I have a Canon digital rebel XT, I have taken quite a few volleyball
pictures and I am not pleased with them, could someone please give
me some tips on setting the camera.
Thanks!
I have a Canon digital rebel XT, I have taken quite a few volleyball
pictures and I am not pleased with them, could someone please give
me some tips on setting the camera.
Thanks!
any samples of what your not pleased with?
I'm worried about Gort. I'm afraid of what he might do, if anything should happen to me.:dood
I have a Canon digital rebel XT, I have taken quite a few volleyball
pictures and I am not pleased with them, could someone please give
me some tips on setting the camera.
Thanks!
Read the manual, practice, read the manual, practice.
Like spudjer said, we need samples, and info....lens used, shutter speeds, apreratures, ISO, all that, to really give you some specific tips.
Secondly, you need to give us some more information so we can zero in on the issue. Are you shooting indoors or out? What lens are you using? What shooting mode are you using? How far away from the action are you and can you move around while shooting? What sort of quality do you need? IOW, will you will selling prints of these shots? Or, are they just family memories? Posting an example with the EXIF data would answer a few of these questions.
We want to help, but you haven't given us enough to work with.
I have a Canon digital rebel XT, I have taken quite a few volleyball
pictures and I am not pleased with them, could someone please give
me some tips on setting the camera.
Thanks!
Taking a stab in the dark (as it were) if you are shooting indoors then you are likely in a poorly lit gym so you will need to set your camera body up to its highest ISO setting; will likely still need very fast primes (85 1.8 or 50 1.4 ) and most of the time you will want to be prefocusing on where you think the action will occur and shooting if/when the ball does end up there as your AI servo will likely not be up to the task of acquiring and keeping a focus in low light if the camera is flying all over the place. Concentrate on triggering the shutter once, at the moment that you want to capture as mult-frame mode with anything less than a 1D2 is more likely to miss that moment than capture it because so much is going on in that brief moment of time that 1/3 second intervals are too long. Try and keep the shutter speed at or over 1/320. Then run home and hit the images with a noise reduction program and still be underwhelmed... I can harldy wait for soccer to start, as shooting my daughter in the same poorly lit gym for basketball and then spring volleyball was very frustrating - especially the volleyball. I started using a flash when they were warming up (stopped for the game) just to insure that I got some shots of each kid that were passable. I beleive that these are all with the 85 1.8 with shutter priority at 1/320 and ISO 1600 (after Noise Ninja) and were taken by prefocusing on the player that I thought was most likely to receive the serve.
If I was shooting older players at the net I would still prefocus (on the tape on the net) and hope that the setter set to that spot (might have somone on the other side of the net watching the setters signs so that you knew where and at what tempo the setter might go if the pass was good)- and hope for a tight set so that there was a prayer of having the ball and player in focus. Getting blocking images might be easier, as prefocusing on the net is much more likley to get you a focal plane where the blockers eyes are sharp and any motion blur on the ball will make it mute if the ball is in focus and you will know where the setter is most likley to go with the set. Or - pick a digger and hope that the block forces the spike to that player. In that case you could prefocus on their eyes/head and might have a prayer of having the servo track and keep the focus as they moved under the ball. I played around with tracking the ball in flight but could not get fast enough shutter speeds with permisive enough aperatures to ever make it work (motion blur and ball in focus/player not or some combination of the two.) Maybe a 1D2 and a better lit gym would permit you to follow the set ball in to the spike - don't know as I have access to neither...
I have not shot outside, but with more light you can shoot with more conventional lenses, faster shutter speed and smaller aperatures so should be able to have larger depth of fields and less chance of motion blur, but if that is the case and you are not happy with your results - simplify things - try the prefocus on a player method and settle for taking fewer shots (when the action goes that way), but with a greater likelyhood of getting a keeper. Maybe start with an ISO that gives you at least 1/500 shutter speed in shutter priority with an aperature in the F4-F8 range. If you are seeing motion blur try the next higher shutter speed. If your focal plane is too large, (too much of the background in focus), open it up some and reduce the ISO. Keep looking at your images while you are shooting to see what is working technically first and as you shoot more, timing and framing will come but if the image is starting technically flawed then the best framing and timing will still leave you with an out of focus/blurry/poorly lit image.
IMHO, volleyball is just about the toughest sport to shoot. Here's why I stink at it:
1. Poor gym lighting.
2. Players always seem to have their back to you or are blocked by another player or the net. (Think they'd let me get rid of the net just for 1 game?)
3. The ball is not with the player for very long. Compare to basketball or football. You could say the same about baseball or tennis but at least they have the bat or racket which itself makes for a good photo prop. But in volleyball, a player spends most of her time watching and anticipating. 200 shots later and 150 are of my daughter looking into the sky.
That said, I've often found that warmups are a great time to capture images (in most sports). The action is predictable and everyone is involved. Crop tight and nobody knows. Also, some of my favorite pics are of my daughter holding the ball just before a serve.
