and still keep quality detail - not in poor light and high ISO. So you need to frame tighter to begin with. Framing such that the players are as close to filling the frame as possible (and when they're close to you and if you have to use center point that means having only torso in the frame) will give you the ability to crop down. If shot 2 was framed just like that in-camera and you had a focus point on the face instead of body you'd be able to crop downn on the interesting part of the frame and have a stellar shot.

Again, off to a good start here. It's exciting to see some encouraging shots from the K-X.

MNGirl · February 18, 2010

johng wrote:

Hi Wendy.

It would help to see some slightly larger images. Tough to judge sharpness with these small images.

Just put in larger images.

johng wrote:

The first thing that jumps out at me is the WB for all 4 is different. Did you use manual WB on these?

Yes, they were taken at different BB games. I wanted to pickout several different shots that I viewed as my better ones to get feedback on.

johng wrote:

shot 1: nice action - way too much dead space on top. Don't need the net - need to frame tighter so the two players fill the frame.

With a shot like that should I still work to maintain a full body shot, or tighten up for an upper-body shot?

johng wrote:

Shot 2: best of the bunch. Nice action and less dead space which is good. But I would argue this could be framed/cropped even tighter. The story is the ball and two faces. THAT is what needs to fill the frame. The second defender is irrelevant and thus distracts.

Great.. I'll tighten up my shots under the board to get more of the upper-body instead of attempting to show the full body/high jump distance.

johng wrote:

shot 4: again too much dead space. Timing is a bit late but not bad - it's just the action (ball, hand, face) fill up such a small portion of the frame.

Funny - this is on my my favorite shots. What SHOULD have been my timing on this one?

johng wrote:

For just starting out in trying to shoot basketball seriously you're off to a decent start. But you need to embrace the mantra: Frame Tight, Crop Tighter. You won't be able to frame loose and crop down and still keep quality detail - not in poor light and high ISO. So you need to frame tighter to begin with. Framing such that the players are as close to filling the frame as possible (and when they're close to you and if you have to use center point that means having only torso in the frame) will give you the ability to crop down. If shot 2 was framed just like that in-camera and you had a focus point on the face instead of body you'd be able to crop downn on the interesting part of the frame and have a stellar shot.

Again, off to a good start here. It's exciting to see some encouraging shots from the K-X.

Got it... going to try all of that tonight! I'm also going to try and shoot in raw instead of jpeg. I didn't have luck w/ that w/ my old Pentax as it seemed to take too long to process the taking of each photo and I'd miss the next action.

Thank you so much for the feedback! I've had great comments from the parents and would love to give them even better photos before the season is over.

johng · February 18, 2010

on timing - you want to get the ball as close to the hand as possible. Not only does it add more tension, it also shortens up the area where the action exists. Closer the ball is to the hand the tighter you can crop and the more empty space you can remove.

As far as raw vs. jpeg give it a try but I've never seen an advantage to raw for a sport like basketball UNLESS the lights are poorly spaced such that custom WB won't work. If you get your WB correct, raw doesn't give you any real benefit for a sport like basketball. But if you're having a tough time getting your WB correct than it can absolutely help - as long as your buffer performance with raw is good and you have enough memory.

MNGirl · February 18, 2010

Got it. And thanks on the input on using RAW vs. JPEG. I think I'll stick with JPEG then tonight and not try something else new.

Stay tuned for updated photos after tonights game. Let's see how well I can practice what I've learned.

jimqjr · February 18, 2010

Hello Wendy,
Your pictures are great! Working to get a better picture is what it is all about. Remember, consider that taking pictures is an art and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Draw from inside and determine what you like or dislike about your photos. I like hands and feet in the photos and the tighter I crop in camera the less exciting I feel the pictures are. That is my opinion. Plus I like to print the pictures large 13X19 or larger and if you crop outside to get the shot tighter not sure you can print large. I got lucky to have a photographer from the local paper give me some pointers and he said, "The sports editors say eyes and ball that is what they want to see". I like to know that the kids have hands and feet and get an idea of how high they are from the floor. Know the limitations of your camera and lens combination and stick to what works best for you, and then begin say for a quarter of the game to try some new things, push the exposure, maybe shoot a little hot, I have even seen a difference with the hood on the lens or off and white balance. Remember you are pushing the limitations of your equipment inside the gym unless you use flash (which I hate, again my opinion) . I have been blessed with the income to allow me to purchase all L lenses and that helps alot. Manual is a must and always white balance. Shooting in door sports in the dark isn't easy. The pictures I take are at 1/1000 of a second and I can tell you that much less I have not been happy with.

