Indoor Sports

[angry.coconut]

Hey everyone, its been a while since i posted.

Since the last time i've been on, i've upgraded my body to a Nikon D2h. I've also been hired by my local highschool to take pictures at their sporting events, namely basketball. The games are played in a very large gym, with a LOT of overhead lighting. I am HOPING that the lights will be turned all the way up, and will provide enough light for me to work with.

But just in case, any tips on dealing with sports in low lighting withought cranking the ISO up too high (hopefully under 800, but i can deal with it being higher). Also, any tips on techniques and what kind of photos are most likely to sell would be wonderful.


The gear i have on hand: Nikon D2h, Nikon D70, Nikon 80-200 f4.5, 28-70 f3.5-4.5, 50 1.8, flash. I preffer working without a monopod, but i can forgoe that if i have to.

Thanks

[MatsP]

For best results you need to have a fast enough shutter-speed to freeze movement the frame, which means 1/125-1/250 - faster if you use long focal length lenses.

It's then up to the biggest aperture and ISO that you will have to adjust to achieve the right shutter speed.

Obviously, if you run into the wall - that is, you can't possibly achieve that, then you simply have to compromise... It's (probably) better with a correctly exposed, slightly blurry shot at 1/60 than an underexposed shot at 1/125...

As to what sells, it's "action", "emotion" and "face". Good colours help too!

--
Mats

[rjgleason]

I Shoot a considerable amount of basketball games each year. From looking at your lenses, the only lens I would even attempt indoor basketball with would be the 50 1.8 (not sure of the quality/performance of this lens) The others simply do not have the maximum AV for indoor/low light. Realizing that the focal length of the 50 1.8 might only be suitable for getting-close to the action, I would suggest another lens, perhaps an 85 1.8 and of course something longer, as well. The key is maximum aperture. Surely you can bump up the ISO to increase shutter speed, and IMO you need a SS of 400 ( I PREFER 500 OR higher) or higher for action. But, as an old friend once told me, "never sacrifice shutter speed for ISO"

Now, saying all this, and with the goal of getting the highest SS possible, you can increase ISO (experiment and view results) to freeze the action, but the higher you go with your ISO, the increase in grain becomes obvious with your resulting shots. (Different results for different DSLRs and improvements in ISO performance have gotten better and better..... My two Canon 1D Mark IVs simply amaze me as to how high I can go.)

Get a good noise reduction program, as well.

One other bit of advice to help increase SS: Shoot RAW and underexpose a little.....it will improve your SS and you can adjust your exposure in your processing program. Surely you realize that lighting conditions are different in every gym but also lighting conditions do change all around the gym and you should know that as you may move from one vantage point to another, you should check your shooting parameters.