College Bball: Valpo v. Milwaukee (mens)
A few favorites from the game Thursday night:
The rest:
http://shima.smugmug.com/gallery/4148405/
Still having problems getting the ideal white balance... when I tried some suggestions from last time, I ended up having very blue shots, and that stadium is not blue, it's very yellow naturally, so the blue looks very off.
I was really pleased with a lot more "faces" and just good general action shots in compared to some previous games.
Unfortunately Valpo lost... by only 2 points... but it broke their 13 game winning streak at home (did not have such a streak away) which was saddening... the game was SOOOO close all night long though, it was intense!
The rest:
http://shima.smugmug.com/gallery/4148405/
Still having problems getting the ideal white balance... when I tried some suggestions from last time, I ended up having very blue shots, and that stadium is not blue, it's very yellow naturally, so the blue looks very off.
I was really pleased with a lot more "faces" and just good general action shots in compared to some previous games.
Unfortunately Valpo lost... by only 2 points... but it broke their 13 game winning streak at home (did not have such a streak away) which was saddening... the game was SOOOO close all night long though, it was intense!
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Is this any better?
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Part of the WB problem is because the images are under-exposed. Remember, you need to expose for faces - not white jerseys. In poor lighting that can mean blowing out the white jerseys. Forget jerseys, just look at the faces in these photos - they're in deep shadow. That means they're underexposed. I hope you don't mind but I took this first photo and adjusted it to fix the exposure (which of course brought out a lot of noise which I had to reduce which means detail is lost - the reason why it's critical to get the exposure right in-camera). If you don't want to use a higher ISO then your last resort is to use external flash. Now this was just a very quick correction - and of course results will be a bit different because this was a levels adjustment and not a true exposure adjustment - i overdid it a bit but it conveys the idea.
Corrected image:
I've been shooting at f2.8 and 1/400.
Anything you would change there?
The lighting is terrible in that stadium around the hoops.
I don't have strobes or anything yet.
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Shima,
You can easily "push" your exposure without blowing the highlights in PS. Use a curves layer and adjust as needed, like my screenshot shows.
Also, your sig shows that you own a 580EXII. If allowed, I'd bounce it off the back wall & ceiling. That's how I prefer to shoot my BB pics with great results. I've got strobes, but prefer the speedlight bounced. YMMV
Hope that helps...
I'm not sure if we're allowed to keep the flash on or not... I did go to a women's game once when this older woman was using an attached flash on her camera... and it was annoying as can be, so I'm not too sure I want to go trying that out just yet as if I wanted to cause her harm, some of the other photogs might as well there. Generally the guys from the local papers just put their strobes up or use no flash depending on who they are and how much equipment their company has paid for.
Anyhoo here's my attempts at white balancing these w/ curves and white balance tweaking in Lightroom:
How am I doing this time around??
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Please notice that I did say "bounce off of the back wall/ceiling"
NOT, shoot it staight onto the players
There is a huge difference here!
The only way this would be annoying is if someone was velcro'd to the wall, it would then be flashing in their eyes
But, YMMV --- Just giving you some tips...
Personally I just need to get a donor to donate a ton of money to the university so we can afford to buy shutters for our lights, the reasons they turn off the edge lights is because all the lights take 18 minutes to turn back on when they've been off... so they use the edge lights for pre-game then the bright center lights for the game itself... they have to turn lights all off because they're hooked on doing starting lineup in pitch black with spotlights (if we got rid of this it would solve that problem too...) but yeah... that's my vote, lol. In the meanwhile I got some good captures against Green Bay tonight and will post them later... I also managed to get a decent working manual white balance to finallly cooperate, hopefully I will still believe this when it gets off the camera and onto the computer later.
Another question about bouncing the flash (which I've done in normal rooms, never an arena before) the arena ceiling is realllly high above, would it be strong enough to bounce back done successfully? Didn't try it tonight, wanting to probe more into this possibility before I test drive it.
And I'd only have the option of doing off ceiling, if I bounce it behind me it will go straight into the student section and they're rowdy enough at the game w/out other distractions, lol
Facebook: Friend / Fan || Twitter: @shimamizu || Google Plus
Shima,
Bouncing off the ceiling with the 580EX can be done successfully if everything is in your favor.
Is the ceiling light colored?
Are the walls light colored?
If these answers are yes, then YES.
If these answers are no, then --- you'll just have to try and see, but it's doubtful.
Here is a picture that I posted a while back when someone else asked the same basic question. I used my 580EX to bounce light from the ceiling. Notice that the ceiling and walls are light colored and reflected well.
In extreme cases where everything is working against you getting good shots, you may have to resort to the more borderline/questionable practice of "feathering" your flash.
What this means is: If your shooting under the basket, turn your flash head so that when you are shooting the players, the flash head is actually pointing toward the top of the goal.
This allows some of the "edge/feathered" light onto the court/players, but nothing direct. Play with the angle until you get what you need. (this would be a picture that someone else can't tell that a flash was used) I've had to do this several times and never had a complaint one. Given the option to bounce off a back wall/ceiling, I'd certainly take that any time.
If your not sure how it looks to the players, set your flash up this way before the game, go out on the court like your fixing to shoot the ball (note: look at the basket, not your camera) and have the person fire the flash. You'll notice that it's not distracting, especially if you were really playing and concentrating on your game.
I NEVER, EVER use any kind of flash, remote strobes, etc. while someone is shooting a foul shot. I normally even move out of the key area for this.
You might want to give this a read also:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=81274
Hope this helps