Here I tried takings some pictures of a D1 Jersey game using a long focal length (100mm), as well as switching to a shorter focal length to get a wide variety of different shots. For the first half of the game I used aperture priority with an F-stop of 2.8 to 5.6. However, I didn’t turn the ISO up enough, as well as decreasing the overall exposure causing a lot of the images to be blurry since its a fast paced game with lots of movement. So after half time I increased the ISO to 1600 and decreased the exposure to -1, giving me a shutter speed of around 1/1000, allowing me to capture better images in the game. Also at half time, I looked at some Neil Leafer images for inspiration and realised he often had a shorter focal length to capture more action instead of a single player. He also seems to wait for something interesting to happen before he would take the photo.

I changed the camera angle a lot, getting some shots from higher up and lower down. Shots coming from a lower angle are more traditional for sports photography in basketball since the photographers are usually sitting on the floor around court side to take the photos. I thinks shots from lower down created a much more dynamic image and add drama, since the legs of the athletes become the main focus, and it distorts the player in a way to make them look powerful and big and creates a perspective of grandeur. I often kept the rule of thirds in my mind to make sure the composition was on point, but sometimes I tried out different compositions to and more variety in this photoshoot. It seemed that taking photos when the players where running towards the camera leads to much better photos as the subjects faces are in frame, allowing viewers to make more of there own judgement on the image based on the players faces. It also adds more emotion when the players face is in frame.

This was below was taken in the 2nd quarter just as tommy (the one in the dark navy) was going up for a layup. Unfortunate, since the photos where shot with a compressed file, it was hard to edit without the image becoming grainy. However, I still managed to add a vignette and rotated the image to make the subjects level and to make the image even more dynamic. I also added a layer mask to the subjects in the centre to draw the eyes towards it. Number 4 looks likes he’s being picked up by number 2, which makes this image more interesting a more amusing.

Below are some more photos edited in the same way:

Below I tried a montage of 3 photos of a free throw. This was the second free throw so other players started running in to get the rebound. I used the wider angle lens to capture more action in the shot. I created three images to show the create a montage of players running towards the centre. Below you can see how I edited the image.

I like this image as the subject with the ball is in the centre, with other subjects evenly spread out around the image, giving it good composition.

For this image below I changed the angle to match the alignment of the face of the person holding the ball. It also makes the image look more dynamic which is what I want for a sporting image.

Below I montaged 3 images together that have a similar pattern (looking away from camera and focused on one player).

This image below was taken during a free throw shot that would tie the two teams. This obviously isn’t good for the team other team which is no longer ahead who this player was on. You can see the hope in his face that the free throw does not go in.

Things I would change next time

Since this is my first time doing sports photography, I made few mistakes, firstly when using the long focal length It was difficult for me to take photos of the action since it was so zoomed it, meaning I should of taken more photos from the other side of the court. Another issue was that a lot of my photos are fairly uninteresting, so I might try going closer to the court next time with a wide angle lens to capture action close up (which is how Neil leafer did it). Finally I think I could decrease the exposure even more and shoot with raw files allowing me to increase the shutter speed making the photos less blurry. I can increase the exposure in post production.