Shooting breakaway drives to hoop

[donna_doherty]

I'm just your average sports mom. While I enjoy taking photos of my kids' games

I am just a beginner photographer. I'm using a Nikon D50 with an 85mm f1.8 lens

and no flash. It is so much better than the 70-300mm f4-5.6 that I had to use

last year. While most photos are coming out pretty nice I've been having

trouble when shooting breakaway drives to the basket. When I take the pictures

when the player is first coming down the court towards me they come out clear

but the ones I take as they get close to the hoop (the ones I really want!)

usually come out blurry. I'm guessing it's because I just use the autofocus and

it can't work in this situation but I don't know what else to try. Should I use

the sports mode (which I haven't had good luck with in the past) or should I use

one of the other manual modes? Is there something else I should be doing? I've

been trying to read about photography and learn more but everything is so new to

me that it's all just going over my head. I'd really like to take a class when

I get a chance but in the meantime any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Donna

[bmg5]

Hi Donna, what ISO are you using? You have a couple of choices 1) (the easy one) use a higher ISO , say 800-1200 and get your shutter speed in the 1/250 range. The price here is noise on larger prints but you should be able to freeze action. Make sure you are using Aperture priority at F1.8 or F2. 2) (More complex but better results) use an off camera flash to add light to the situation, there are some good was to do this but it requires some gear (wireless triggers and some Speed lights) but your results will be amazing and you can stay at the lower ISO's so there will be less noise. If I were you I would start with the ISO increase and use that lens at the fast end (F1.8). That is one of the nicest Nikon lenses on the market!!! Good luck BG

[BernardMiller]

Hi, Donna--

 

The answer is, as you have guessed, that the autofocus on your camera cannot keep up with the approaching player.

 

This is due to several factors: the D50 doesn't have the fastest & most accurate autofocus in the world; your lens is not terribly fast, and so the autofocus system doesn't have quite as much light to help it lock on; and the lens you're using is not an AFS lens, which has a built-in focusing motor.

 

Can you still get great shots like you want? Yes! The above things help, certainly, but are not absolutely necessary. You just have to change your approach a bit.

 

Instead of trying to keep up with moving players, focus on the area that they will drive into. Use either the autofocus or focus manually on an area, then switch to manual focus and make sure you don't move the focusing ring (this us known as zone focusing). Then be patient and wait 'til the action moves into the area you are focused on, and fire away.

 

One thing that would probably work well is to set your lens at the 70mm end, and find a spot on the baseline midway between the sideline and the basket. If you focus on the block area, then there will actually be an arc roughly from the block to directly in front of you near the elbow of the foul line, to the sideline about halfway between the baseline & free throw line that will be in focus.

 

The trick then is to be disciplined and not just fire away at random; make sure the players are in your focus zone before you shoot. You should come out with some nice shots this way. Best of luck!

[rffffffff]

There are a lot of variables there, so its hard to figure exactly what is going wrong, but here are a few tips: first, make sure your shutter speed is sufficient, something definitely above 1/250 or so, preferrably 1/500. If its not, you need to turn your ISO up a until the shutter speed is in that range. Next, most lenses need to physically move a lot more to focus close up than they do when the subject is far away. Its also hard to autofocus when the subject is coming directly at you as well. Assuming that the light is terrible (it almost always is with basketball) you are likely shooting with the lens pretty wide open, which limits the depth of field as well, making correct focus even more important.

 

The total effect is that the shot you want is hard to get, obviously.

 

So, without over complicating, you should try a few things:

 

first, put the camera in aperture priority so you have more control and know whats going on...

 

second, make sure the auto focus is in 'continuous' not single mode (af-c, i think it might be notated as)

 

use the center focus area, which I think should be the default (I am not quite sure of the options of the D50, but that shouldn't need to be changed) and see if there is a autofocus mode that only uses the center sensor. This will help AF speed a bit

 

next, make sure your ISO is high, like 1600.

 

set your aperture to f/1.8

 

Then, when shooting, pay attention to the shutter speed values of the shots you are taking. If the shutter speed is 1/2000, you can close the aperture a little more, until the shutter speed is more like 1/400.

 

Once you have the settings dialed in, I would then move the camera into manual mode and just leave the settings that produced the best results with aperture priority. In doing that, you'll free up the cameras processor a little bit, perhaps improving autofocus further.

 

If all of that fails, you might need to manual focus, or perhaps upgrade to a used D2H, which focuses a lot faster.

 

Before any of that, though, post a picture so we can get an idea of what might be going wrong, (shutter speed or focus)

[BernardMiller]

Donna--

 

Duh, I was talking to someone as I was writing my response, and just overlooked that you were now using the 85 1.8. Sorry. That certainly *is* bright enough; I'm betting, though, that the rest of my answer is correct.

 

Since the first photos are in focus, it sounds like your camera just can't keep up with the speeding player--not a surprise, with the D50 and using a non-AFS lens.

 

But it is also true that the nearer they are, the greater the apparent motion, so the other posters' advice about making sure your shutter speed is high enough to freeze action will indeed help also.

 

Still, try that zone focusing technique and see if it doesn't help a bit. Back when I was shooting manual-focus film cameras, it got me plenty of great shots; and I still use it on occasion shooting digitally. Cheers!

