shooting basketball

[roundinthird]

Hi everyone

I am using the a100 with the kit lens and am have a terrible time trying to shoot by grandchildren's basketball games. I have tried every setting the camara offers and am very disappointed. Plese help. All suggestions welcome

Tommy

[Canuck935]

I'm guessing the games are indoors? If you want to freeze the action, you're going to have to crank the ISO way up and shoot with the aperture wide open.

That still may not be enough depending on the lighting. A faster lens would really be beneficial here. If not, don't give up. Try using motion blur to your advantage. Try panning and zooming techniques to get unique and creative shots. If you can use flash, try rear curtain sync to freeze the action at the very end of the exposure.

You may want to browse around in the sports photography forum to pick up more tips and techniques that may help you out.

[Thom Bible]

I do the same thing with my grandchildren. I have been doing this for about 3 years. I am just now beginning to get the shots that I like. I was encouraged, by reading posts here, to really up the ISO and use the fastest lens available to me. I would suggest that you set the ISO on your camera as high as it goes and a shutter speed of 250 or better and see how it goes. If that does not do it you probably need a faster lens. (2.8 or faster) This forum really helped me get the courage to bump the ISO.

[OldClicker]

Another tactic that I have seen is to pick a spot on the court with good light that is close to the side/end line. Get as close as you can to that spot and take whatever action happens there. - TF