shooting basketball games

I am shooting a basketball game and the lighting is horrible. What are

recommendations for shooting. Flash, no flash, color temp? ISO? etc..

Anything which can be provided will help

Hi Dave, tell us about your camera, we'll be able to help more.

Oh, and mention what lens(es) you have.

I do see it's in the digital Nikon section so lets start there. I've found that if I take a small white card to the game a do a custom white balance under the game lights my shots are much better. That's a good first start.

 

As for flash, I never use one at sporting events. Some sports it's not even allowed. I try and use the other "tools" to get the shot. Those tools include fast lenses. If you can get close the 1.8 50mm Nikon lens works very well combined with higher ISO's. I take a 50 1.8, and an 80-200 2.8 zoom with me.

 

As for ISO that's going to really depend on the lighting and the lens you use. The faster the lens, the lower the ISO. Same with brighter light, more light, lower ISO.

 

Show us a shot and maybe we can add more, hope that some of that helped,

 

Michael

 

<img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f158/mharris660/WSUup.jpg">

With this <a href="http://luongophoto.smugmug.com/gallery/3942820#229031757"><b>batch of photos</b></a>, I was shooting RAW, ISO 1600, about f/2.0-f/2.8, 1/250-1/125 with a 135mm, f2.0 lens. I took a white balance off a white wall and probably tweaked it in post-processing. At this particular gym, the wall ended up being almost exactly the same as the Lightroom's fluorescent preset.

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It was a practice, not a game, and my goal was more portraiture of a single individual rather than photographing the game. Because of the narrow depth of field, I discarded a lot of shots for missed focus. (these were the best 24 out of about 125 exposures)

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Since I was shooting an individual at a practice, I was able to use single servo mode a lot. When tracking him during running type drills, the D200 continuous AF mode wasn't great but worked okay.

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During an actual game, I'd consider using a preset focus and waiting for action to occur in the focus zone. Either way, shoot a lot and be discriminating with what you keep. You'll be a better photographer that way.

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Try not to use a shutter less than 1/125. Higher is better if you have the light and can afford the depth of field.

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I was shooting in a middle school gym. The lighting in the college arena of Michael Harris' photo seems a luxury in comparison. If the lighting is really horrible, as you say it is, I'd try putting a couple of remote flashes in the corners of the gym and bouncing them off ceilings or walls if practical. (assumes you've got some remote flashes to use). Or maybe set up one flash for a side light (not bounced) and a second on camera for direct light. At a city rec league level, you can probably shoot a few exposures like this without bothering the players too much.

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You could also try a couple of artistic techniques. If shooting from the sidelines, try panning as they run by. It helps to have 5 frames per second when doing this because it is hit-or-miss. You could also shooting flash with a slow shutter speed and rear shutter sync.

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One final thought is that you should use manual exposure. And lighting in different parts of the court could vary by a stop or so.<div></div>

As you posted in a Nikon forum, I suposse you have a Nikon DSLR camera. Then, my recomendation for low light indoor sports is the Nikkor 70-200 f2,8 VR. A nice and fast tele zoom.

 

Regards.

I use a 50mm f/1.8 and an 85mm f/1.8 for most of my basketball shots. The extra stop or two that you get relative to a zoom makes a huge difference. But I am shooting in a gym that has really poor lighting - I shoot at ISO 3200 to get f/2 and 1/250.

 

As for flash - I use remote triggers and set the flashes so that they don't hit the players in the eyes when they are shooting. They usually aren't even aware of the flash.

I would agree with Robert totally, I find 2.8 zooms less than handy for indoor sports like basketball, unless you can use flash, and that is just not allowed in many gyms. Also I would find this very distracting for the players, to see a bunch of profess. grade on camera flashes going off in my face. I stick with one or two bodies with fast prime lenses, usually a 24mm 1.8 for in close shots near the baskets and either a 50mm 1.4 or 85mm 1.8. I try to shoot these at f2. DOF at this end of the apertures is minimal and high school kids are quick, hehe and being an old foggie I am not so.... Light conditions range from POOR to HORRENDOUS in most gyms, both in quality and type. WB can be tricky, and I just won't shoot in raw, too many images to go through and fine jpegs work fine for most press useage. If you know how to do a custom WB great, if not you might want to learn unless the end use is bw for newspaper or other. There are times I even shoot in manual focus mode and manual exposure is most of the time. Images can be wrecked by an off chanced ceiling light in the field and where it is in the background. It is a lot of fun...