Photographing basketball game

I have 20D, 24-105 F4/L and 580EC Flash. I have been asked by a friend to take pictures of basketball game for her daughter. Anyone can recommend the settings. For eg. I was thinking of Manual Mode F 5.6, 250, ISO 800 and Flash FEC +1 ir +2. Please advise because I have no experience in indoor arena. Thanks.

IMO flash may slow you down and i found it difficult to control ( basketabll is a very fast game). Providing that the arena is reasonably lit you will need the following:

lens:85/1.8
Speed: 400+ to freeze the action
Aperture: 1.8 to 2.8
Al servo single point AF
ISO 800 ( or higher)
Take a few shoots during warm up and check your histogram
5 fps cont shooting

As this is your first experience don't expect too many keepers but you will improve with practice.

Take a team photo

Good luck
john

Vishal said:

I have 20D, 24-105 F4/L and 580EC Flash. I have been asked by a
friend to take pictures of basketball game for her daughter.
Anyone can recommend the settings. For eg. I was thinking of Manual
Mode F 5.6, 250, ISO 800 and Flash FEC +1 ir +2. Please advise
because I have no experience in indoor arena. Thanks.

Click to expand...

While I agree the 85mm 1.8 is a great lens (it's what I use when I can't use 2.8) I'm going to assume you don't want to spend $370 to photograph a single game.

Here are the settings I would recommend:

1. Set a custom WB

2. Set to ISO 1600 (when using lower ISOs at f4 you're going to end up getting too stark a difference between the player(s) and the background IMO). You can try 800 but I would really recommend 1600.
3. Manual exposure - f4, 1/250
4. Center focus point only
5. AI Servo

6. FEC will be -1 to 0 typically. Take some test shots but you do NOT want overpowering flash.

7. Wait for the action to come to you - if shooting from the base-line stay with action on YOUR end off the court.

8. Get low - kneel or sit (whichever is most comfortable).

9. Time your shots - you really want to naill the first shot. Unless you have a battery pack, you'll likely see a drop off in flash output after the 2nd shot in the burst. If you don't have external pack use high MAH rechargables - they'll recycle the flash faster than regular AAs.

10. Be prepared to deal with the inevitable monster-eye you're going to get.

I would not depend upon being able to use the flash. Many teams/venues will not permit flash at the stands level. I have taken photos at the local UCSB basketball arena (see http://straehle.smugmug.com/Sports/52935 ). The only flash permitted is the professional flash which is overhead, so as not to blind the players.

The pictures on those pages were taken with an f: 4 lens, because that is what I had at the time. Since then I have gotten a 70-200 f/2.8 which is a better lens for that purpose. Shots made with that lens were at 1/320 Shutter Priority, 1600 ISO, and ran between f 3.2 to f 4.0.

Outside of not being allowed the flash may not be too effective at the ranges you have to shoot.
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Galleries at http://photos.strassoc.com

Excellent tips, John. If the OP can afford it, I'd also throw in as a lens recommendation the 135 f/2L. I bought this lens specifically for basketball, hockey and volleyball (all indoor sports, obviously). I haven't had a chance to use it yet for this purpose, but hope to soon.
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Cheers,

Bryan P.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29386469@N00/

Nevermind my lens recommendation, I mis-read the OP's question. It sounds like he is taking pictures for one game only, so buying a new lens would be out of the question, unless he wanted to continue shooting these kind of events in the future.
--
Cheers,

Bryan P.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29386469@N00/

Vishal said:

I have 20D, 24-105 F4/L and 580EC Flash. I have been asked by a
friend to take pictures of basketball game for her daughter.
Anyone can recommend the settings. For eg. I was thinking of Manual
Mode F 5.6, 250, ISO 800 and Flash FEC +1 ir +2. Please advise
because I have no experience in indoor arena. Thanks.

Click to expand...

they might not allow flash, depends. i have never been able to use it, but i have only shot college (and one pro pre-season game). i wouldn't knwo what to say for settings. use f/4 though.

if no flash,

again, i would use f/4 (faster shutter and better to blur out the stands and stuff), forbasketball you will most likely need to go with manual exposure. if this is high school, which it sounds like, the lighting may be really bad for an f/4 lens (even for an f/2.8 lens). even at major arenas one often uses ISO 800 and 1600 at f/2.8. i would guess you will be at ISO 1600 and forced to suffer rather extremely less than ideal shutter speeds or ISO 3200 and still rather less than ideal shutter speeds. i prefer 1/640 or faster shutter.

try to sit somewhere along the baseline. try both sides of the same basket, see which side lets you capture her face better when she goes up for shots and which lets you avoid the refs more. with that lens you could do both shots right under the basket and out from the far baseline corner.

You can't go wrong with the 85/1.8. You can use it for so many different applications, and it's excellent value for money. I bought mine to shoot my sister in law wedding last year ( i wasn't the official photographer) and the results were great especially the bouquet! I also use it to take photos of the kids and basketball photos of the local senior team and my son's junior team.

john

BryanP said:

Nevermind my lens recommendation, I mis-read the OP's question. It
sounds like he is taking pictures for one game only, so buying a
new lens would be out of the question, unless he wanted to continue
shooting these kind of events in the future.
--
Cheers,

Bryan P.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29386469@N00/

Click to expand...

My sincere thanks to all for the advice. Vishal