MNGirl wrote:

I'll get some moved to a different gallary and set them for larger images.

Yes, they were taken at different BB games. I wanted to pickout several different shots that I viewed as my better ones to get feedback on.

With a shot like that should I still work to maintain a full body shot, or tighten up for an upper-body shot?

Great.. I'll tighten up my shots under the board to get more of the upper-body instead of attempting to show the full body/high jump distance.

Funny - this is on my my favorite shots. What SHOULD have been my timing on this one?

Got it... going to try all of that tonight! I'm also going to try and shoot in raw instead of jpeg. I didn't have luck w/ that w/ my old Pentax as it seemed to take too long to process the taking of each photo and I'd miss the next action.

Thank you so much for the feedback! I've had great comments from the parents and would love to give them even better photos before the season is over.

MNGirl · February 18, 2010

You commented on a difference with the hood on or off.. Until recently I kept it off, thinking I'd be limiting the light if I had it on. But in reviewing some other sites someone indicated it wouldn't matter and I should always have it on to protect my lens. Thoughts??

Printing large - I'd like to have shots that can be printed large. But I'm worried i'm not getting the proper quality. How can I tell how large a photo could be printed w/o problems? With my Pentax *istDL I never let anyone purchase anything larger than an 8x10, and suggested most photos would be best at 4x6 or 5x7. But now I have the Pentax K-x and am hoping photos which would be better for larger sizes.

Thanks for all your comments. I'm hoping to get in a few girls games tonight also... which I am more willing to try new things at those games (nothing against the girls, but the other games include my nephew - so I don't want to mess those up!).

Enitsugua · February 18, 2010

MNGirl wrote:

You commented on a difference with the hood on or off.. Until recently I kept it off, thinking I'd be limiting the light if I had it on. But in reviewing some other sites someone indicated it wouldn't matter and I should always have it on to protect my lens. Thoughts??

Hoods don't limit light. And they don't usually do much indoors except provide protection to the lens--which is a good idea.

MNGirl wrote:

Printing large - I'd like to have shots that can be printed large. But I'm worried i'm not getting the proper quality. How can I tell how large a photo could be printed w/o problems? With my Pentax *istDL I never let anyone purchase anything larger than an 8x10, and suggested most photos would be best at 4x6 or 5x7. But now I have the Pentax K-x and am hoping photos which would be better for larger sizes.

Get the exposure and WB correct, then see. You can probably go 11x14 or 16x20. Depends on how close people want to view the prints.

Also, on close crop in camera shots, be aware that your percentage of throw away shots will go much higher. But when you do get that one or two great shots, you'll be happy. Do both close and full length mixed, unless you are willing to drop your shot keeper count on the games. Sounds like you are willing to at least cull. Look to cull a high school basketball game down to no more than 100 shots, perhaps as low as 30 shots. You don't need to keep every shot in a burst series (if you are shooting without flash), unless the burst series tells a story. I only burst in search of the ball, eyes and hands in the series. I think it's always better to put out fewer good shots than a bunch of garbage, and you seem to be on that path. Keep it up.

MNGirl · February 18, 2010

Thanks for the feedback Enitsugua!

When I started shooting games I was just creating slideshows using Lightroom and putting them on a website (www.TMBSports.com). Even if some of the photos were crappy I left them in there as a 'view' of the entire game. Several of the guys have commented they love to 'watch' the game again through the slide show.

But in January I decided to try selling photos. Until just last week I hadn't figured out a good way to easily mark those I wanted to upload and yet keep all of the rest of them around for the slideshow. But I now figured out a technique that seems to work for me.

