6 year old indoor Bball

Grumpy_one

I did these shots last Sunday. I did some quick cropping and some exposure adjustments. This was mostly testing the light situation. I used high iso without flash, some low iso 400 -800 with built in flash (don't have external flash, 580ex on wish list). I do this for the grandparents mostly, but sure would like some insight from you guys. I'm just a proud father with a (new to me) 20D. Low lighting is a challenge! Thanks for looking.
http://home.comcast.net/~grumpy232/KYLE/Kyle.html

dadwtwins

Very cute, i can't wait until my kids are old enough to play sports.

Shooting sports is one daunting task. Most of the time you will not be able to use a flash while shooting sports since it distracts and annoys the players as well as the viewers.

Learn how to compose th shoot so your subject matter is the focus and not everything around them.

Set your camera on Aperture priority and open the lens as big as possible. This is where the f/2.8 lens or faster really come into play. No only do you get more light toyour sensor, it also helps throw the background out of focus so your subject is the focus.

Use as long of a lens as you have. 300mm or 200mm or what ever you have to be able to try to throw out of focus that background. This makes the shot look much better. Backgrounds just distract from your subject.

Raise the ISO as high as possible before your noise distracts you from the picture. Your ISO setting of 1600 and 1250 shots looked great.

I hope this helps

dadwtwins

You might have already read this thread but just incase you have not it has some great tips.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=22950

Grumpy_one

dadwtwins wrote:

300mm or 200mm or what ever you have to be able to try to throw out of focus that background.

You mean like this...

Grumpy_one

That was done with my buddy's 40D 300mm f/4. That pic gave me the bug. Now I just need equip. Got a 20D with a 17-85 IS, now I need a flash among other stuff. It's a start.

dadwtwins

Grumpy_one wrote:

That was done with my buddy's 40D 300mm f/4. That pic gave me the bug. Now I just need equip. Got a 20D with a 17-85 IS, now I need a flash among other stuff. It's a start.

:ivarnow that is what i am talking about. Great capture

caro

Love the color

Grumpy_one wrote:

You mean like this...

How'd you get the one child to remain in color? I've been trying to learn but mine don't look that good.

Grumpy_one

caro wrote:

How'd you get the one child to remain in color? I've been trying to learn but mine don't look that good.

I completely cut him out with lasso tool, grayscale whats left, and paste him back in. Fireworks will paste back in without having to move it back in, PS on the other hand will paste back in at another spot and you have to move back into place. I did a tutorial (post) of how I did it step by step here #12. Quite easy, just time consuming. Good luck.

Grumpy_one

dadwtwins wrote:

:ivarnow that is what i am talking about. Great capture

I got lucky, I was having to shoot about 70 feet away with the 300mm, no parents in the way, but I sure do like that lens. Unfortunately it wasn't mine, sure way to get the bug though!!

donek

As dadwtwins says, boost your iso, wide open aperture, zoom in on your subject. As for flash, I shoot indoor sports with bounce flash all the time. This can't be done with your existing flash, but most shoe mount flashes will have the ability to redirect the flash at the ceiling or wall. This will remove the shadows from faces without the nasty red eye and it won't cast distracting shadows on the wall behind the subject.

All your shots are taken from an adults perspective. When shooting kids, always get down at their level. Shooting from above results in distortion that makes a childs head appear bigger than the rest of their body (particularly at wide angles) and fails to bring the viewer into the childs world. You usually miss the eyes from above as well, since they are looking at the ball and floor most of the time. In sports, low angles are almost always more interesting and make the athlete appear more impressive.

leaforte

Grumpy_one wrote:

I did these shots last Sunday. I did some quick cropping and some exposure adjustments. This was mostly testing the light situation. I used high iso without flash, some low iso 400 -800 with built in flash (don't have external flash, 580ex on wish list). I do this for the grandparents mostly, but sure would like some insight from you guys. I'm just a proud father with a (new to me) 20D. Low lighting is a challenge! Thanks for looking.
http://home.comcast.net/~grumpy232/KYLE/Kyle.html

Looking at your shots I had to chuckle...the coach obviously made one thing quite clear to his little defensive minions: get those hands in the air!

How cute!

Foochar

caro wrote:

How'd you get the one child to remain in color? I've been trying to learn but mine don't look that good.

Take a look at the Dgrin Tutorial on Layer Masks as well. If you create a second layer and desaturate that layer you can use layer masks to reveal portions of the first layer which will still be in color.