1. Looks like you've got quite a bit of backfocusing going on in some of these - others are just OOF.
2. Try to keep the ball in the frame. Shots like 2 & 4 lose interest because there's no ball.
3. Try to avoid keeping dribble shots where the ball is so close to the floor - just looks oddm (last pic).
4. For the most part the WB looks pretty decent - a few color casts. Where you shooting in a preset or auto WB? If so, setting a custom wb will take care of the casts.
Keep at it. Basketball is tough and takes time to master. I think you've got a good start here. The biggest obstacle right now is the soft or mis-focus.
I will be shooting Basketball this week, 4 games, thanks for the tips
Will this be your first time shooting basketball? I see you've shot other sports so I'll skip sports shooting 101 type stuff and go right for basketball.
If so, here are some additional tips:
1. Set white balance.
2. Shoot manual exposure - not TV or AV. Lighting is poor but consistent and you don't want the camera's metering fooled by jersey colors.
3. Get faces exposed properly IN CAMERA. Don't worry about unifoms - you want faces looking natural and bright. Relying on correcting underexposure in PP increases your workflow in PP and it brings out more noise.
4. As a guide, ISO 1600 f2.0 1/400 is about average for the HS gyms around me. Most gyms I shoot in are within 1/3 stop of those settings. So if you find yourself at ISO 800 f2.8 1/500 you're either in a pro arena or you're vastly underexposed.
5. Use center point only on anything below mkIII (so you have high precision cross-type)
5. Stay within limitations of the lens. It looks like you have a 50mm 1.8. If you're going to shoot basketball in the future you might want to upgrade to an 85mm 1.8. The absolute BIGGEST mistake sports shooters shooting with short primes make is they try to shoot action too far away and then crop down. The 50mm lens focuses accurately for about 15 feet - THAT's IT. You really want to stay about 10 feet. The lens just doesn't focus accurately beyond that and the photos end up being very soft. The 85mm is good to about 20 feet or so (which is tough because at 20 feet a 6' boy takes up a good portion of the frame so you may think - hey I can get by with only filling up 1/2 the frame - but that leads to soft focus). Try for yourself - after one game you'll see a HUGE difference in the quality of shots if you stay inside that 15 feet.
I agree, but I find parents don't care.:D Besides, I no longer own the best shots.
Until someone else comes along that pays better attention to detail. Parents want a picture of their kid. If the other photog offers them a picture that's in focus and has the ball in it - that's the one they'll buy.
We all have room for improvement - settling for less than the best results is a short path to future unemployment.
Until someone else comes along that pays better attention to detail. Parents want a picture of their kid. If the other photog offers them a picture that's in focus and has the ball in it - that's the one they'll buy.
We all have room for improvement - settling for less than the best results is a short path to future unemployment.
Well, I don't know where the attitude is coming from and if you took my original post as having attitude, then I apologize.
Second, selling pictures to parents is not my income. Photojournalist for a newspaper is and freelancing for it's sister paper is. That's why I remarked my best ones I no longer own. I have a long away to go to be better photographer. However, I think it's not bad that I only picked up my first SLR camera last Feb and I was asked by an editor if I wanted to freelance and then take it full time.
In regards to having action "with the ball", these are not my best ones. The ones "with the ball" that have good action and facial expressions go to the paper. Action takes place without the ball as well. It is preffered to have the ball in the shot, but if it's out of frame and you have a fixed lens, there's not much you can do about it. However, I am not going to throw away a picture that has great facial expressions. If you do, that's fine.
I do know that there is a wide descrepenacy between what pro photographers think is good, and what parents and the kids themselves think is good. My website was set up to get extra pictures I do own to parents if they want them. It's easier this way and I don't spend time emailing, making cd's etc. All I want is for it to pay for itself.
I don't want to "settle for less", but before you start on a rant like that, at least get your facts straight.
Hey John - it look like you were using your flash bounce technique on these - is that true? I recently upgraded my flash and am testing now in BBall.
When you ask about flash, who do you approach? I approached the host AD and he said "okay" so I used it. Mid way through a game, the refs asked everyone to stop using flash.
john68 - many of these shots are quite sharp and well exposed. I too was wondering how you light them? The first two, for example, have no shadows but are well exposed and good white balance. Were you indeed bouncing a flash? What was the set up, if you don't mind?