So the last game I only uploaded about 30 photos or so. And then I get an email from one of the parents wanting to know why there were 100+ photos on the TMBSports website and only 30 or so on the purchasing site - she wanted to buy more that she had seen in the slideshow. :-) So I guess maybe I was being a bit too critical of my work. I quickly uploaded the rest of the shots of her son.

Macushla · February 18, 2010

Hey Wendy - Great to see more of your work. I'm totally now so not much advice but one thing that did seem to help me with the focus was putting the camera in Center Point Focus with the Wide Option selected. I don't know if your camera has this. It seemed to work well when I had the camera on its side (portrait mode). The focus box is more rectangular in the wide mode.

Keep posting... I'm learning from your thread also!!!

MNGirl · February 18, 2010

Macushla wrote:

Hey Wendy - Great to see more of your work. I'm totally now so not much advice but one thing that did seem to help me with the focus was putting the camera in Center Point Focus with the Wide Option selected. I don't know if your camera has this. It seemed to work well when I had the camera on its side (portrait mode). The focus box is more rectangular in the wide mode.

Keep posting... I'm learning from your thread also!!!

Hmm.. interesting on the 'Wide Option'.. I don't think I have that. But what is interesting on my K-x is that when I shoot in portrait mode my images still all come out that way on the computer. With the Pentax *istDL I had to always rotate my images after they were on the computer. So... maybe the K-x is smart enough to automatically do some things.

Will switch (back) to Center Point focus tonight. I did that in last camera, but tried the 5-pt focus on the K-x. Maybe that was why I had fewer good shots from last week. Will have to wait and see.

Enitsugua · February 19, 2010

MNGirl wrote:

So the last game I only uploaded about 30 photos or so. And then I get an email from one of the parents wanting to know why there were 100+ photos on the TMBSports website and only 30 or so on the purchasing site - she wanted to buy more that she had seen in the slideshow. :-) So I guess maybe I was being a bit too critical of my work. I quickly uploaded the rest of the shots of her son.

But, did she actually buy them?

MNGirl · February 19, 2010

Enitsugua wrote:

But, did she actually buy them?

Will have to wait and see. I'm sure she will since she's placed two very nice orders in the past (last order was 40 photos!).

New camera and new technique last night... ICK!!! Plus the B squad games were held at our old armory building where the lighting is AWFUL!! :cry The two photos of the girls are from the armory.

These are straight out of the camera, no cropping yet nor noiseware reduction. My goal is to get better camera shots so need for less work on the computer.

1 & 2 - Pentax K-x, 1/200, 6400, f/2.8, manual WB

2.

3. Pentax K-x, 1/250, 3200, f/3.2 (hmm... must have fortgotten to reset to f/2.8 after taking band pictures between games).

4. Pentax K-x, 1/500, 6400, f/3.2

That was hard work!!! I got plenty of dangling 1/2 heads and arms most of time. What I found most difficult while I was trying to shoot tight was trying to follow where the ball was going. When I shoot wider I can more easily see the throws and follow the ball. It was exhausting!!

I also see that I must not have gotten my f-stop back to 2.8 for the game after I was taking some Pep Band shots between games.

Those are the best shots of the evening - and I sure wouldn't consider them great. I like #3 the best, and would crop it in more to get rid of the guy on the left. The 4th shot would have been better if I was up a bit higher and got more of the ball in the shot.

I used center point focus most of the time, but tried a selective focus point later to see if I could focus on the head and get it higher up in the photo instead of the center of the photo.. that didn't seem to work so well, so switched back to center point focus.

So the question becomes.... if I have center point focus and I want to focus on the head how do I NOT end up w/ 'dead' space at the top of the photo??

