Last of Indoor, Low Light Sports

For a while any way.  Today I played with my new monopod.  Not nearly as easy as it looks when those guys on the sidelines are using them.  I also decided they are probably much are effective when you know where the action is headed.

I also resorted to using a flash for the older guy's basketball game.  I have been getting better photos with what I've learned and with the new lens, but everyone else is using a flash in there so I wanted to try it.  

I would say mixed results.  Definitely sharper pictures because I could up the shutter speed, but I didn't like the shadows and the red eyes are awful.  I have spent a little time trying to fix them, but JST has huge blue eyes and practically his entire eyeball is red.  Sometimes when it is corrected he has two entire blobs between his nose.  I am hoping for my copy of Photoshop to arrive soon and hoping that its red eye correction feature is much better than Lightroom - has to be, right?

Ok, now to the pics.

I've been playing with the Lightroom standard presets again.  I think I've said it before, but I really love the warmth that Direct Positive addes to the gym pictures.  (I have found that I like it best when I clean up the original, ie, get the White Balance corrected and get the Exposure where I like it.)

The flash definitely helped with the crispness.  The photo has more of that "flash" look than the first.  It also really picks up any reflective clothing, shoes, etc, which can be very distracting.

I found another preset that helped with a couple of pics from the other game.  They weren't quite a crisp, but weren't too bad.  I adjusted the White Balance using Auto White Balance in Lightroom, adjusted the Exposure slightly and used the Aged Photo preset.  I really liked the effect, especially for the second picture.  CBT was being announced at the beginning of the last game (lights were lowered, smoke, loud music and he ran out with little spin moves - hopeless with no flash).  His face is in focus, but everything else is a blur.  Using this preset seems to draw more of the attention to his face.  I think I'm going to do an entire scrapbook layout using this effect.

I am ready for the sunshine, I think.

More Gym Practice

It's been a week so it is time for that intentional picture. That which does not kill you makes you stronger and I was already going to the gym today to watch CBT play basketball.  I hate taking pictures in the gym.  Maybe it would be better with a more specific goal.  Today it would be to catch the emotion of the game since getting those very crisp shots is still impossible for me in that low light, especially since I haven't settled on a monopod.  (That's on the list for this week.)

Here's what I came up with.

Even Kelby allowed for blur in exchange for action in his Digital Photography book.  (Highly recommended.  I just finished it and I understand what all the raving is about.)  This game got really rough.

The coach in the orange t-shirt is awesome.  He knows how to keep it fun and to really know these kids, ie, what makes them tick.  I was hoping to capture that relationship (and the slight smile CBT has).

I love his focus on the basket and his teammate's watching his every move.  On this particular team his teammates expect a lot of him.

He just has such great facial expressions.  

Maybe one day practice will make perfect, but those lenses sure do help.  That 2.8 aperture sure blurs that background every time.

Playing with Lightroom

I just got my copy of Lightroom (Lr) this week and I have been spending entirely too much time playing with it.  Until 3:20 am the first morning to be exact.

The photo below is a combination of playing with the my new 24-70 lens and with Lr.  It's one of the few pix I took with it - most of the action shots I have taken have been with the 70-200mm.  I have struggled with the action shots in the gym, but the new lenses have definitely made a difference.  While this still isn't super crisp, I do get CBT stealing the ball.  I also like the effect of making it more monochrome.  Seems to focus you more on the point I'm making - he's stealing the ball.  It's a standard Sepia preset in Lr with a small Vignette on the corners.

Here's the same picture using the Lr preset Direct Positive.  For some reason, I love it for the shots in the gym.  Curious what you think.

 

Settings were 1/200 sec at f/2.8, focal length 70mm, ISO 1600 with the EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Fast Action in a Gym?

I spent a bit of time conferring with Brian at our class about pictures of children playing basketball in a gym, which, by the way, is not well-lit.  The answer was to get something other than the "crappiest lens" in the world.  I am very excited to say I just got the 70-200mm f/2.8L lens from Canon, which explains why I am late on my weakly post.  I've been playing and trying to learn how to use it.

I tried it tonight at CBT's basketball practice.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  Much better than the crappy lens.  Still need more practice, though.