I don't want to "settle for less", but before you start on a rant like that, at least get your facts straight.
Sorry - not a rant at all. You indicated that parents don't care if the ball is in the frame and buy the photos anyway. My only intent was that you shouldn't be complacent. Quality is a relative thing. Parents are consumers and will buy the best product for their money.
I'm sorry if your intent was to just get congratulated. Most of us are after constructive feedback (positive and negative). The fact you sell work to parents or paper is really not relevant to whether or not there are areas for improvement. You're doing pretty good for having limited experience. But I would suggest you could get better more quickly if you're open to suggestions for improvement rather than using your freelance and parent sales as a shield. I offer constructive criticism because I'm interested in helping others like I was helped by those with more experience that took the time. I'm sorry you interpret that as a rant. It's just me trying to help.
My point about someone else coming in and taking over your market is from personal experience. My business thrives because I put in extra effort. I came into an area that had an established sports photographer. She's very nice and well liked. But she's a lazy photographer. She has a number of soft images in her galleries and a lot of poorly timed shots (like ball out of frame). Slowly but surely her customers are buying from me. Our prices are comparable but my shots are sharper and I generally toss out the less interesting ones and soft focus ones (still leaving about 75-200 shots per game). So they were happy with her product until they had another option. This isn't to toot my horn it's just to point out that you shouldn't be complacent and use the fact that you sell photos as a shield against accepting suggestions for improvement. If you work hard at it there's no reason why you can't get 75-200 shots WITH THE BALL so you don't have to have shots without it. Doesn't that make sense?
Most of us are after constructive feedback (positive and negative).
For what it's worth, I learned something from the constructive criticism. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish critique from bash, but your comments were helpful to me. Maybe they were easier to swallow since it wasn't my own work. Thanks.
For what it's worth, I learned something from the constructive criticism. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish critique from bash, but your comments were helpful to me. Maybe they were easier to swallow since it wasn't my own work. Thanks.
Thanks. Typically people that bash just say - "this is bad" without offering suggestions. I try to offer specific suggestions (possible back-focus, keep ball in frame) - just like offering specific suggestions to the other person on settings for shooting basketball. Taking constructive criticism is difficult - but it's all about your mindset when posting. If you go into posting with the mindset that you want people to help you get better you can get better VERY quickly (practice doesn't make perfect it makes 'permanent' - doing the same wrong thing repetatively just makes it difficult to improve). But if your intent is just to have other's ooh and ahh about your work it's tough to swallow. I really prefer feedback that challenges me - it makes me better at what I do. I want a critical eye of other sports photogs pointing out how I can improve. Clients don't do that - they don't tell you what's wrong - they just don't buy if they don't like your work. That's the beauty of sports forums - you get people who shoot sports to share their feedback. You don't have to agree with all the feedback. But if you embrace different opinions you can really improve your work.
Comments
A few comments.
1. Looks like you've got quite a bit of backfocusing going on in some of these - others are just OOF.
2. Try to keep the ball in the frame. Shots like 2 & 4 lose interest because there's no ball.
3. Try to avoid keeping dribble shots where the ball is so close to the floor - just looks oddm (last pic).
4. For the most part the WB looks pretty decent - a few color casts. Where you shooting in a preset or auto WB? If so, setting a custom wb will take care of the casts.
Keep at it. Basketball is tough and takes time to master. I think you've got a good start here. The biggest obstacle right now is the soft or mis-focus.
I sure am, Football season is over down here
Glass: Sigma 70-200 f2.8 | Sigma 20 f1.8 | Canon 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS USM
Will this be your first time shooting basketball? I see you've shot other sports so I'll skip sports shooting 101 type stuff and go right for basketball.
If so, here are some additional tips:
1. Set white balance.
2. Shoot manual exposure - not TV or AV. Lighting is poor but consistent and you don't want the camera's metering fooled by jersey colors.
3. Get faces exposed properly IN CAMERA. Don't worry about unifoms - you want faces looking natural and bright. Relying on correcting underexposure in PP increases your workflow in PP and it brings out more noise.
4. As a guide, ISO 1600 f2.0 1/400 is about average for the HS gyms around me. Most gyms I shoot in are within 1/3 stop of those settings. So if you find yourself at ISO 800 f2.8 1/500 you're either in a pro arena or you're vastly underexposed.