Thanks for everyone's critiques.

jimqjr · February 19, 2010

Hello Wendy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I use center point of focus for all my shots and I stay at the body. My hypothesis is: the camera uses the point of focus or focus points to average out the focus so if you use multiple focus points you may get the player and then some of the back ground, when the camera averages out the points, hence a less than tack sharp photo. So now you go to a single point of focus and shoot the head. The question becomes was the focus point smaller or bigger than the head and were you dead on? Pretty tough so focus on the body somewhere between the chest and waist and you will see that your pictures will begin to get clearer. My opinion is that you need to be careful about to tight a shot you lose the dramatic effect of the player jumping or whatever.<o:p></o:p>
Now the parent issue about purchasing the pictures this is the hard part as you strive to get the better shots what do you sell? Remember that the average parent that even has a camera at the game gets a less then clear shot. I had a Mom purchase 5 8X10's on the metallic paper and she cropped off his hands as well as the ball, she was in love with the picture because in her words: "Look at his eyes they are so clear and his number that is my Michael, thanks so much Jim for such an incredible picture". Wow, I thought poor kid has no arms and you don't see the ball, this is a horrible picture. <o:p></o:p>
That's why I said before the eye is in the beholder.<o:p></o:p>

MNGirl wrote:

Will have to wait and see. I'm sure she will since she's placed two very nice orders in the past (last order was 40 photos!).

New camera and new technique last night... ICK!!! Plus the B squad games were held at our old armory building where the lighting is AWFUL!! :cry The two photos of the girls are from the armory.

These are straight out of the camera, no cropping yet nor noiseware reduction. My goal is to get better camera shots so need for less work on the computer.

1 & 2 - Pentax K-x, 1/200, 6400, f/2.8, manual WB

2.

3. Pentax K-x, 1/250, 3200, f/3.2 (hmm... must have fortgotten to reset to f/2.8 after taking band pictures between games).

4. Pentax K-x, 1/500, 6400, f/3.2

That was hard work!!! I got plenty of dangling 1/2 heads and arms most of time. What I found most difficult while I was trying to shoot tight was trying to follow where the ball was going. When I shoot wider I can more easily see the throws and follow the ball. It was exhausting!!

I also see that I must not have gotten my f-stop back to 2.8 for the game after I was taking some Pep Band shots between games.

Those are the best shots of the evening - and I sure wouldn't consider them great. I like #3 the best, and would crop it in more to get rid of the guy on the left. The 4th shot would have been better if I was up a bit higher and got more of the ball in the shot.

I used center point focus most of the time, but tried a selective focus point later to see if I could focus on the head and get it higher up in the photo instead of the center of the photo.. that didn't seem to work so well, so switched back to center point focus.

So the question becomes.... if I have center point focus and I want to focus on the head how do I NOT end up w/ 'dead' space at the top of the photo??

Thanks for everyone's critiques.

jimqjr · February 19, 2010

Not the greatest picture though when you use one point of focus and this was shot a chest height when you are lucky the eyes are pretty sharp as you can see. If I use multi point focus I can not get a pretty sharp eye with gloss I get eye spots.
Keep up the good work.
Those are my two cents and that is about all it is worth.

jimqjr wrote:

Hello Wendy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I use center point of focus for all my shots and I stay at the body. My hypothesis is: the camera uses the point of focus or focus points to average out the focus so if you use multiple focus points you may get the player and then some of the back ground, when the camera averages out the points, hence a less than tack sharp photo. So now you go to a single point of focus and shoot the head. The question becomes was the focus point smaller or bigger than the head and were you dead on? Pretty tough so focus on the body somewhere between the chest and waist and you will see that your pictures will begin to get clearer. My opinion is that you need to be careful about to tight a shot you lose the dramatic effect of the player jumping or whatever.<o:p></o:p>
Now the parent issue about purchasing the pictures this is the hard part as you strive to get the better shots what do you sell? Remember that the average parent that even has a camera at the game gets a less then clear shot. I had a Mom purchase 5 8X10's on the metallic paper and she cropped off his hands as well as the ball, she was in love with the picture because in her words: "Look at his eyes they are so clear and his number that is my Michael, thanks so much Jim for such an incredible picture". Wow, I thought poor kid has no arms and you don't see the ball, this is a horrible picture. <o:p></o:p>
That's why I said before the eye is in the beholder.<o:p></o:p>

MNGirl · February 19, 2010

jimqjr wrote:

Hello Wendy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I use center point of focus for all my shots and I stay at the body. My hypothesis is: the camera uses the point of focus or focus points to average out the focus so if you use multiple focus points you may get the player and then some of the back ground, when the camera averages out the points, hence a less than tack sharp photo. So now you go to a single point of focus and shoot the head. The question becomes was the focus point smaller or bigger than the head and were you dead on? Pretty tough so focus on the body somewhere between the chest and waist and you will see that your pictures will begin to get clearer. My opinion is that you need to be careful about to tight a shot you lose the dramatic effect of the player jumping or whatever.<o:p></o:p>
Now the parent issue about purchasing the pictures this is the hard part as you strive to get the better shots what do you sell? Remember that the average parent that even has a camera at the game gets a less then clear shot. I had a Mom purchase 5 8X10's on the metallic paper and she cropped off his hands as well as the ball, she was in love with the picture because in her words: "Look at his eyes they are so clear and his number that is my Michael, thanks so much Jim for such an incredible picture". Wow, I thought poor kid has no arms and you don't see the ball, this is a horrible picture. <o:p></o:p>
That's why I said before the eye is in the beholder.<o:p></o:p>

Thanks for the input. I think I'll try that again at next week's game. Center Point focus and focus on chest. The next game is out of town, so anyone's guess as to how the lighting will be. Can't be worse than our armory!!

I got a good laugh out of your parent example. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/rolleyes1.gif" border="0" alt="" > You are exactly right - I'm looking at one thing when I'm critiquing my photos and a parent is looking for something totally different!! The parents that have thanked me for taking the photos are just so happy to have good photos and not think about it themselves so they can go to a game and enjoy it. This is especially true I think for parents of seniors.

I am also working on learning more photoshop skills to work to put together posters and such for seniors. I shoot cross country, basektball, and baseball and some of the boys are in all three of those activities (including my nephew). Would be fun to create a postor for some of them that featured all three sports.

Now if I could just give up my day job to focus on this I'd be having a great time! Too bad that is what pays for my hobby. This is going to be my retirement job I think.

Thanks!

tjk60 · February 19, 2010

Wendy I haven't read every word here, but what jumps out at me is the 1/200 shutter. The best shot you have here is #3, at 1/500. The rest have significant motion blur. You either need to get that shutter up to 1/500 or more or use the motion stopping power of strobes (or speedlights) to get crisp shots.

MNGirl · February 19, 2010

tjk60 wrote:

Wendy I haven't read every word here, but what jumps out at me is the 1/200 shutter. The best shot you have here is #3, at 1/500. The rest have significant motion blur. You either need to get that shutter up to 1/500 or more or use the motion stopping power of strobes (or speedlights) to get crisp shots.

I think you are right.. I was blaming some of that on my poor focusing technique. With my original camera (Pentax *istDL) I couldn't do more than ISO 3200 and it was noisy.

The Pentax K-x does much better with higher ISOs and even at 6400 I don't get too much noise. Plus, I now have Noiseware software which will help. At the next game I'll set my ISO to what ever I need to stay at 1/500 for the entire game. Then I'll see if I have more keepers. If I'm lucky and they gym has good lighting I may even be able to stay at ISO 3200.

Thanks!

kshelton · February 20, 2010

Just want to add some to this thread, and this is my first post here

And I like the pictures posed here.

I shoot with a d700 and use 2 different lenses depending on my placement in the gym. And I have been taking HS basketball for 2 years now, but have about 15 years dealing with nikon equipment.

50mm 1.4 prime, if I am using this lens I am generally behind the backboard area, generally at the 3 point line. Generally its out of the way at with a 50mm you generally fill up the frame.

70-200mm 2.8 vr2, I use this lens only when I am back from the floor.

Also I don't use flash, or stobes.

Since my camera has autoISO I shoot in aperture mode generally adding .5 to 1 f stops to my lens. As was mentioned in this thread you deal alot with focus issues DOF and since there is bad lighting in the HS gyms this helps and then I can see how high my iso is going and I adjust my fstop.

