High School Volleyball

Icebear · November 8, 2011

I'm NOT trying to resurrect the competition for "hardest sport to shoot" but I'm finding volleyball to have some real challenges. Gym lighting is universally weird to begin with. It's so hard to get good focus on players' faces when shooting through the net. The chair blocks net shots from above on one side of the court, etc. But I'm learning. Last night, in addition to the workhorse 70-200 f/2.8, I tried out my new Sigma EX 85 f/1.4. The additional stop I got shooting at f/2 was a real boon to stopping action. I think I'm going to like this lens! I'd really appreciate any hints from volleyball shooters.

1. Service

2. Kill

3. Set

4. Dig

5. Block

cr8ingwaves · November 8, 2011

looks like you got some great shots here. the fact that they are almost always facing up towards the lights makes exposing for faces virtually impossible. Our school is building a new gymnasium. I am praying for space to shoot, better lights and for goodness sake white paint on the walls somewhere. lol maroon and gold walls, green lights....nightmare!
I love my 85 1.8 for volleyball. Have used the 50 1.4 when I needed more team shots and not just individuals.

Icebear · November 8, 2011

Thanks Alicia. I appreciate your comments. On the full frame body, I find the 50 to be just too wide to be of much use. Maybe I should stick mine on my D300 and see what the 1.5 crop factor does for me. I could shoot at ISO 3200 at f/2, get decent shutter speed, and be able to take advantage of the 8fps frame rate. That higher frame rate is the only advantage the D300 has for indoor sports IMO.

wmstumme · November 8, 2011

Icebear wrote: »

I'm NOT trying to resurrect the competition for "hardest sport to shoot" but I'm finding volleyball to have some real challenges. Gym lighting is universally weird to begin with. ...

I think anything indoors is the hardest to shoot... I think you've done well here!

I think I'd like #4 better if the "digger" were in focus instead of the other girl. The others are great!

Icebear · November 8, 2011

wmstumme wrote: »

I think I'd like #4 better if the "digger" were in focus instead of the other girl.

Fer sure. Hell, Will. I was just happy to get what I got!

adbsgicom · November 8, 2011

I use my 85 all the time for Vball. For small-school MS, I've often been able to camp out under the ref's chair...

Occassionally a little exciting there, but having all the metal around you helps...

Icebear · November 8, 2011

adbsgicom wrote: »

For small-school MS, I've often been able to camp out under the ref's chair...

You must be way more flexible than I. If I ever folded myself up so's I could get under the chair, I'd need EMS to get me out with the jaws-of-life. But what a great point of view for shooting!

austinado16 · November 9, 2011

I think you're nailing it....at least for me. I agree about the digger shot, but whatcha gonna do there? You either nail a shot like that out of sheer skill and luck, or....not so much. You can't nail 'em all.

Geez, I'd give my left arm for that kind of lighting for gymnastics!

mattdan12 · November 9, 2011

I think you're photos are great. My only comment (other than the previously mentioned Dig shot) is on #3 where the focus is on the back of the setter - but I do like the anticipated action of the player in the background. Considering it's the only sport I've been photographing, I'm always looking at other peoples shots and think they look a better than my own. I'm always struggling with the gym lighting or motion blur on the ball if I used strobes.

That reminds me that I should post some end-of-season shots from our season...

Icebear · November 9, 2011

austinado16 wrote: »

Geez, I'd give my left arm for that kind of lighting for gymnastics!

Thanks for your comments. ISO 6400 is my best friend! Or ISO 3200 and f/1.4 glass. It's the filckering WB that'll drive me up the wall eventually.

Icebear · November 9, 2011

mattdan12 wrote: »

I'm always struggling with the gym lighting or motion blur on the ball if I used strobes.

That reminds me that I should post some end-of-season shots from our season...

They let you use strobes?!?!? Man, that would be a game changer for me. Not allowed in our Region. And yeah, post some!

jhefti · November 9, 2011

Icebear wrote: »

Thanks for your comments. ISO 6400 is my best friend! Or ISO 3200 and f/1.4 glass. It's the filckering WB that'll drive me up the wall eventually.

The WB is the worst part for me as well. When this first happened I thought my camera was on the fritz; then some helpful folks here clued me into the real problem. I've never found a good work-around for the WB problem, other than shooting raw and shooting liberally, in the hope that you'll get enough for a good set.

adbsgicom · November 9, 2011

For WB I've generally found that shooting RAW then using the LR3 Auto function then shifting up about 200K has yielded pretty decent results that are pretty consistent frame to frame. Sometimes it doesn't work well, but not too shabby. A version of Color Correction that sought consistency between a series of image would be really nice...

jhefti · November 9, 2011

adbsgicom wrote: »

For WB I've generally found that shooting RAW then using the LR3 Auto function then shifting up about 200K has yielded pretty decent results that are pretty consistent frame to frame. Sometimes it doesn't work well, but not too shabby. A version of Color Correction that sought consistency between a series of image would be really nice...

