Just a shot from tonight's game. Flash set to 1/4 power direct stofen omni bounce. Didn't feel like setting up the lights on the rails. Hadn't shot basketball for a few weeks so my timing was off the first half. Did a little better the second half. This shot is from the second half.

Nice capture but the on-camera flash gives it that "deer in the headlights" look with the huge shadows in the background and no depth. I'm just not a fan of flash mounted on the camera. I very rarely ever use one in the hotshoe except for football.

brhitch, I'd agree with Daniel on the flash. I don't know what body your using but if it is Canon and your flash has "fill flash" mode that at about 1/4 to 1/8 power would take the flash look out and give more natural look.

JS

Great catch on the action Brian. So often in a picture like this you get the arm in front of the face and you got nothing, but you caught it just right. Nice job.

Thanks, for the comments everyone. I agree with the comments about the flash. I was bouncing on the other end of the court and got better results. I was being lazy that night and didn't bother using the remotes. JS, I'm shooting Nikon and I don't believe the sb800 has that option. Larry, I was pleased with my timing on this one. Hadn't shot b-ball for a few weeks so my timing was off. I was on the dark end of the gym shooting over a cheerleader.

the sb800 has that option, you just gotta learn how fill flash works. basically you are just relying on a very weak flash to bring out some more detail. You are shooting around the settings for the ambient light or maybe 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop below, then using the flash to add a little bit more light. personally, I never use on camera flash, becuase you will always get the shadow, no matter how little flash you use.