Some volleyball

[JohnG]

Some vball from last night. C&C always welcome:

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10

[jschoenr]

Great series John. Good action, good timing, and good color. I like #8 and #9 the best because they seem to be more in the play. #3 is really nice and sharp, just don't like the closed-fist attack...

Looks like you have some pretty decent light there. My iexif isn't working, what were you shooting with and what settings?

[JohnG]

Thank you. Sadly the outfit that hosts my site (smugmug) strips EXIF from the resized images.

Shot with 1dmkIII, 70-200 2.8 at ISO 3200 f2.8 and 1/400 - manual exposure with custom white balance. I'd love to get 1/640 speeds to freeze the motion better but prefer to stay at ISO 3200 rather than 6400 and I prefer the flexibility of the 70-200 over dropping back to the 85mm 1.8. All about choices.

[PhotoCarp]

Some real good ones there, John. Technically they're very well done. I agree with your lens and settings choices. The lighting in most HS gyms is quite Hoover-like which makes it hard to stop the action.

My favorites are:
#3 - You caught a great look on her face as she pops up above the other player and the closed fist is good because we know what's about to happen!
#7 - The timing on this one is wild because you got the ball compression and the ripples on her forearms.

If only the girls were turned a little more toward you #2 and #8 would be fantastic. As it has been said numerous times, it's tough to be in the right place at the right time.

[JohnG]

PhotoCarp wrote:

If only the girls were turned a little more toward you #2 and #8 would be fantastic. As it has been said numerous times, it's tough to be in the right place at the right time.

Of all the sports I shoot I think volleyball consistently has the most "near miss" shots. People get in the way, focus slightly off. I swear it didn't matter what side of the net this team played on they consistently killed right by my position. And with the judge there It's very difficult to get a good shot (I don't shoot at the other side because the crowd, benches and scoring table are there).

This was the last home match (sadly it seems like I'm only getting to one game/match per sport this Fall) - but I think next year I'll bring the 120-300 and take some from the stands.

[pj1974]

Hi John

I agree great series, for what is a challenging sport to capture in photos.

The lighting also could be quite tricky too. But as per usual, you've done a great job.

I agree with photocarp, I really appreciate photo 7 because the timing on that is fantastic, getting the ball compressed against her arms / muscle bulge, it's cool.

for some reason I feel that some of the photos you shared here have awkward cropping (I mean cutting off of limbs). Is that unavoidable, what you were writing - from where you were shooting

For this reason that is why I like photo 6, 7, 8 and 10 - even though the other photos are closer.

Thanks for sharing.

Paul

[JohnG]

Hey Paul.

I would categorize 4 and 9 as akward given that partial limbs of the subject were cut off. In both cases part of the limbs just didn't stay in the frame (person going from vertical to horizontal). It's an unfortunate bi-product of framing tightly. I agree, the images would be better if the body parts weren't cut out. Thanks for the feedback!

[k1par]

John,

I shot my first volleyball match last night. I will take basketball and soccer over volleyball to shoot anytime. What a tough sport to get decent (let alone good) shots. I used my Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 lens (ISO 1600) but it does not get closes enough and my Canon 70-300 IS USM lens mostly between 80-100mm (ISO 3200). I will post some of my shots and fully admit they are not my best work.

To all who regularly shoot volleyball and get those great shots I tip my hat to you!