Hi there

I'm a keen photographer, brought myself a shiney new 350D with the standard 18-55mm lens. Having gone to my flatmate's basketball training session lastnight to take some fast action shots for their upcoming season, the photos didn't turn out very well because of the settings.

Since its all fast moving pace, I set the camera on TV mode and adjusted the shutter speed, but what ever I did, they didn't want to come out well.

I have a feeling its because of my lens thats letting me down. Anyone willing to give me any tips?

You would have been better off turning the dial to the running man / action one, the one below the tulip. You could also turn the ISO rating up to 400.
Others might be able to give you better advise.
:)

I've always fancied doing photography as a hobby - how did you start?

In what way wern't they good? too blurry? dark? ...

I would also use the sport setting (Man running).

Had you set your white ballance correctly...was the image just blurred or was it blue or orangey.

If you have a photobucket account you can post the images and let us see them.

In what way wern't they good? too blurry? dark? ...

Here are some examples

http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/7852/img4205ce1.jpg
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/4619/img4070gk5.jpg
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/9259/img3972kz5.jpg

Bear in mind, i was trying to adjust to every shutter speed when I put the camera on 'TV' Mode.

I set the ISO too 1600 to make the shutter speeds take the shots, but again they didn't turn out what i wanted. I wouldn't have thinked the White balance will make so much of a differance rather than adjusting the ISO settings...


princessL83, I did some reading on photography forums and loved the photos, especially Car shots - took the plung and spent £450+ on the Canon 350D. But I did have one or 2 POS (point and shoot) camera but I wanted more over my features.

princessL83, I did some reading on photography forums and loved the photos, especially Car shots - took the plung and spent £450+ on the Canon 350D. But I did have one or 2 POS (point and shoot) camera but I wanted more over my features.


Thhanks- I'm going to have look into it. I actually like how the 3rd photo was blurred it looked like the players were moving x

The automatic settings on the 300 and 350d canera's are bloody good, people seem to think they should do stuff manually but for something like bastetball, give the auto action mode a try. I would have thought even on the ISO dfault of 100 it would still capture the action in a well lit location.

The automatic wont do every shot I need it. I tried to use that setting last night and alot of the shots were very blured. Thats why I switched back to TV mode.

Anyone think it could be down to the lens?

Do you have any idea what the shutter speeds were?. I would imagine you'd have to be looking at around 1/125th of a second upward to freeze moving basket ball players. I think you might struggle to get that kind of speed in what look like darkened conditions.

Actually, I think these look pretty good, all things considered. There seems to be a bluish/cyan colour cast, but I think that's just down to adjusting the white balance more carefully. Then again, I wasn't there - maybe the lighting was that colour?. I've got a Nikon D70 and the auto white balance on that is quite poor.

I found out that my shutter speeds should be ideally 1/200 or 1/400. I did try this but the shots were all really dark. I can definatly hear the shutter taking the snaps very quickly. But why take photos when there all really dark or blacked out...

Any ideas what to do?

I would up the ISO to at least 400 and give it another go. You did right not using flash it would have distracted the team and made the background too dark.

Not sure on the EOS 350 how high the ISO go's as a rough rule of thumb the shutter speed needs to be faster than the focal length of the lens for normal photography (hand held) 18-55mm would be 25th - 60th of a second in 35mm photography depending on your camera shake but try something faster than 60th to 250th of a second allowing for the digital cameras smaller image size.

To add as the subjects are moving quickly you may need to increase the shutter speed somewhat, that’s where the ISO change comes in.

My verdict is all in all a good first try.

I would up the ISO to at least 400 and give it another go. You did right not using flash it would have distracted the team and made the background too dark.

Not sure on the EOS 350 how high the ISO go's as a rough rule of thumb the shutter speed needs to be faster than the focal length of the lens for normal photography (hand held) 18-55mm would be 25th - 60th of a second in 35mm photography depending on your camera shake but try something faster than 60th to 250th of a second allowing for the digital cameras smaller image size.

To add as the subjects are moving quickly you may need to increase the shutter speed somewhat, that’s where the ISO change comes in.

My verdict is all in all a good first try.

I upped the ISO to 1600 (highest on 350D) and no differance. I found out that ni TV mode, when I tried to take a shot in 1/200 or 1/400 speed, the f stop number would blink at me in the viewfinder to let me know its not goign to take a good shots becuase of the lighting. I had to change it back down to 1/20 because the f-stop number stopped blinking at me.

I was told using AV mode is my best bet to take the photos. If i use a low enough F stop, the camera should choose a decent fast enough shutter speed.

However i was told

"End of the day, in some cases a lens that does F4 max is borderline too slow for shooting indoor sports."

I might need to find someone who is willing to 'rent' a new fast lens for me to use...*hint hint*

The exif on your second shot shows ISO400, shutter speed 1/25, aperture f/4. If you'd used ISO1600, you could have got the shutter speed up to 1/100, which would have given you a slightly sharper picture, but probably with some noise.

Even with a relatively fast lens, such as a 2.8, you would still only have got the shutter speed to 1/200. If you are going to take lots of pictures in these conditions, it might be worth you getting the EF 50mm f/1.8, which is relatively cheap at £80.

