Middle School B-Ball Shots

[theultimateguru]

Used D90 in manual mode with these settings:

85mmF1.8 ISO 2000 and 1/400.

I used a custom white balance using my Lastolite white card taken on speed priority at 1/60 under the basket. I seem to still be getting pictures with some shots having the white walls and the others with a bit of discoloration. I could not get much closer since I was getting in the way of the ref's so the framing was not as close as I would have liked it to be.
My pictures still look blurry, I do seem to be doing something wrong. None of my pictures look crisp, focused. I use single point , AF-C setup.

Please advise



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[JohnG]

As to the sharpness - these shots are from too far away - that's your problem. Rule of thumb for kids that size - they should fill 2/3 of the vertical frame. Preferably 3/4. That will improve your sharpness. So you need to be patient and wait for action that gets closer.

As to the white balance - don't worry about the wall - walls don't have overlapping light sources so you'll get more color cast than on the court. There's a little bit of fluxuation in skin tones here but not bad. Nothing a little color correction won't fix. But the biggest thing is waiting for the action to get closer.