If you are shooting anything lower than college level, chances are your lighting is going to suck. Personally, I shoot in Av and adjust ISO for lighting. Then again, shoot mostly college level and above. My best shots have come from standing near the 10ft. line off to the side. From that spot, you can pretty much cover everything. Personally, my best shots have come from tracking the Libero. Other players are hard to follow and I think it's best to shoot at the spots they are going to run to. If you know volleyball you can watch the setter for the plays and you know where all the hitters are going to go. I think this is key. I used to be a college setter/Libero so I'm pretty savy with what's going on. Watch the setter, he/she calls all the plays.
Comments
any samples of what your not pleased with?
Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!
Read the manual, practice, read the manual, practice.
Like spudjer said, we need samples, and info....lens used, shutter speeds, apreratures, ISO, all that, to really give you some specific tips.
First off, welcome to Dgrin
Secondly, you need to give us some more information so we can zero in on the issue. Are you shooting indoors or out? What lens are you using? What shooting mode are you using? How far away from the action are you and can you move around while shooting? What sort of quality do you need? IOW, will you will selling prints of these shots? Or, are they just family memories? Posting an example with the EXIF data would answer a few of these questions.
We want to help, but you haven't given us enough to work with.
Steve
Taking a stab in the dark (as it were) if you are shooting indoors then you are likely in a poorly lit gym so you will need to set your camera body up to its highest ISO setting; will likely still need very fast primes (85 1.8 or 50 1.4 ) and most of the time you will want to be prefocusing on where you think the action will occur and shooting if/when the ball does end up there as your AI servo will likely not be up to the task of acquiring and keeping a focus in low light if the camera is flying all over the place. Concentrate on triggering the shutter once, at the moment that you want to capture as mult-frame mode with anything less than a 1D2 is more likely to miss that moment than capture it because so much is going on in that brief moment of time that 1/3 second intervals are too long. Try and keep the shutter speed at or over 1/320. Then run home and hit the images with a noise reduction program and still be underwhelmed... I can harldy wait for soccer to start, as shooting my daughter in the same poorly lit gym for basketball and then spring volleyball was very frustrating - especially the volleyball. I started using a flash when they were warming up (stopped for the game) just to insure that I got some shots of each kid that were passable. I beleive that these are all with the 85 1.8 with shutter priority at 1/320 and ISO 1600 (after Noise Ninja) and were taken by prefocusing on the player that I thought was most likely to receive the serve.
If I was shooting older players at the net I would still prefocus (on the tape on the net) and hope that the setter set to that spot (might have somone on the other side of the net watching the setters signs so that you knew where and at what tempo the setter might go if the pass was good)- and hope for a tight set so that there was a prayer of having the ball and player in focus. Getting blocking images might be easier, as prefocusing on the net is much more likley to get you a focal plane where the blockers eyes are sharp and any motion blur on the ball will make it mute if the ball is in focus and you will know where the setter is most likley to go with the set. Or - pick a digger and hope that the block forces the spike to that player. In that case you could prefocus on their eyes/head and might have a prayer of having the servo track and keep the focus as they moved under the ball. I played around with tracking the ball in flight but could not get fast enough shutter speeds with permisive enough aperatures to ever make it work (motion blur and ball in focus/player not or some combination of the two.) Maybe a 1D2 and a better lit gym would permit you to follow the set ball in to the spike - don't know as I have access to neither...
I have not shot outside, but with more light you can shoot with more conventional lenses, faster shutter speed and smaller aperatures so should be able to have larger depth of fields and less chance of motion blur, but if that is the case and you are not happy with your results - simplify things - try the prefocus on a player method and settle for taking fewer shots (when the action goes that way), but with a greater likelyhood of getting a keeper. Maybe start with an ISO that gives you at least 1/500 shutter speed in shutter priority with an aperature in the F4-F8 range. If you are seeing motion blur try the next higher shutter speed. If your focal plane is too large, (too much of the background in focus), open it up some and reduce the ISO. Keep looking at your images while you are shooting to see what is working technically first and as you shoot more, timing and framing will come but if the image is starting technically flawed then the best framing and timing will still leave you with an out of focus/blurry/poorly lit image.
Good luck,
Andy
Outdoor and Sports Media
1. Poor gym lighting.
2. Players always seem to have their back to you or are blocked by another player or the net. (Think they'd let me get rid of the net just for 1 game?)
3. The ball is not with the player for very long. Compare to basketball or football. You could say the same about baseball or tennis but at least they have the bat or racket which itself makes for a good photo prop. But in volleyball, a player spends most of her time watching and anticipating. 200 shots later and 150 are of my daughter looking into the sky.
That said, I've often found that warmups are a great time to capture images (in most sports). The action is predictable and everyone is involved. Crop tight and nobody knows. Also, some of my favorite pics are of my daughter holding the ball just before a serve.
Give me baseball/softball or soccer any day.
~Paul