Some More High School Basketball

73Rocks

I was able to make one of the 1<SUP>st</SUP> round district tournament games last week and I was able to get about 40 quality shots.
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All photos were taken with my Canon 50D with a 50mm f1.4 prime lens and a 430EX Speedlight, shot in Manual at 500/sec, f1.4, ISO 400, flash in Manual set at 1/16<SUP>th</SUP> power.
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Here are a few of the best:













Thanks for looking.

crusty

SOme good shots... I'm trying to read up on adding a flash to my arsenal for bball shooting.

73Rocks

crusty wrote: »

SOme good shots... I'm trying to read up on adding a flash to my arsenal for bball shooting.

Thanks for the compliment Crusty.

Two MAJOR lessons I have learned about choosing and using a flash. (1) If sports is your goal, make sure the flash has the "High Speed Sync" option. This will let you get to speeds above 250/sec shutter speed. For a great rundown on "High Speed Sync" go to this web site and watch the first half of the video. http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/tutorials/pocketwizard_controltl_optimiz/

(2) Because of the small, poorly lit gyms im my neck of the woods what I have found that works best for me is this . . . I set my camera to the point where I can get a good image with at least 500/sec shutter speed without using my flash. I turn on my flash and set it to "High Speed Sync" / Manual at about 1/16 to 1/32 power just to give the image a little touch of "fill flash". Of course it helps that I use a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens too . . . but that's a subject for a different day.

I started doing this half way through this season. I was taking good shots without my flash, but I noticed that my images just did not have any "pop" or "dazzle" to them . . . they seemed kind of dull and lifeless. So I started using my flash in Manual at reduced power.

I hope this helps you out -
Mark

crusty

73Rocks wrote: »

Thanks for the compliment Crusty.

Two MAJOR lessons I have learned about choosing and using a flash. (1) If sports is your goal, make sure the flash has the "High Speed Sync" option. This will let you get to speeds above 250/sec shutter speed. For a great rundown on "High Speed Sync" go to this web site and watch the first half of the video. http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/tutorials/pocketwizard_controltl_optimiz/

(2) Because of the small, poorly lit gyms im my neck of the woods what I have found that works best for me is this . . . I set my camera to the point where I can get a good image with at least 500/sec shutter speed without using my flash. I turn on my flash and set it to "High Speed Sync" / Manual at about 1/16 to 1/32 power just to give the image a little touch of "fill flash". Of course it helps that I use a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens too . . . but that's a subject for a different day.

I started doing this half way through this season. I was taking good shots without my flash, but I noticed that my images just did not have any "pop" or "dazzle" to them . . . they seemed kind of dull and lifeless. So I started using my flash in Manual at reduced power.

I hope this helps you out -
Mark

Thanks for the info!! Do you keep your flash camera mounted or on a stand?

I've got the Nikkor 50mm 1.8, so hopefully that'll get me close... lol

73Rocks

crusty wrote: »

Thanks for the info!! Do you keep your flash camera mounted or on a stand?

I've got the Nikkor 50mm 1.8, so hopefully that'll get me close... lol

I keep my flash right on the camera . . . no fancy setups. BTW - this worked great for football too.

With the f1.8 you should be able to get your camera dialed down to a good low light setting . . . just add the flash and I think you should be ready to go.