Colorado State Volleyball Championships

mattdan12

I spent 1/2 the day at the Colorado State Volleyball Championships yesterday. In the morning I was at a photography workshop so I had all my gear with me, but didn't plan on taking photos. In fact, I left it all in the car and about 30 steps away decided to turn around and get the camera and 70-200.

I just randomly took photos and didn't necessarily try to get into the best spots or capture the best action. Lighting was actually pretty good, except for the blue and red courts.

Here are a few I'm pretty happy with.

1. 5A Chaparral - ranked #3 in the United States by Max Preps


2. (I hate it when you get a good shot, but no ball is in the frame...)


3. Chaparral after winning the 5A Championships the 2nd year in a row.


4. Swink High School, 2A school making their first State Appearance. My daughters Club coach was the head coach for this team.


5. Swink High School


6. Swink High School


7. Swink High School


8. Akron High School (playing against Swink)


9. Akron High School

MDalby

Nice job Matt!! I really like shots #1 and 5. Good shots and the blur is really pretty minimal on just a couple of the shots.

MD

mattdan12

Thanks Mark. The lighting was actually pretty good in the Colorado Coliseum. All are shot at ISO 2500, 1/640 (maybe a 1/500 in there somewhere).

#1 is probably one of my favorite photos from recent games. Wish the whole ball was in the shot, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

Icebear

mattdan12 wrote: »

Thanks Mark. The lighting was actually pretty good in the Colorado Coliseum. All are shot at ISO 2500, 1/640 (maybe a 1/500 in there somewhere).

#1 is probably one of my favorite photos from recent games. Wish the whole ball was in the shot, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

Holy cow! Wouldn't I love to be able to shoot at ISO 2500 or so. ISO 6400 is pretty de-rigeur in our gyms. Must have been fun.

Personally, I think having the whole ball in the shot is waaayy over-rated. Why would you worry about that? Who came up with that "rule" anyway?? Some people just have to have a nit to pick. Doesn't everybody know what a frikking volleyball look like? Just have enough ball to give context to the shot, and concentrate on artistic composition for your finished image. For example, I think your #9 image is more effective than #6. I crop balls into the margins all the time. If some photo critic don't like it, tough. I've never had a parent, coach or kid say "Gee I wish I could see the whole ball." I've seen quite a few crops where it was very obvious the photographer was straining to get the "whole ball" into the crop, and the overall composition suffered.

But they're all quite nice!

jhefti

Icebear wrote: »

Personally, I think having the whole ball in the shot is waaayy over-rated. Why would you worry about that? Who came up with that "rule" anyway??

Agreed!! These 'rules' are just guidelines; and like any guidelines, if overused they have a negative impact. Compose to highlight the action, not to follow 'the ball must be in the shot' guideline.

And very nice shoots indeed!!