[barryh]

Donna, I would start picking up the players when they get closer to you. I don't know where

you pick them up in your viewfinder, but I wouldn't worry until they pass midcourt. On a

fastbreak, have patience and wait until maybe they reach the key before shooting.

[alex_feldman1]

First off, I think those are difficult shots. On a fast break at best I am redialing mt zoom to get a tighter shot, at worst I am trying to switch cameras. Even if you don't have these problems, you have to prepare for the shot, and it just isn't easy.

 

I shoot in the same arena every time, so I know what the lighting will support. I shoot in aperture priority, set at 1/500 and I have been setting ISO at 1600 lately to get a bit more depth on certain plays. You can use the computer to adjust the levels a lot easier than you can sharpen a shot, so in my opinion if you have to push something, go with less light but a fast shutter speed.

 

I don't know anything about Nikons, but I would imagine the "sports mode" you speak of just sets a bunch of camera features that you would normally want when doing sports shooting. One of these would be the autofocus mode, something equivalent to what Canon calls "Servo" mode, where the AF follows the subject. Some sport shooters don't like this mode, but it works well for me. I recommend that you try all the autofocus modes and see if you notice a difference. You also probably want a single AF point, the center point - that might be faster than any sort of automatic selection mode. Look at what the sports mode does, and set those features manually one at a time and you may find something that helps a lot.<div></div>

[wilsontsoi]

Donna, don't use sport mode. Instead, keep it in Manual Mode and start off with ISO-800, 1/500 sec., f1.8, for exposure. Adjust ISO and/or aperture up or down to get good exposure, then kee it there.

 

For AF setting, keep it in AF-C mode, center focus point only, AF tracking to Off, and if available in your camera, set AF function to the rear AF-ON button thus leaving your shutter release to only trip the shutter. This will maximize your camera's AF performance as it has less to calculate.

 

When you focus the approaching break away player, obtain focus with AF-ON button when player is close to top of key, make sure that your center focus point covers a contrasty target on player such as face or jersey number, then trip shutter release in continuous drive in a burst that starts a little before player jumps up.

 

The more you practice, the better you'll understand your camera and its nuances thus better capture the peak action you had in mind.<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I will try some of your suggestions at my daughter's next game which is Wednesday night (if it's not snowed out!) I will let you know how I make out and I'll try to post some photos though your photos are all so fantastic I am a little intimidated! :o) I didn't save any of the previous blurry ones to show you so you could see what was happening but if it happens again I'll save them. Our home gym is very well light and it has light colored walls and bleachers so lighting isn't a problem. Wednesdays game is away though and I'm not sure what the gym is like. I don't like to use the flash as these are high school girls and I don't like to distract them or make them nervous. Thanks so much for all the tips.

[donna_doherty]

I tried following some of your advice last night. It was at an away gym with not the best lighting and lots of red! It had a big red mesh divider which also cast a reddish tinge to the shiny floor so many of the pictures are very red. I had taken notes from all that was posted about settings and things to try but then left the note at home so I forgot to try some things.

 

I'm going to post some showing different settings. Some are awful I know. I just want to show what's happening so maybe some one can clue me in on what I'm doing wrong so I can learn.

 

Also while I'd love to obvious get some incredible pictures my main objective in shooting these photos is to put together a slideshow video for all 3 teams (fresh, JV & V)for the end of the year so I need to get pictures of every player including those that might only play a minute or two which is hard.

 

Thanks for an insights and advice!

[donna_doherty]

First I tried some shutter priority ones but they came out dark - and red - and fuzzy or blurry. 85mm ISO 800 1/400 f1.8<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

Another shutter priority one, same except for 1/400. This one came out totally blurry. Maybe I didn't hold the camera steady?

[donna_doherty]

Then I tried some with aperture priority. 1/125 sec - F/1.8 ISO 800<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

Then I tried sports mode. I also tried to focus on a specific zone and waited. These are of a girl on a fast break. I was happy with the first one except she shot the ball sooner than I anticipated. Soon after she had another break away so I tried again. This time I got her with the ball but she ended up past the center of my camera and it came out somewhat blurry.<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

And the second one. These were ISO 800 f/2 1/125(1st one) 1/100(2nd one).<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

Then I started getting blurry ones with the sports mode. I'm not sure why. I'm guessing it was me. :o) It had the same settings ISO 800 f/2 1/125.<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

So then I tried auto. Here are a few examples. 1/100 sec - F/2.5 ISO 800<div></div>

[donna_doherty]

Another auto mode. 1/100 sec - F/2.5 ISO 800

 

These photos are all untouched except for resizing and a tiny bit of cropping in a few.

 

Any thoughts on where I should go from here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!<div></div>

[mark u]

Your main problem is motion blur, so in order to get faster shutter speeds you are going to have to use 1600 ISO - certainly at that away gym. I'd go back to Wilson Tsoi's recommendation to shoot in M mode setting the aperture to f/1.8 and adjusting the shutter speed to get the right exposure. If the light is really good (so you are getting 1/1000th) then you can drop the ISO back to 800. It's also worth setting up a custom white balance in a gym - best done before the game with the camera set to 1/60th in shutter priority mode. Some gyms have weird lighting best handled with custom WB.

 

You may wish to process images shot at 1600 ISO for noise reduction on your PC - Neat Image, Noise Ninja and Noiseware are worth investigating if you don't already have a tool to do this. Advice on optimal use should be available in the Digital Darkroom forum.