the hardest sport to shoot....(8 pics)

JubbaKing

VOLLEYBALL.
I only have a little experience shooting girl's volleyball from back in the fall. That was with a 10d so I didn't really get any pictures that I thought were worth even mentioning. Now that I have a faster focussing 20d, I got to try it with the boys. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what a good volleyball shot is so this is what I came up with. Any help is greatly appreciated, of course.

Just thought this one was funny.

What do ya know? I cut the feet off! Didn't see that one comin' did ya? hahaha

rutt

These are really nice. I disagree that volleyball is the hardest sport to shoot. Something is always going on and it has a natural rhythm. Baseball, IHMO, is much harder to shoot. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. And then the shot of the game is there for almost no time. Getting the batter and the pitcher is one thing, but the fielding and base running plays is a totally different thing. Plus, you are never allowed to get very close and your angles are really limited and to change angles means moving a long way and possibly missing the big play.

Lots of sports are hard to shoot. Bicycle racing, many kinds of running, ski racing all have the problem that you usually aren't whereever the action is. If you really know the sport and the particular venue, you can make a guess. But Ive shot quite a bit of baseball now, and I have to say that I've missed 90% of the plays I really wanted. So frustrating!

Steve Cavigliano

JK,

Nice shots and they get better as one scrolls down the page

I have to agree with Rutt. While Volleyball is tough, at least you can "pre-focus" on areas where you know there will be action. Baseball and Football are tougher (especially pass plays) IMO, because you have only a split second to compose, focus and fire and hope the settings you had dialed in were correct...lol

You didn't give us much info on what settings you used? In High School gyms, I'd say you probably need to be at ISO1600, wide open aperture (the faster the glass, the better) and see what kind of speeds you get using Aperture Priority. F2.8 glass is probably the slowest you'll be able to use and still get speeds of 1/200-1/250, or thereabouts. Faster speeds would be even better. I'm thinking ISO1600, F2.4 and 1/400 would be a nice goal.

As far as angles/perspectives, if you have any freedom of movement at all, try to get a good angle on one of the net corners. Much of the hitting and blocking take place here and it's pretty easy to "pre-focus" on this area (switch to MF to leave it locked there) and just start firing when players move into the area. If you have gathered enough experience to feel comfy, don't release the shutter until a split second before the shot you want. IOW, don't release the shutter until the player(s) are in the air and swinging their arm. Continuous mode helps here. You should feel free to fire off a burst (afterall, the film's free :lol )

One thing I've always noticed about the light in many High School and JC gyms, besides being poor, it's usually a weird color too. If you are not going to shoot in RAW (and even if you are), I'd suggest doing a Manual/Custom White Balance. Your colors will be much better in the jpgs, also in the LCD, and the RAWs won't need much, if any color correction.

Keep shooting and post what you get and we'll be here to help you, if and when you need it

Thanks for sharing these,
Steve

wxwax

Jubba, you did a great job! You have some crisp shots, the light looks good, so does the white balance. Check out the photos in the sports page or in sports magazines... they often crop to make the action the center of attention. In other words, don't worry about framing out body parts, if you're getting the best action in your shot.

I'd think that volleyball would be easy in one area: when they pop the ball up in front of the net before spinking it (is that the right term?) there's lots of time to figure out where the action will be at the net. Point yer camera there, and shoot off a burst. Do that a few times and you will surely get something good.

I think you did really well.

JubbaKing

Thanks guys! I appreciate the tips...but you're all wrong. Volleyball is the hardest, plain and simple. I can't get into a type of rythm I might get into say, at a basketball game and the net can be troublesome, players move in and out of your way very suddenly, they're all at different depths, and that ball is very hard to get where you want it...need I go on?
As for white balance, I always do a custom wb. Some of the colors here might slightly be off because I was an idiot in post processing and bumped up saturation BEFORE running an action I have to get rid of purple fringing. Live and learn I guess.

Here are the specs:
Canon 20d
70-200 2.8L IS
1/640th, f2.8, ISO 3200

Earlier in the night I used my 85 f/1.8 at ISO 1600, f2.2 or f2.5 and 1/500. That gym wasn't too badly lit compared to some...if I can use the 70-200, the gym is nice.

DoctorIt

Hope the ref made a call on this one:



Nice set of shots