What a Difference Some Light Makes

[Trojansoc]

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of shooting basketball in a tournament played in the local civic arena instead of the normal, dark high school gym. The arena is a modern high-quality facility that has been host to the NCAA Women's Division II Final Four, so it is well-lit and flawlessly maintained. JohnG, you suggested that the DA*50-135 f2.8 would be a great basketball lens if there was sufficient lighting. You were right. This was taken at 95mm, 1/500, ISO 1600, the lens all the way open at f2.8.



I shot yesterday on Aperture Priority because I wasn't sure how consistent the lens would be and I wanted the benefit of looking at the shots on a large screen before I moved back to manual exposure.Thus, I had one shot that went as fast as 1/1000. This was at 123mm.



For the second round tonight, I'll go back to manual exposure, probably at 1/640 & f2.8.

The camera metered a little dark, so all of the shots required a slight mid-range levels boost. Other post-processing was Noiseware (Portrait pre-set) and USM. Because of the reach of the zoom, almost no cropping had to be done. On this one, taken at 1/640 and 95mm, I was almost too tight, with the only crop being a slight top and bottom chop



I know that I'll have to go back to my 50mm f1.4 when we retun to the dark cave of a high school gym, but for the next couple of days, I'm going to enjoy these lights, lol.

A couple of others from the same session. If you're interested and want to see the rest, they can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trojans...7603565649313/

[Mr_Saginaw]

Some mighty nice shots! 1 and 3 are my favorites... great expressions and captures the sense of motion...

[vIZnquest]

Good shots! The last one though has two things that breaks it. One the crowd is distracting. Two the crowd is in better focus.

I like the first one the best. A contrast boost may give it a bit more though.

[DRGSin]

Trojan!!! I havent seen a post of yours in a long time. What a great surprise to see this latest work! Very nicely done-youve got my vote for most improved for 2007!

[jschoenr]

Nicely done! I particularly like #1 and #3..

[Trojansoc]

DRGSin wrote:

Trojan!!! I havent seen a post of yours in a long time. What a great surprise to see this latest work! Very nicely done-youve got my vote for most improved for 2007!

I haven't been shooting much sports lately simply because our teams have either not been playing or have been on the road. Appreciate the kind words since I'd never touched a DSLR before May .... improvement I've made has been due primarily to the good advice I've gotten in this forum and others on Steve's site.

[lesmore49]

Yeah, I have to agree. Great action shots even at 1600 . That F 2.8, 50-135 Pentax lens seems excellent in difficult lighting.

[philneast]

You missd out the best one you showed in the Pentax section.

The one with the two players looking up waiting for a rebound.

Phil

[Trojansoc]

philneast wrote:

You missd out the best one you showed in the Pentax section.

The one with the two players looking up waiting for a rebound.

Phil

All of these shots were taken the first day of the tournament. The one to which you refer came from the second day.

Paul