Overdosing on basketball! What fun!

Holy Toledo! I finally figured out the newly revised system well enough to post some photos as well as to include numbering of each photo and accompanying comments with some of the photos.

On December 6 and 7 I attended two days of a three-day basketball tournament held at local Pleasant Valley High School. I shot all four games played each day. Eight teams participated, and I was able to see each team play twice during the two days.

This post includes shots from the first two games played on Thursday. Shots #1-3 are from the College Park/Oak Ridge game, and shots #4-9 are from the Chico/Downey-Modesto contest.

I used my D700 combined with either a 24-85 f/2.8-4 or an 80-200 f/2.8. Exposure was manually set at 1/500, f-stop varying from 2.8-4, ISO varying from 4000-8000, and zoom setting varying from 24 mm.-80 mm.

Comments are welcome.


Bob

Note: Upon reviewing this post I noticed that on my computer I had to click on every photo to make it display at full size. You may also have to do so. Wide angle shot #9 especially needs to be displayed at full size.

1.
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2.
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3. Later in the game #25 encountered a bit of an obstacle.
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4. The Chico High School basketball team is ranked #1 in this area. They won this tournament last year, and #22 was named the MVP of the tournament.
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5. Here’s #22 again jumping to make a shot. He scored 14 points in this contest.
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6. Chico player #5 was the games’s high scorer with 20 points.
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7. #5 goes up for another one.
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8.
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9. The Chico onslaught was way too much for Downey who lost 71-34. Despite playing their reserves for most of the 4th quarter Chico didn’t allow Downey to score a point in that period.
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Super group of pics. Glad you had a great time. My favorites are defiantly #3 and #6.
I only had two games this week an hope to get time to post a few soon.

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Originally Posted by Old Timer

Super group of pics. Glad you had a great time. My favorites are defiantly #3 and #6.
I only had two games this week an hope to get time to post a few soon.

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Thanks, Larry. I'm spoiled now, and may find it difficult to shoot only one game at a time for the remainder of the season!


I was sitting down while taking most of these shots. I normally shoot standing up to be able to better dodge players heading in my direction in my location behind the baseline. I didn't encounter any problems during the tournament but am reassessing whether I might be pushing my luck by sitting. Do you ever sit behind the baseline while shooting basketball games? If so, have you run into any problems in doing so?


Bob

I usually do sit, pretty much required at the college level because of spectators behind. There is plenty of room and a marked line to stay behind so no problems. College athletes are big and strong and yes they play aggressively. I have had a couple end up in my lap but with no harm to me or equipment. HS is a different story usually not as much room so I have to be a little more carful but still sit 80% of the time. I might add that I usually use a small chair like a stadium seat with no legs but with a back and it helps my 65 year old back get through the evening and the padded bottom helps other parts of my anatomy.

Nice action shots. What are you using post processing? The shots are a bit harsh and seem oversharpened? The timing and compositions are great!

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Originally Posted by jacobovs

Nice action shots. What are you using post processing? The shots are a bit harsh and seem oversharpened? The timing and compositions are great!

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Thanks, Shal. I shoot RAW and convert in Adobe Camera RAW followed by additional editing in Elements 10. The image is saved as an unsharpened TIFF which is then downsized followed by luminosity sharpening. I like 'em sharp but am very careful not to oversharpen.


Bob