Mike,
These aren't bad and yes, gym lighting at this level does suck Are these right out of the camera, jpgs, or RAWs that you "pushed" during conversion?
They look too bright to me. Some of the players skin is close to blowing out. If these are pretty much "as shot" then I'd say drop the aperture down to maybe F2 or F2.2 and try to keep speeds in the 1/250-1320 range and see what you get. If these weren't shot using RAW, that would be another thing to look into. You can under expose RAW a bit and push it during conversion.
You may have already pushed these. I see some noise in the black player's legs in the last shot that look like an under exposed image that was lightened.
You can also improve these during post processing. You can take down the brightness a bit, improve skintones and sharpen using Lab Color Lightness instead of RGB USM. The advantage is that you can set a high threshold (10 or higher) to minimize the background noise. Plus a few of your shots look to have visible sharpening halos.
Check out Rutt's excellent tutorials on Lab sharpening here and here
Mike, I hope you take my comments in the helpful manner they were intended I'm just trying to save you some of the pain and agony of having to figure this stuff out yourself. Usually via trial and error.
The best way to get good low light action shots, IMO, is to keep shooting them and to keep applying what you have learned as you go along. I can almost guarantee that your shots at season's end will be much better than these first ones :
Thank you so much for you thoughts and advice. Shot Nikon RAW and converted. Did white balance and only very minor other adj. in Capture then wrapped up in Elements as TIFF's. Converted to jpegs just to post @ 800 wide here.
You are exactly correct that I did push these during pp. I am going to go back to my master RAW files and pp with little or no exposure boost. Can't wait to try the approach you suggest and to read the material you have pointed me to. I guess I brightened them thinking it would make the appearance of them more appealing. I may even post a couple examples (not all) of the same photos for comparison purposes. In the particular gym where these were shot, I can almost pull back to f/2 @ 1/350 which I think would eliminate some of the motion blur ......or, go to a lower ISO to eliminate a bit of noise.
In terms of the advice, this is precisely what I am seeking and I am hungry and eager for it.
Best regards and thanks again Steve. Thoughtful advice like yours is what keeps me coming back to Grin more than any other forum -- look for new post when I get a few minutes to try again with the pp.
Ok I am saying this having never shot volleyball, but I know IT IS one of the hardest sports to shoot (behind it of course hockey).
In the photos I noticed some stairs going up? and some bleachers.....I dont know how far off the from the court they are, but if you were to try shooting from the stairs or bleachers, you would be shooting down at the court, and you would at least elimante alot of the cruddy backgrounds that way.
Yeah, not bad at all. Maybe speed up the shutterspeed in a few. I'm trying to remember where vball was shot from, and I think it was eye level or below, mostly. The photographers like to get the height of the jump which is nicely portrayed when taken from a low point and close to the net. [that is if the girl can jump, lolol:D ] The middle blockers might get better coverage if you were higher more towards the top of the net height, say 5 rows up and not far from the net. Sorry not much help[been awhile]. But also digging a ball on the floor looks better shot from low range.
Ok I am saying this having never shot volleyball, but I know IT IS one of the hardest sports to shoot (behind it of course hockey).
In the photos I noticed some stairs going up? and some bleachers.....I dont know how far off the from the court they are, but if you were to try shooting from the stairs or bleachers, you would be shooting down at the court, and you would at least elimante alot of the cruddy backgrounds that way.
Here are two images posed after briefly implementing some of Steve's suggestions so that I could compare my first PP job and that improvement. The first is my poor PP job done before reading Steve's post. Then, look at the second.
Still looking forward to reading the tutorial articles and implementing some of that. Right now, I'm leaving with the scouts for a weekend campout. Wish me luck!!
Comments
These aren't bad and yes, gym lighting at this level does suck
They look too bright to me. Some of the players skin is close to blowing out. If these are pretty much "as shot" then I'd say drop the aperture down to maybe F2 or F2.2 and try to keep speeds in the 1/250-1320 range and see what you get. If these weren't shot using RAW, that would be another thing to look into. You can under expose RAW a bit and push it during conversion.
You may have already pushed these. I see some noise in the black player's legs in the last shot that look like an under exposed image that was lightened.
You can also improve these during post processing. You can take down the brightness a bit, improve skintones and sharpen using Lab Color Lightness instead of RGB USM. The advantage is that you can set a high threshold (10 or higher) to minimize the background noise. Plus a few of your shots look to have visible sharpening halos.
Check out Rutt's excellent tutorials on Lab sharpening here and here
Mike, I hope you take my comments in the helpful manner they were intended
The best way to get good low light action shots, IMO, is to keep shooting them and to keep applying what you have learned as you go along. I can almost guarantee that your shots at season's end will be much better than these first ones
Keep posting your results here too
Steve
Thank you so much for you thoughts and advice. Shot Nikon RAW and converted. Did white balance and only very minor other adj. in Capture then wrapped up in Elements as TIFF's. Converted to jpegs just to post @ 800 wide here.
You are exactly correct that I did push these during pp. I am going to go back to my master RAW files and pp with little or no exposure boost. Can't wait to try the approach you suggest and to read the material you have pointed me to. I guess I brightened them thinking it would make the appearance of them more appealing. I may even post a couple examples (not all) of the same photos for comparison purposes. In the particular gym where these were shot, I can almost pull back to f/2 @ 1/350 which I think would eliminate some of the motion blur ......or, go to a lower ISO to eliminate a bit of noise.
In terms of the advice, this is precisely what I am seeking and I am hungry and eager for it.
Best regards and thanks again Steve. Thoughtful advice like yours is what keeps me coming back to Grin more than any other forum -- look for new post when I get a few minutes to try again with the pp.
Mike Brown
In the photos I noticed some stairs going up? and some bleachers.....I dont know how far off the from the court they are, but if you were to try shooting from the stairs or bleachers, you would be shooting down at the court, and you would at least elimante alot of the cruddy backgrounds that way.
They look nice, and it makes me want that lens!
Still looking forward to reading the tutorial articles and implementing some of that. Right now, I'm leaving with the scouts for a weekend campout. Wish me luck!!
Thanks again Steve.
Mike Brown
First PP job:
Second effort:
Better? I think so.
I agree, big improvement
Steve
Mike,
I really like the second edit.
Playe