Poseidon,
As Mongrel mentions, most are under exposed. I can't read the EXIF but I assume you were shooting in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority mode. The main reasdon these are under is that many of your shots caught too much of the lights. From those perspectives, you'd need to almost blow out the lights to get a good exposure of the players. I'd suggest metering the court (not catching the lights in the frame) in Manual mode and setting your speed so the meter reads -1/3 to -2/3 EV. Another suggestion would be to shoot using RAW if possible.
That's not to say that you'll get great looking shots right out of the camera. Unless you have great light in the gym you shot in, your pics will need a little to quite a bit of post processing to look their best.
All of your pics can be made to look quite nice. You just need to spend some time applying techniques that help under exposed images. Techniques like applying a "screen layer", or using Actions that lighten your image (Fill Flash Action, Digital SHO, etc..). Again, a RAW file would give you much more post processing latitude as far as exposure goes. You can even do 2 conversions, one for the highlights and one for the shadows, and "blend" them to expand the dynamic range of the image.
You posted fairly small images and I only spent 2 minutes on this example. You should be able to do lots more, lots better with the full size images.
I can see where the b-ball post processing tutorial will take some time to get posted :uhoh I'm working on it though.....lol
Thanks Steve! You are right on, I shot Av, and I didn't even think about shooting up into the lights! Next time will be BETTER for sure.
Excellent redux as well, and you are right if I spent a few minutes I am sure I could improve each image. I am not familiar with the 2 you mentioned though, do you have links for them?
Poseiden,
I'm sure you could do a much better edit on a larger image. I tried to brighten this one up, but it still needs some work as far as skintones and skinglare go This is almost always a problem. When players look up (in your pic it's not only the face, but the knee and forearm as well), their faces catch much more direct light than when they are looking straight ahead. You will see areas of skinglare in many of your pics. No big deal. It just takes a little longer to edit an image with this problem.
Again, let me stress the benefits of shooting RAW. Not trying to be a RAW snob, but I often blend 2 different conversions of my shots (one properly exposed for the skintones/skinglare and the other for the rest of the image) to get everything within the frame to look pleasing to my eyes. Using higher ISOs will decrease the dynamic range of an image. This blending helps expand the dynamic range of an image.
Anyway, you can find a ton of free PS Actions here. Scroll down near the bottom of the page to find Katin Eismann's Fill Flash action. The other one I mentioned, Digital SHO, is not free ($49), but it comes bundled with many more expensive film scanners. With either of these actions, you will need to use a layer mask. That way you can erase the areas that get too bright (like your lights) while getting the brightening effect you desire in other areas.
Comments
Perfect Pix
I see it.
Not bad, just a tad under exposed
Maybe you could try to upload the 'large' link, it may look better.
Take care and good light...
Mongrel
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Tried the exif link too...
http://perfectpix.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=55221783
Perfect Pix
http://perfectpix.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=55223453
Perfect Pix
As Mongrel mentions, most are under exposed. I can't read the EXIF but I assume you were shooting in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority mode. The main reasdon these are under is that many of your shots caught too much of the lights. From those perspectives, you'd need to almost blow out the lights to get a good exposure of the players. I'd suggest metering the court (not catching the lights in the frame) in Manual mode and setting your speed so the meter reads -1/3 to -2/3 EV. Another suggestion would be to shoot using RAW if possible.
That's not to say that you'll get great looking shots right out of the camera. Unless you have great light in the gym you shot in, your pics will need a little to quite a bit of post processing to look their best.
All of your pics can be made to look quite nice. You just need to spend some time applying techniques that help under exposed images. Techniques like applying a "screen layer", or using Actions that lighten your image (Fill Flash Action, Digital SHO, etc..). Again, a RAW file would give you much more post processing latitude as far as exposure goes. You can even do 2 conversions, one for the highlights and one for the shadows, and "blend" them to expand the dynamic range of the image.
You posted fairly small images and I only spent 2 minutes on this example. You should be able to do lots more, lots better with the full size images.
I can see where the b-ball post processing tutorial will take some time to get posted :uhoh I'm working on it though.....lol
Steve
Excellent redux as well, and you are right if I spent a few minutes I am sure I could improve each image. I am not familiar with the 2 you mentioned though, do you have links for them?
Perfect Pix
I'm sure you could do a much better edit on a larger image. I tried to brighten this one up, but it still needs some work as far as skintones and skinglare go
Again, let me stress the benefits of shooting RAW. Not trying to be a RAW snob, but I often blend 2 different conversions of my shots (one properly exposed for the skintones/skinglare and the other for the rest of the image) to get everything within the frame to look pleasing to my eyes. Using higher ISOs will decrease the dynamic range of an image. This blending helps expand the dynamic range of an image.
Anyway, you can find a ton of free PS Actions here. Scroll down near the bottom of the page to find Katin Eismann's Fill Flash action. The other one I mentioned, Digital SHO, is not free ($49), but it comes bundled with many more expensive film scanners. With either of these actions, you will need to use a layer mask. That way you can erase the areas that get too bright (like your lights) while getting the brightening effect you desire in other areas.
Steve
I think I will keep the link for the $50 action, I am going to pick up a 1D n
Perfect Pix