First Time Basketball, Howd I do?

nokout3839

Hi All,

Im looking after a local country basketball teams website and as part of the deal they are going to let me on the sidelines to shoot the games. I am now going to training for training. Im a bit dodgy on my lens but I am hoping I can get away with it.

I was wondering if some of you learned individuals could give me some pointers, I will be addressing the more technical side first but feel free to include anything.

Some issues Ive already got with them:

Busy background, shutter speed (tech limitation), sloping horizon (easy pp fix), court reflection (???)

anyhow, go nuts (Click for exif):

(1)


(2)



(3)


The Gallery (Large Images)

Thanks All, Nigel

wxwax

I see focus issues. And also blur from a too-slow shutter speed. Autofocus on the 350D might be a problem in low-ish light. f4.5 makes it worse, you really could use a faster lens. Also, you need to raise your ISO to get a faster shutter speed.

Look at the basketball shots in the newspaper and online. They're all tighter on the people. You usually see a tight action shot with the ball in the frame.

Good luck, sounds like a fun challenge.

nokout3839

wxwax wrote:

I see focus issues. And also blur from a too-slow shutter speed. Autofocus on the 350D might be a problem in low-ish light. f4.5 makes it worse, you really could use a faster lens. Also, you need to raise your ISO to get a faster shutter speed.

Look at the basketball shots in the newspaper and online. They're all tighter on the people. You usually see a tight action shot with the ball in the frame.

Good luck, sounds like a fun challenge.

Thanks Wax,
This is sorta what I expected. I can still go to ISO 1600 but im a bit worried about noise as Im already starting to see it pretty strong at 100%. Me thinks an investment in more glass be the way to go.

Thanks Again, Nigel

wxwax

nokout3839 wrote:

Thanks Wax,
This is sorta what I expected. I can still go to ISO 1600 but im a bit worried about noise as Im already starting to see it pretty strong at 100%. Me thinks an investment in more glass be the way to go.

Thanks Again, Nigel

Yes, if you have the dough, it's the way to go.

What focal length were you thinking?

nokout3839

wxwax wrote:

Yes, if you have the dough, it's the way to go.

What focal length were you thinking?

I really wanted to buy a 24-70L but dollar wise it just aint going to happen for a while so going off what others have said I think Ill go for the 85mm f1.8 USM. This should get me close enough (On the 350D) and is about one third the price of the 24-70.

I am also looking at a 50mm as part of my kit but i dont think this will be long enough.

The other thing is that the basketball club has ties to my adult ed school and they are also buying a 350D and there may now be room in the budget for another lens.

Anything I havent though of here?

Cheers Nigel

wxwax

nokout3839 wrote:

I really wanted to buy a 24-70L but dollar wise it just aint going to happen for a while so going off what others have said I think Ill go for the 85mm f1.8 USM. This should get me close enough (On the 350D) and is about one third the price of the 24-70.

I am also looking at a 50mm as part of my kit but i dont think this will be long enough.

The other thing is that the basketball club has ties to my adult ed school and they are also buying a 350D and there may now be room in the budget for another lens.

Anything I havent though of here?

Cheers Nigel

Just make sure you test that 85 1.8 lens on your camera in comparable light to that of a game. What you're checking is how fast is the autofocus. I have one, but I can't remember, I use it in clubs where the light's even lower, and I have a different camera body.

ian408

Focus, framing and composition are all issues here. Of the three, number
three is probably nearest the mark with respect to action. However, it's
missing the ball.

White balance looks ok but could use some adjustment.

What you want are faces and the ball to go with the action. Also watch the
horizons (use signage or the floors to help with the alignment). A custom
white balance may help with these as well.

As waxy mentions, fast glass is good. The 85-f/1.8 would be a great
addition to your kit.

Look forward to seeing more!

Ian

nokout3839

ian408 wrote:

Focus, framing and composition are all issues here. Of the three, number
three is probably nearest the mark with respect to action. However, it's
missing the ball.

White balance looks ok but could use some adjustment.

What you want are faces and the ball to go with the action. Also watch the
horizons (use signage or the floors to help with the alignment). A custom
white balance may help with these as well.

As waxy mentions, fast glass is good. The 85-f/1.8 would be a great
addition to your kit.

Look forward to seeing more!

Ian

Cheers Ian, Thanks for the comments.

I know what you mean with getting the faces, I feel like asking them to stop putting there arms infront of their face when they shoot :-).

The only thing im now worried about is if I get a 85mm 1.8 will I still get a big improvemnt in focusing? (I have a thread in the camera section now, well see what it comes up with)

Thanks Again, Nigel

CalKidd

I mentioned this on another thread, but if the Canon 24-70 is out of the price range look at the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 version. I have read quite a few of reviews and the Sigma received excellent reviews. According to reviews the Sigma preformed just as good if not slightly better than the Canon.

Poseidon

CalKidd wrote:

I mentioned this on another thread, but if the Canon 24-70 is out of the price range look at the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 version. I have read quite a few of reviews and the Sigma received excellent reviews. According to reviews the Sigma preformed just as good if not slightly better than the Canon.

I believe the only area the SIgma lacks is focusing SPEED! Unfortunately in sports photography that is the single biggest factor, if it can't focus fast, you are SUNK!

Steve Cavigliano

Not bad for a first time out

You already have received feedback for most of the issues I see. The wb is off a bit (too yellow, but not bad at all), speeds used were too slow (motion blur), aperture not wide enough (I know you couldn't get wider, but it would have helped blur those backgrounds a bit), 75mm is a bit wide (85-100mm would be better for getting in tight) and as Ian points out, the only real "action" is the 3rd shot and the darn ball is so hard to see

IMO, forget F2.8 zooms. Unless you shooting in an exceptionally well lit gym, you will need an F1.4-F2.0 prime to get the best results and the fastest speeds.

You may be interested in the B-ball tutorial that can be found by clicking on "How To" above, then select "Tutorials".


Steve

nokout3839

Cant believe I missed that tutorial

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

You may be interested in the B-ball tutorial that can be found by clicking on "How To" above, then select "Tutorials".


Steve

Thanks for the heads up on your tutorial steve, very helpful, and thanks for the help. That goes for everyone.

Went to training again this weekend and gave ISO1600 a try. Far to noisey but it did let me get down to 1/400th with my f4.

The percentage of shots that were throwaways has reduced heaps. Only shot for about half the time and got about twice as many shots that I can see potential in (NOTE: They are still not great, but theres potential).

I think the next bit is some math. I want to maintain 1/400th and would like to get down to ISO400 (At least). For each ISO step I believe that it makes the sensor twice as sensitive and each stop is half as sesitive, so if i want to drop two levels in ISO I need to drop two levels in Av. Leading me to think that f2 or better is what I need to shoot at ISO400.

Is this right?

I will add some shots from this training session when they finish uploading.

Thanks again everyone for their help on this, it has been great.

Cheers, Nigel

nokout3839

Some shots:
As I said some shots from the last training session. There was very little shooting done so they are a bit boring. But I think there is an improvement???






Improvement???


Cheers, Nigel

wxwax

The last one is by far the best one. Relatively tight action with the ball in the frame. I'd still be tempted to crop it tighter. The others are a bit loose and don't have interesting action. Huge improvement over the first batch, no question!