My advice, however, would be to forget about the types of shots you can't take with your equipment and concentrate on the shots you can take. The lens you have is perfectly good for taking outdoor shots in all but the worst light. So you can do landscapes, buildings, people, cars etc etc etc. You can also take indoor shots with flash.

If you only think about the situations you can't photograph, you will bankrupt your self buying lenses you don't really need.

I would also spend some time working on your composition, which is as, if not more, important than the technical qualities of the shot.

And by the way, I didn't think they were that bad :)

The Canon lens is fast enough for what you were taking, all you will get from a faster lens is less of the subjects in focus and a whole lot of expense Don't bother its not worth it. With Digital it's quite easy to take a shot and look at it on the view screen to see where you need to go.
It really is just a matter of adjusting the ISO to give you a sharp image with no movement to see, but with sports photography subject movement helps to give a feeling to the photograph so you have control.


chrisp7091 remarks about the colour cast (which is probably caused by the lighting in the sports hall) it can be corrected in some photo manipulation software, i.e. Photoshop usually given free with the camera or with a good photo printer.

Couldn't you have used the flash?
You said it was only a training session.
A monopod or tripod would also be useful.
Try this #9 on the list
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21767&highlight=digital+links

[/QUOTE]chrisp7091 remarks about the colour cast (which is probably caused by the lighting in the sports hall) it can be corrected in some photo manipulation software, i.e. Photoshop usually given free with the camera or with a good photo printer.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, if you have access to the right software, you can easily correct the colour balance of the image.

One other thing you might try doing with software is 'pushing' the exposure on the image. Use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action(say 1/400th of a sec). This will give a dark, underexposed result which can then simply be brightened or lightened using Paintshop Pro or Photoshop or whatever. The trouble with this approach is, as Chumley pointed out, an increase in image noise due to underexposure. It might be worth trying though?. Image noise can also be reduced using software like 'Neat Image' - a terrific application!.

I have to say, this thread reminds me of the recent proposal for an SF Forums Photography group. There's obviously loads of people out there who would benefit. Any news on progress:) ??.

Oooops - screwed up the quote there. Sorry!.

I've found out what I need to do and will do another shooting session next week.

Chumley - thank you for your advice, i have taken what you said into consideration but I dont think I will be adjusting what I'm shooting. Basically I'm going to see how far I can go with the shooting capabilites for the Basket ball games in the coming weeks, the captain and I talked about me taking these shots and posting it on the university website.

So my next request to anyone reading this...

Is there anyone will to 'rent' a larger f-stop lens for me to use?
If you know anyone or willing to let me 'borrow' your lens for a price each session then we can talk more about it.

Thanks.

You need a more powerful flash gun to be honest for shots like that, also try to keep the ball in the shot it will make for better photos.

No flashes because its distracts the players.

To be honest I would try using the full manual mode. The 350 is a quite good camera, explore its capabilities by learning to use the full manual mode. It will be difficult to begin with, but after you catch up it will be very rewarding. Every situation needs different settings to capture the best shot... Basketball action depends on the lighting situation, but a relatively high ISO, with fast shutter speed, and wide open aperture (to focus on action and blur the background) would do well to stop action. You can try being more artistic and deliberately allow a slower shutter speed, to capture trailing-movement, i.e. during a jump-shot. :)

MeGe - Do you have a wide selection of lenes at your disposel? I think it has come down to getting another lens without buying one. What I mean is to lease some lens.

At the risk of repeating what's already been said, if you're going to persevere :

- Use Av mode with your widest aperture (f/3.5 at 18mm on your lens)
- Use AI servo AF mode
- Manually select the centre AF point to ensure you're not focussing on the back wall
- Use ISO 800 or 1600
- Use noise reduction software afterwards if you have any (I prefer Noise Ninja but there are loads of others)

Can't lend you a lens I'm afraid, but I hope the above is helpful and good luck with it.

Thanks for the advice, will be trying 'correct' settings next tuesday.

Anyone will to make a bit of money to rent there lens to me?

If not, does anyone know any companies in Sheffield which might offer this service?

Thanks for the advice, will be trying 'correct' settings next tuesday.

Anyone will to make a bit of money to rent there lens to me?

If not, does anyone know any companies in Sheffield which might offer this service?

I will say it again your lens is fast enough just up the ISO you don’t need a faster lens.

If you really want to try a particular lens some shops in London used to loan a lens to you on receipt of the full price of the lens, the money, which they will return to you when you bring the lens back unmarked and in the same condition it was when you took it out less the agreed hire price. At least this applies to the professional lenses that are £1000+ each. The deals were by some London photographic shops and may not apply up here.

Hi,
I have just (literally) joined Sheff Forum and stumbled across your post. With the camera you have, ignore the pretty pictures on the dial. Use shutter priority for sports and aperture priority for landscape and still work.
Whatever lens you have set it to at least twice the speed to the length. ie, if its a 200mm lens set it to no slower than 400. Higher the number, faster the shutter speed.
Let me know how you get along. Not sure how you reply on here but my site is www dot antonyoxley dot co dot uk. You can reply through there.

Ant Oxley
TV Cameraman/Photographer

Things have moved on a bit in the last couple of years, Ant - there's now a special photography section of the forum. And I think the OP has disappeared as well.

Would be useful to move this into the photography forum! (: