Basketball With My New f1.4 Lens

73Rocks

Just tried out my new f1.4 50mm prime lens and I am very satisfied with the results. I was shooting in a bright, well lit gym so I did not need the flash.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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Most of the time I was shooting Shutter Priority @ 500/sec, aperature wide open at 1.4, ISO at 500 (I need the low ISO so I can crop for effect without too much noise), NO FLASH, and sitting center line under one basket in the band area about 15 feet from the baseline. <o:p></o:p>
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Here are some of the better shots:<o:p></o:p>
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Two of the better athletes in SD going "head to head". The girl in white has been almost unbeatable in hurdles in track since 8th grade (and no slouch in other sports either) and the girl in black is a strong contender for Miss SD Basketball, should score her 2,000th point here before state tournaments, is a 2 time All-State Tournament 1st Team selection, led her team (smallest in SD . . . 34 kids in 9 - 12) to the Class B Championship in 2009 and 2nd place in 2010, and holds the Class B State Tournament record for scoring when she hit 104 points in 3 games. <o:p></o:p>
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High-altitude jump shot! I didn’t crop this one too much as I think the surroundings adds to the effect of just how high she is in the air. Look at the expression of #2 looking up at her in amazement of just how high she is. BTW . . . she nailed this jumper for 2 points.<o:p></o:p>
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Right-handed lay-up.
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Now from the left side.<o:p></o:p>
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#35 doing her high-flying aerial act again.<o:p></o:p>
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Get that “junk” outa’ here!<o:p></o:p>
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Dribbling away from the “trap”.<o:p></o:p>
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Going “oooold skool” with the gliding down the lane, one-handed scoop shot.<o:p></o:p>
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Thanks for looking.<o:p></o:p>
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jonh68

The action looks good, but they look a little underexposed. I would have gone a little higher on ISO, and would get out of shutter priority because it gives the camera too much leeway setting exposure. Getting in manual mode will give you more consistent exposure.

Mike J

Nice job on these. The 1st one stands out for me. I do agree with Jonh68 that they look a little underexposed and that you might want consider getting out of shutter priority mode and put the camera in manual mode. I bet if you look at the total exposure of these shots that they vary all over the place even though the lighting really didn't change...

cr8ingwaves

All of my female athletes agree that up the nose action shots are extremely unflattering. Girls want good action shots, but they also want them to be flattering. I am liking the lens though. Look forward to seeing more from it and you.

ThatCanonGuy

Good lens. Nice images. Suggestion: use manual mode next time.

73Rocks

ThatCanonGuy wrote: »

Good lens. Nice images. Suggestion: use manual mode next time.

Thanks for the advice everyone . . . I will be sure to use manual mode next time. I didn't realize that the exposures were off that much from each other until I got home and started processing them. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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cr8ingwaves wrote: »

All of my female athletes agree that up the nose action shots are extremely unflattering. Girls want good action shots, but they also want them to be flattering. I am liking the lens though. Look forward to seeing more from it and you.

I always was conscious of the fact that the girls were concerned about their facial expressions but I didn't think about the "up the nose" shots. I will make sure to be standing from now on when I shoot any more girls' games. Thanks for the "heads up".<o:p></o:p>

Zerodog

Manual will really help balance the light and not let the metering get faked out by the background color changes or composition changes. Say you are more zoomed in and you have a shot with more player vs a shot against a white wall or very dark background. Either way the light is about the same on your main subjects. But the backgrounds fake the metering out.

Do some test shots and check your screen and histogram. When you get a great exposure for the situation go with it. It saves SOOOO much time in PP not to do custom exposure settings for each of the zillions of shots from an event.

Not sure if anyone has said this yet. Great job on the focus for the super wide aperture lens. That can be a challenge in itself. On these I think it looks very good.