mikeyL
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Contributing Member
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Posts: 977
Re: Sports Photography Help - R6
2
Jdubkc wrote:
Hi there. I'm just an amateur really wanting to improve and not sure where to go short of bothering a real sports photographer. My interests are family/senior portraits and sports (I have high school basketball/volleyball players). This is such a great community. Would love advice.
I currently have a R6 + RF 24-70mm 2.8 that I'm loving. I have the original EF 70-200mm 2.8IS but like everybody else....my adapter has been backordered for months. Contemplating on selling the 70-200 and getting something better but so many differing opinions on lenses. Since I'm not a professional I really don't want to spend $5K+ on glass until I get more serious so would accept any opinions. There is such a need for good sports photographers in my world so I need to improve.
These are the volleyball photos I took with the 24-70mm. Would love setting tips from those of you more experienced as I'm shooting basketball in two weeks. Thanks!





Hi,
You have already gotten a lot of good feedback and comments, but since I became the unofficial team photographer for my daughters club volleyball team for a few years a number of years ago, I thought I would pass on a few possible tips. I did not read all of the posts above, so if you already got a number of these comments already I apologize.
1) Volleyball is pretty fast paced, but as a photographer, you benefit from the fact that the key action is often constrained to predictable areas of the court. You know the back line will be receiving most serves, you can often tell when the setter is going to set, and it is not to hard to predict where and when the hitters/blockers are going to be doing their thing. That means you can pre-focus and frame certain areas and wait for the action to come to you, instead of trying to chase the ball through the air all the time.
2) Indoor gym lighting sucks. Indoor high school and or middle school gym lighting really sucks. But the R6 is decent at higher ISO, so don't be afraid to push the ISO up to allow you to capture the action without motion blur. That lens you are using should be good for that.
3) It is possible those dark lines are vignetting, but it could also be caused by light flicker interacting with your shutter speed. Not sure but you might try ant-flicker.
4) Shoot raw to allow for the best editing options. With gym lights mixing with some outside light through windows you will often get wonky white balance problems. But in raw you can fix those in post.
Drop me a private message if you want to discuss more. I never shot any basketball but shot lots of volleyball...
ML