College volleyball: Chico State bested by tough opponent

[Bob32]

After being sidelined for more than two weeks with what the docs call walking pneumonia it was good to get out at last and catch some volleyball action last Friday night. I went over to Chico State where the resident Wildcats were playing host to the Coyotes from Cal State San Bernardino. San Bernardino came into the match leading the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) conference standings with a 13-2 record and riding a five-match winning streak. The Wildcats did OK in the first set with a 25-20 win, but from then on it was the Coyotes all the way as they racked up three straight wins at 25-12, 25-13, and 25-14 to emerge victorious.

All photos were taken with D700 + 80-200 f/2.8. Exposure was manually set at 1/500, f/4, and ISO 10,000.

As usual, comments are welcome.

Bob

[Bob32]

Holy Toledo! After three days and 38 views there are no replies yet. I notice some other posts that have gone even longer without receiving any replies. Ouch! At the moment this does not look like a very active sports forum. Perhaps I should take my leave and try it again at a later date when hopefully the situation will have improved.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Good action captures as usual Bob. I am still in a learning stage with volleyball but am looking forward to shooting the OVC Volleyball Tournament this week. Hope to get some good images to share.

[Bob32]

Thanks, Larry.

I'm glad to know that there is still at least one responder alive and well on this forum! I hope that more of our fellow forumites will also take it upon themselves to offer replies. I like to get some sort of dialog going when I post photos.

I'm finding out that learning to shoot volleyball requires a lifetime commitment! I've been shooting volleyball for five years and am still learning something new with each match. I often hear it said that volleyball is one of the most difficult sports to shoot. It's definitely a challenge and can be a nightmare for newbies when they first try their hand at it. However, it gets easier with time, and I'm now at the point where I'm far more comfortable shooting the game than I was when I started out. There's nothing like experience for advancement along the learning curve and coming up to speed!

The volleyball season is nearing its conclusion around here, and I'm eagerly awaiting the start of the basketball season.

I'm looking forward to seeing whatever shots you post from the OVC Tournament.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Bob I'm not sure were some of the traditional sports shooters that use to frequent the forum have gone. I've keep up with a couple of others that are very busy shooting and selling from their own web sites and just are to time pressed to participate here at the moment. Wish more of the newbies would post and share and give us a chance to see what they are doing and give some input that might be of use to them. I've limited my post here as well, but do maintain a site on SmuMug. Here is a link to my last volleyball game. MSU vs Eastern Volleyball - LarryGooding's Photos You will notice that most are shot horizontally. I was shooting for the university sports media people and they requested that format for the university web site.

[Bob32]

Larry,

I enjoy giving advice where I can to newbies who are just getting started in shooting sports. I remember how much good help and advice I got from another forum when I was getting underway in shooting sports.

I like your SmugMug volleyball shots a lot.

Virtually every volleyball shot I take is horizontally oriented. It makes sense because most of the time the ball is traveling horizontally. I tried shooting vertical with not much success. One of the problems is that the ball when spiked travels so fast that you're very lucky when shooting vertical to include the ball in the frame. More than likely it's already way outside of the frame. Even when shooting horizontally the ball when spiked travels so fast that you frequently capture the ball in only one frame before it's out of sight. I also find it much easier to follow the ball when shooting horizontally. So my motto when shooting volleyball is: Shoot horizontally and crop vertically as needed.

Bob

[mattb]

The photos are great! Great timing, focus and so bright for indoor volleyball! I'm used to more cave-like shots of this sport!

[Bob32]

Thanks much for the response, Matt.

Many volleyball photos look like they were shot in a cave because of the dungeon-like gyms in which they are played. Fortunately in my area a number of the schools have upgraded their gym lighting systems in recent years. One local high school gym used to have such a lousy lighting system that I finally gave up trying to shoot any basketball or volleyball games there. Then lo and behold a couple of years ago they installed a new lighting system and a new floor to go with it. This gym is now the most brightly lit gym in the area. I was nearly struck blind when I first walked into the newly upgraded gym!

The gym at Chico State in which these shots were taken also had a rotten lighting system until it was upgraded last year. However, It still takes higher end equipment to get decent results in gyms even when the lighting system is a good one. You'll note that I was shooting at ISO 10,000 in the Chico State gym. That would have been impossible with the Nikon D200 I used to use before acquiring a Nikon D700 almost four years ago. Full frame dslrs with their high ISO capabilities are a godsend for those operating in low-light environments.

Bob

[Old Timer]

Larry,

I enjoy giving advice where I can to newbies who are just getting started in shooting sports. I remember how much good help and advice I got from another forum when I was getting underway in shooting sports.

I like your SmugMug volleyball shots a lot.

Virtually every volleyball shot I take is horizontally oriented. It makes sense because most of the time the ball is traveling horizontally. I tried shooting vertical with not much success. One of the problems is that the ball when spiked travels so fast that you're very lucky when shooting vertical to include the ball in the frame. More than likely it's already way outside of the frame. Even when shooting horizontally the ball when spiked travels so fast that you frequently capture the ball in only one frame before it's out of sight. I also find it much easier to follow the ball when shooting horizontally. So my motto when shooting volleyball is: Shoot horizontally and crop vertically as needed.

Bob

That sound like pretty sound advice Bob. I'll continue to do that and monitor my results. I generally shot most sports in a vertical format to avoid excessive cropping and to make the best use of the available pixels.

[Bob32]

Larry,

The story is different when I shoot basketball. Basketball is a vertical game, and most of the images I take when shooting basketball are vertically oriented. On the other hand with football and rugby I'm horizontally oriented the great majority of the time. So the primary orientation of my camera depends upon which sport I happen to be shooting.

A lesser factor is the fact that it's easier to shoot horizontally than it is vertically. Shooting basketball vertically is relatively easy because I'm usually shooting with a light weight 50 mm. f/1.8 prime or 24-85 f/2.8-4 zoom. However, when I'm shooting volleyball I'm shooting with a heavy 80-200 f/2.8 zoom which is more difficult to hold for vertical shots. I have a grip that would make it easier to shoot vertically, but I don't like the bulk and weight it adds to the already hefty D700/80-200 combo. In my senior years I like to travel as light as possible!

Bob