Basketball Photography

Kbeg3

Hi,

I have been asked to shoot a basketball match tomorrow for my school,
Its going to be in a gym that i have never been in before so am not sure what the lighting will be like!
Does any one have any tips on what setting to use

Thanks

challengemaster

Might help if you told us what gear you're going to be using...

Kbeg3

Sorry,

I have a D300 and was thinking of bringing my 18-200mm

Ricky91t

Got anything thats f/2.8?
Of maybe a 50mm f/1.8

challengemaster

I'd say a 50mm might be a bit... static for sports?

Ricky91t

It would be but with basketball the court is small,and dark(im guessing indoors) and the players are quick,i could just picture an f/5.6 hunting for alot of the time and as not many have an f/2.8 lens to their name the f/1.8 might me the best chance of getting images that are sharp and clear,i mean the D300 might handle noise ok so might be a good idea to try a f/5.6 lens but if you have a sharp 50mm image you can crop a good bit too


I see local papers using a flash in their basketball pics i wouldn't do this as im sure the players would get fairly annoyed by it

challengemaster

well.. a basketball court is relativly small compared to a GAA pitch, or race track, but a full sized one is still fairly large.

I'd say if he was going with a 50mm to get up near one of the baskets..

kensutz

I used my 70-200 f/2.8 for basketball matches. ISO needs to be bumped up high because the gym lighting will be poor

Borderfox

I use an 85mm f1.2 and a 135mm f2 for Basketball and it works out great. A 50mm f1.8 or an 85mm f1.8 would suit.

Kbeg3

Thanks everyone I will see how it goes!