Indoor Volleyball pictures - advice needed
in [Digital Cameras]
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From: Eric Babula on 15 Jan 2007 11:47 Ok, I got my DSLR (Pentax K100D) with the kit 18-55mm lens (f3.5-5.6) and a Promaster 70-300mm lens (f4-5.6), and started playing with it, trying to shoot pics at my daughter's volleyball tournament this weekend. FYI - I'm new to real photography, so bear with my ignorance, please - I'm trying to learn. And, I did get a photography book for Christmas: National Geographic Photography Field Guide, and will be reading that soon. I have a lot to learn!! As expected, I had to do quite a bit of tinkering to try to figure out how to get decent shots of this indoor sport! Throughout the day, I took 195 photos! Of course, most are going to be dumped, but I hope I got at least some keepers. While I was there, I decided to look for someone who also was shooting with a DSLR, and ask some questions. I found a guy who seemed to know what he was doing, and he was very friendly and helpful. He told me what settings he likes to use for indoor volleyball, and how he sets his camera to Manual Mode and set it all up. As part of that explanation, he pulled out a gray cloth and a white cloth (he used both for his settings). I remember the white cloth was used to set Manual/Custom White Balance, but I can't remember what he used the gray cloth for. Would anyone here know why you would use the gray cloth? Does it have something to do with Exposure settings? I can't remember what he said about the gray cloth. What should I be concerned with, here? I did seem to have a bit more success after talking to this guy. I used my 18-55mm lens, set ISO to 1600; manually set white balance; zoomed full so I had f5.6; shutter speed set at 1/90; and I seemed to get better pics this way. He said I should have shutter speed around 1/180 or so. I tried that, and it didn't seem to be as good as 1/90. Maybe I need to play some more. Or, maybe there are some other settings that I didn't take care of. Any ideas? Ok, I got long-winded again - sorry. The original question was why would I use the gray cloth? Any additional help you can offer would be appreciated, too. TIA, -- Eric Babula Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
From: acl on 15 Jan 2007 12:11 Eric Babula wrote: > Ok, I got my DSLR (Pentax K100D) with the kit 18-55mm lens (f3.5-5.6) > and a Promaster 70-300mm lens (f4-5.6), and started playing with it, > trying to shoot pics at my daughter's volleyball tournament this > weekend. FYI - I'm new to real photography, so bear with my ignorance, > please - I'm trying to learn. And, I did get a photography book for > Christmas: National Geographic Photography Field Guide, and will be > reading that soon. I have a lot to learn!! > > As expected, I had to do quite a bit of tinkering to try to figure out > how to get decent shots of this indoor sport! Throughout the day, I took > 195 photos! Of course, most are going to be dumped, but I hope I got at > least some keepers. > > While I was there, I decided to look for someone who also was shooting > with a DSLR, and ask some questions. I found a guy who seemed to know > what he was doing, and he was very friendly and helpful. He told me what > settings he likes to use for indoor volleyball, and how he sets his > camera to Manual Mode and set it all up. As part of that explanation, he > pulled out a gray cloth and a white cloth (he used both for his > settings). I remember the white cloth was used to set Manual/Custom > White Balance, but I can't remember what he used the gray cloth for. > Would anyone here know why you would use the gray cloth? Does it have > something to do with Exposure settings? I can't remember what he said > about the gray cloth. What should I be concerned with, here? > > I did seem to have a bit more success after talking to this guy. I used > my 18-55mm lens, set ISO to 1600; manually set white balance; zoomed > full so I had f5.6; shutter speed set at 1/90; and I seemed to get > better pics this way. He said I should have shutter speed around 1/180 > or so. I tried that, and it didn't seem to be as good as 1/90. Maybe I > need to play some more. Or, maybe there are some other settings that I > didn't take care of. Any ideas? > > Ok, I got long-winded again - sorry. The original question was why would > I use the gray cloth? > > Any additional help you can offer would be appreciated, too. > > TIA, > > Hi. I suggest you read the book you got and find out what shutter speeds and apertures do (I assume you don't know judging from your post; if I'm wrong, apologies). Also, I vaguely remember that you asked advice about this before, and was told that you need a fast lens (ie numerically small max f/stop). You didn't get this (I suppose it'd be too expensive to get a zoom, and you didn't want a fixed focal length), so your job is made more difficult. You probably could use something like aperture priority and choose the widest aperture and highest ISO (as you did), as you need a fast speed to freeze the action (or you could pan with slower speeds, but this probably isn't the kind of thing you're after). Regarding the cloth, you could use it to meter off: assuming the light is the same everywhere, meter off the cloth at manual mode and just leave the exposure like it is. Although you can do the same thing by just taking a few shots before the game starts and using the histogram to adjust the exposure, then leave it there. Works just as well. Anyway. Read up on that book and ask questions here. Good luck!