5. Use center point only on anything below mkIII (so you have high precision cross-type)
5. Stay within limitations of the lens. It looks like you have a 50mm 1.8. If you're going to shoot basketball in the future you might want to upgrade to an 85mm 1.8. The absolute BIGGEST mistake sports shooters shooting with short primes make is they try to shoot action too far away and then crop down. The 50mm lens focuses accurately for about 15 feet - THAT's IT. You really want to stay about 10 feet. The lens just doesn't focus accurately beyond that and the photos end up being very soft. The 85mm is good to about 20 feet or so (which is tough because at 20 feet a 6' boy takes up a good portion of the frame so you may think - hey I can get by with only filling up 1/2 the frame - but that leads to soft focus). Try for yourself - after one game you'll see a HUGE difference in the quality of shots if you stay inside that 15 feet.
I agree, but I find parents don't care.:D Besides, I no longer own the best shots.
We all have room for improvement - settling for less than the best results is a short path to future unemployment.
Well, I don't know where the attitude is coming from and if you took my original post as having attitude, then I apologize.
Second, selling pictures to parents is not my income. Photojournalist for a newspaper is and freelancing for it's sister paper is. That's why I remarked my best ones I no longer own. I have a long away to go to be better photographer. However, I think it's not bad that I only picked up my first SLR camera last Feb and I was asked by an editor if I wanted to freelance and then take it full time.
In regards to having action "with the ball", these are not my best ones. The ones "with the ball" that have good action and facial expressions go to the paper. Action takes place without the ball as well. It is preffered to have the ball in the shot, but if it's out of frame and you have a fixed lens, there's not much you can do about it. However, I am not going to throw away a picture that has great facial expressions. If you do, that's fine.
I do know that there is a wide descrepenacy between what pro photographers think is good, and what parents and the kids themselves think is good. My website was set up to get extra pictures I do own to parents if they want them. It's easier this way and I don't spend time emailing, making cd's etc. All I want is for it to pay for itself.
I don't want to "settle for less", but before you start on a rant like that, at least get your facts straight.
When you ask about flash, who do you approach? I approached the host AD and he said "okay" so I used it. Mid way through a game, the refs asked everyone to stop using flash.
- Mike
IR Modified Sony F717
http://2H2OPhoto.smugmug.com
I'm sorry if your intent was to just get congratulated. Most of us are after constructive feedback (positive and negative). The fact you sell work to parents or paper is really not relevant to whether or not there are areas for improvement. You're doing pretty good for having limited experience. But I would suggest you could get better more quickly if you're open to suggestions for improvement rather than using your freelance and parent sales as a shield. I offer constructive criticism because I'm interested in helping others like I was helped by those with more experience that took the time. I'm sorry you interpret that as a rant. It's just me trying to help.
My point about someone else coming in and taking over your market is from personal experience. My business thrives because I put in extra effort. I came into an area that had an established sports photographer. She's very nice and well liked. But she's a lazy photographer. She has a number of soft images in her galleries and a lot of poorly timed shots (like ball out of frame). Slowly but surely her customers are buying from me. Our prices are comparable but my shots are sharper and I generally toss out the less interesting ones and soft focus ones (still leaving about 75-200 shots per game). So they were happy with her product until they had another option. This isn't to toot my horn it's just to point out that you shouldn't be complacent and use the fact that you sell photos as a shield against accepting suggestions for improvement. If you work hard at it there's no reason why you can't get 75-200 shots WITH THE BALL so you don't have to have shots without it. Doesn't that make sense?
Thanks. Typically people that bash just say - "this is bad" without offering suggestions. I try to offer specific suggestions (possible back-focus, keep ball in frame) - just like offering specific suggestions to the other person on settings for shooting basketball. Taking constructive criticism is difficult - but it's all about your mindset when posting. If you go into posting with the mindset that you want people to help you get better you can get better VERY quickly (practice doesn't make perfect it makes 'permanent' - doing the same wrong thing repetatively just makes it difficult to improve). But if your intent is just to have other's ooh and ahh about your work it's tough to swallow. I really prefer feedback that challenges me - it makes me better at what I do. I want a critical eye of other sports photogs pointing out how I can improve. Clients don't do that - they don't tell you what's wrong - they just don't buy if they don't like your work. That's the beauty of sports forums - you get people who shoot sports to share their feedback. You don't have to agree with all the feedback. But if you embrace different opinions you can really improve your work.