I agree with the comments abount the shutter speed, I am generally shooting from 320 - 500. To get the aperature and iso I want to have for my pictures.

Also from early in the thread. I have 2 areas on my site, one is all the pictures I took in a game, and another area that is called Top Shots. This is the area I place only the best. But I have seen sales from both. This way I can inform my customers where only the best are and still if they want to see the entire game they know where to go.

http://www.straightshots.smugmug.com/

Good luck on your pictures.

Kevin

MNGirl · February 22, 2010

Thanks for the great information Kevin. A few more things for me to try out.

I like the idea of a 'top shots' area on my SmugMug site... I think I'll do that also. Will probably do some cleanup of my photo gallaries in the next month when I'm between sports. Will actually have some time to work on those things.

Tomorrow night is the next game... so I'll post again after working on some of these new techniques.

Macushla · February 22, 2010

I tried using the flash and bouncing it off the ceiling at a wrestling match over the weekend. The photos came out pretty good. I was thinking of trying this at the next BB game. That way the flash would not be in the kids eyes but it would help with the poor lighting.

I think some of my favorite photos are of the kids on the bench, boys in the huddle and lay ups during warm ups or the parents watching the kids. I also love shots of the kids from the back and the good game line at the end of the game. They are shots that really help capture the mood of the game. Maybe parents would be interested in purchasing them also. Just a thought.

PS: I'm lovin' this thread.

MNGirl · February 22, 2010

Macushla wrote:

I think some of my favorite photos are of the kids on the bench, boys in the huddle and lay ups during warm ups or the parents watching the kids. I also love shots of the kids from the back and the good game line at the end of the game. They are shots that really help capture the mood of the game. Maybe parents would be interested in purchasing them also. Just a thought.

Thanks! I try and get some of those types of photos also in case I want to do a video at the end of the season. I wanted a variety of photos, not just of the game.

Just had a parent order one of the photos of the team huddle from one of the 8th grade games. One never knows what is going to trip someone's fancy.

MNGirl · March 2, 2010

kshelton wrote:

I agree with the comments abount the shutter speed, I am generally shooting from 320 - 500. To get the aperature and iso I want to have for my pictures.

The game I was going to attend last week was canceled due to snow. Last night was the next, and final regular season game.

I kept my shutter speed at 1/500 and ISO at 6400 for the entire game. I can't say I got any awsome shots, but I can sure tell more of my shots are clearer!!!

Still need to work on getting tighter shots, but found that is hard work when trying to keep track of the ball at the same time. For now I'm happy getting cleaner shots, even if they need to be cropped some.

Here are just a few from last nights game. I haven't put them threw noiseware reduction software yet either. This is straight out of the camera.

1.

2.

3.

The gallery for these is at:
http://www.shetekphoto.com/Other/DigitalGrin-Gallery/11279170_UYNsb#800925026_Fjp27

Looking forward to Saturdays first sub-section playoff game to work to get some better shots.

BTW... what size images do people usually post. These are 'Large.' In the gallery you can view them larger.

jimqjr · March 6, 2010

Hello Wendy,
No I know lights are everything. I just posted some pics at http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1341720#post1341720 If you get a chance to look at them, HS Boys Basketball Championships wow what a difference a little light makes.

MNGirl wrote:

You commented on a difference with the hood on or off.. Until recently I kept it off, thinking I'd be limiting the light if I had it on. But in reviewing some other sites someone indicated it wouldn't matter and I should always have it on to protect my lens. Thoughts??

Printing large - I'd like to have shots that can be printed large. But I'm worried i'm not getting the proper quality. How can I tell how large a photo could be printed w/o problems? With my Pentax *istDL I never let anyone purchase anything larger than an 8x10, and suggested most photos would be best at 4x6 or 5x7. But now I have the Pentax K-x and am hoping photos which would be better for larger sizes.

Thanks for all your comments. I'm hoping to get in a few girls games tonight also... which I am more willing to try new things at those games (nothing against the girls, but the other games include my nephew - so I don't want to mess those up!).

High School Boys Basketball - C&C

Comments