Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Basketball Mania!

Sports shots are among the toughest to take. The photographer needs to know something about the sport, where the action might be, how the "flow" will move to take in players and where good positions are for the best camera angles.







That's also just the beginning, the understanding of the subject and its movement. The lighting and the speed with which participants will move also has to be considered, as does the lens focal length to use (telephoto or wide angle?) and how fast to set the "film speed". Of course, digital cameras don't use "film", but many have settings for the CCD's sensitivity to light, usually from 100 up to 1600, with 1600 being the fastest (and most "grainy") response to light.

For these photos, I used a shutter priority setting (choosing my shutter speed of 1/100 second) to keep my shutter speed constant and a ISO (film speed) setting of 1600 (the lights aren't great in the Bangor Auditorium) and most of the time my f-stop was fairly open (between f-5.6 and f-11) so the depth of field was narrow at times.



OK, so which of these photos do you like best and why? Maybe some "tweets" on composition or things that might improve them. Or even pick out a single element or principle of design that is working well. Thanks a million, I hope you are all having a great vacation. GO TROJANS!
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8 comments:

  1. EllieFebruary 25, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    On the first picture I really like the lines of the basketball court because it provides a neat background for the picture, and sort of frames it also.

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  2. SierraFebruary 26, 2012 at 5:29 PM

    I like the second picture because Mindy becomes the focal point, and that follows the rule of thirds and placement of emphasis very nicely, as she isn't in the center of the photo. There's also a neat effect in the sense that the two/three cheerleaders in the back right are very out of focus and slightly blurry.
    (I wish you'd posted a picture of the band, Charlie!)

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  3. Kayla ThomasFebruary 27, 2012 at 6:46 AM

    The third photo is really cool because of how you were able to catch a picture of two of the boys in the air. It isn't always easy to get pictures of people when they are in the air but you were able to and it came out really well.

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  4. AJM PhotographyFebruary 27, 2012 at 6:50 AM

    In the first photo it is had to figure out what is happening. In the cheerleading photo, I like how the background is blurry and the girl in front is in focus. The third photo is interesting because of the motion captured. Nice photos!

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  5. Kat MurphyFebruary 27, 2012 at 8:23 AM

    I agree with Ellie, it looks really nice to have the lines on the floor around the subject.

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  6. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2012 at 8:30 AM

    I like the second picture, because it focuses on Mindy and it blurs everything else in the background. I also like the fact that they are all doing the same thing.

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  7. NSFebruary 27, 2012 at 8:32 AM

    I like the third photo. It is really hard to get an action photo.

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2012 at 4:37 PM

    I like the third photo best because of the action. The photos seem to be a little dark and I am not sure if that is the light in the building, but it would be nicer if they were brighter.

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