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>

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

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

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>

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!

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.

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