Thanks. I've tried variations on this theme and you are right: it works most of the time. Still, there is that inevitable key moment in the game when you did everything right, but the lights were in the down cycle and the exposure/colors are whacked!

mattdan12 · November 9, 2011

Icebear wrote: »

They let you use strobes?!?!? Man, that would be a game changer for me. Not allowed in our Region. And yeah, post some!

Yeah, I checked with CHSSAA (the govererning body for all Colorado HS sports) and there is no rule about using strobes during games. The only time they wouldn't be allowed is if a team (or ref) complained. I was using two White Lightings for all home games and never had a complaint from players, coaches or spectators. I even had a photographers from another team if they could tap into the strobes.

I'll try and get my end-of-season shots up tomorrow morning, but I did post some photos back in September here: http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=205208

rolette · November 12, 2011

Hi John,

Yep, volleyball is tough. Virtually everything works against photographers it seems...

#1 - Good exposure and white balance. I try to get one good serving shot for each girl on the team during the season, but otherwise these don't tend to be very interesting shots. Minor nit that you should have the entire ball for this shot. The main issue with this one is the background. Not a lot you can do about it in that gym, but hopefully you'll get to shoot the team in a gym without all the clutter on the wall.

#2 - Timing is off on this one. You either need the hit or you need the block. Ball is past behind the blockers and nothing else really interesting to make it a keeper. Also need to crop significantly tighter. The full body shot doesn't add anything in this one.

#3 - Nice and crisp, timing is excellent. No face == delete

#4 - Delete. The subject is badly oof.

#5 - Best shot of the set. Would be improved significantly with a much tighter crop. The ref, player #10, etc. add nothing to the shot. Full legs aren't important for this one. It looks like WB is off slightly as well.

Regards,
Jay

73Rocks · November 12, 2011

Icebear wrote: »

I'm NOT trying to resurrect the competition for "hardest sport to shoot" but I'm finding volleyball to have some real challenges. Gym lighting is universally weird to begin with. It's so hard to get good focus on players' faces when shooting through the net. The chair blocks net shots from above on one side of the court, etc. But I'm learning. Last night, in addition to the workhorse 70-200 f/2.8, I tried out my new Sigma EX 85 f/1.4. The additional stop I got shooting at f/2 was a real boon to stopping action. I think I'm going to like this lens! I'd really appreciate any hints from volleyball shooters.

I agree with John . . . volleyball is one of the hardest sports to photograph. The action happens so fast + you can't really see very much through the veiwfinder. By the time you see the shot you want it's already too late to snap the shutter button.

But through trial and error, this is my "low budget" approach to shooting volleyball:

I use my 85mm f1.8 prime lens on my Canon 50D. I set my shutter speed to 1,000/sec, my ISO at 640, and my flash in manual at 1/16th power . . . no strobes. I position myself about 5 rows up in the bleachers, opposite the players' benches, just off to one side of the net. And I always shoot in HIgh jpeg - not RAW (I always get grief for this).

Because I can't zoom in on the action I have to crop my images for effect . . . but with the ISO set at 640 I don't lose hardly any quality from the image. Other than cropping, I do very little post processing.

I then concentrate on trying to get two shots of each volley:

I concentrate on trying to capture one of the backcourt players digging the serve:

I then try to get one good shot of some action around the net on my next attempt:

So there is my approach to volleyball BUT I am always willing to listen to new ideas and that is why I read these forums.

Icebear · November 12, 2011

The ability to use flash is certainly a game changer.

mattdan12 · November 13, 2011

I'll just tack on my end-of-season volleyball photos to this post rather than starting a new thread (I was probably going to start a new thread for yesterday's State Finals).

All of these photos are from home games where I had two White Lightning 1800's set up, bouncing off the ceiling. More details about the setup are in this thread: http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=205208. Never did get the motion blur problem solved, the WL's just have a too long of a flash duration to freeze the ball. The photos definitely have a different look to them which I kind of like, but may not be to everyone's liking.

This is a mix of various games and teams (Varsity, JV, Soph).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Icebear · November 13, 2011

Image #7 is awesome. Personally, I think freezing the ball is way over-rated. It's like freezing spokes or wheels in motorsports shooting. It kills the sense of action or speed.

High School Volleyball

Comments