From: acl on 15 Jan 2007 12:15 Eric Babula wrote: > I did seem to have a bit more success after talking to this guy. I used > my 18-55mm lens, set ISO to 1600; manually set white balance; zoomed > full so I had f5.6; shutter speed set at 1/90; and I seemed to get > better pics this way. He said I should have shutter speed around 1/180 > or so. I tried that, and it didn't seem to be as good as 1/90. Maybe I > need to play some more. Or, maybe there are some other settings that I > didn't take care of. Any ideas? I forgot to say: If you get 1/90s at ISO 1600 and f/5.6, then, if you try to use the longer lens, you'll get again 1/90s to 1/180s at max aperture. This is really at the limits of handholdability for those focal lengths, and you'll have extra problems from the fact that your subjects are actually jumping around playing volleyball! So, unless there is more light, the longer lens will just give you a headache (but may give some good shots with care and luck).
From: John McWilliams on 15 Jan 2007 12:35 Eric Babula wrote: > Ok, I got my DSLR (Pentax K100D) with the kit 18-55mm lens (f3.5-5.6) > and a Promaster 70-300mm lens (f4-5.6), and started playing with it, > trying to shoot pics at my daughter's volleyball tournament this > weekend. FYI - I'm new to real photography, so bear with my ignorance, > please - I'm trying to learn. And, I did get a photography book for > Christmas: National Geographic Photography Field Guide, and will be > reading that soon. I have a lot to learn!! > > As expected, I had to do quite a bit of tinkering to try to figure out > how to get decent shots of this indoor sport! Throughout the day, I took > 195 photos! Of course, most are going to be dumped, but I hope I got at > least some keepers. > > While I was there, I decided to look for someone who also was shooting > with a DSLR, and ask some questions. I found a guy who seemed to know > what he was doing, and he was very friendly and helpful. He told me what > settings he likes to use for indoor volleyball, and how he sets his > camera to Manual Mode and set it all up. As part of that explanation, he > pulled out a gray cloth and a white cloth (he used both for his > settings). I remember the white cloth was used to set Manual/Custom > White Balance, but I can't remember what he used the gray cloth for. > Would anyone here know why you would use the gray cloth? Does it have > something to do with Exposure settings? I can't remember what he said > about the gray cloth. What should I be concerned with, here? > > I did seem to have a bit more success after talking to this guy. I used > my 18-55mm lens, set ISO to 1600; manually set white balance; zoomed > full so I had f5.6; shutter speed set at 1/90; and I seemed to get > better pics this way. He said I should have shutter speed around 1/180 > or so. I tried that, and it didn't seem to be as good as 1/90. Maybe I > need to play some more. Or, maybe there are some other settings that I > didn't take care of. Any ideas? > > Ok, I got long-winded again - sorry. The original question was why would > I use the gray cloth? > > Any additional help you can offer would be appreciated, too. It sounds like you learned a ton in one day. I'll leave out the grey card/cloth for now, as with a custom set WB, imo, you don't need to bother with a greycard. Others may disagree, and vociferously, but it's not important now for where you are, imo, obviously. The other guy likes the 1/180th because for him it's the fastest speed he can use without grossly underexposing. For you, it'd seem to be the slower speed that you can use, perhaps as a function solely of your lens. Now, when I have to do volleyball, I'll take a flash along and use it unless there is protest. Most gyms have lousy lighting. -- john mcwilliams
From: Flavius on 15 Jan 2007 12:37
"Eric Babula" <ebabula(a)care2.com> wrote in message news:Xns98B96DBEC6409ebabulacare2com(a)66.192.254.231... > Ok, I got my DSLR (Pentax K100D) with the kit 18-55mm lens (f3.5-5.6) > and a Promaster 70-300mm lens (f4-5.6), and started playing with it, > trying to shoot pics at my daughter's volleyball tournament this > weekend. FYI - I'm new to real photography, FAST GLA$$ (GLASS) |