Latest Volleyball Pictures

[daoliv]

Well the regular school season is over but now to club volleyball. I wanted to post a few from this weekend. I feel I have gotten better and wanted to post a few pics from this weekend.

The girls took a silver medal!!!

Going to the NCAA Final Four and then the Final Game this week. Wondering if I can take my camera and get some good shots.

David

[Grandpaw]

You have some nice shots there but the white balance seems off to me, Jeff

[daoliv]

Thanks, but i did use an expo disc to set white balance. what looks off?

[Bob32]

daoliv,

I'm not certain that we have a white balance problem here (some schools have weird color schemes in their gymnasiums), but there is an under-exposure issue. More exposure was needed either at the time of shooting or via editing after the fact.

I can't find any EXIF data and no shooting information is included in the post. Did your histogram indicate that you were obtaining satisfactory exposure when you were taking these shots?

Bob

[daoliv]

Yes sir they did look okay on the histogram with no clipping. I probably could have juiced up the exposure just a touch. You are right though school gyms have horrible colors and the light always leave something to be desired. I think I am getting a bit better each time I go out and always learning. The other parents are really enjoying the pictures and making even more comments on the quality of my pics this year.

I will be posting a few more pics from this week end. Let me know what you think. I am always looking for help on how I can improve. Love comments!!! On the next pics I will let you know what my settings were.

Thanks,
David

[daoliv]

Well her we go again. I tried a few new things this week and paid a bit more attention in post processing. Let me know what you think. These are .jpegs of the original pics that were shot in raw format

Picture setting are as follows:
1. ISO 2000 f/2.8 1/500 0 ev 50mm
2. ISO 2000 f/2.8 1/500 0 ev 50mm
3. ISO 2000 f/2.8 1/500 0 ev 50mm
4. ISO 2000 f/2.8 1/500 0 ev 50mm
5. ISO 800 f/4 1/60 0 ev 50mm

Picture #5 is of the Gold Medal Winners!!!

[armando_m]

Great shots !
and
colors really improved !!

[Bob32]

David,

There is noticeable improvement here. The exposure and white balance are very good on #3 and #5. The others are still a bit under-exposed but not as much so as with the previous batch.

According to the EXIF data photo #3 was shot at f/2 rather than f/2.8. That gives us a good clue. It looks like you should be shooting with manually set values of 1/500, f/2.8, and ISO 4000 rather than ISO 2000. I suggest that you try these settings next time out. You might test these settings by shooting the players while they are warming up. You may want to tweak the ISO setting based on what your histogram is telling you, but ISO 4000 should be in the ball park.

I also shoot indoor sports with manually set values for shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO and find that it works well.

I remember being stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio for a short time when I was in the army many years ago. It was during the summer time, and WOW did it ever get hot! Or barracks was not air conditioned, and when I was sent to another army base in August of that year I didn't regret leaving the Texas hot box behind!

Bob

[daoliv]

Thanks Armando and Bob. Bob I'll try those settings next time depending on the light. I am trying to go with the lowest iso i can get away with to keep noise down but I'll give it a try. Our next match is in Austin at the convention center so I am sure the light will be completely different. I started using an expo disk because the different temps of the lights were all over the place. Although the camera does a fair job on auto wb you get more real colors by using an expo disk ans sure beats using a grey card.

[Bob32]

David,

I set a custom white balance for every gym in which I shoot sports events. I store the WB settings in the camera memory banks and bring up the appropriate one when I visit a gym. This definitely helps prevent WB problems. I use a coffee filter held in place over the end of the lens with a rubber band. To make the custom WB determination I point the lens toward the overhead lighting source and release the shutter. It isn't high tech, but it works, and the price is right!

Bob