Basketball season is finally cranking up around here.  There are several good things associated with basketball season.  It’s a welcome change of pace from high school football about this time of year.  It means that I get to go back inside where it’s warm.  I have been fairly lucky this football season.  It hasn’t been terribly cold outside yet, but this week has been different.  It’s 28 degrees outside as I type this blog post.  Shooting sports for the local newspaper multiple times per week can make one weary of a certain sport after shooting it for several months at a time.  When the sports seasons change, it’s usually welcome. 

I like photographing basketball.  I can get much closer to the action.  From a photogrpaher’s standpoint, I find it funny that I’m not really getting to enjoy better light than when I shoot football.  After daylight savings time ends and the football games are all starting after dark, I generally shoot photos at 1/320″, f/2.8, ISO 1600, and use my flash.  There are only about three basketball gyms in my local area where I can shoot faster than that at a lower ISO.  Most of the gyms are dark and I find myself shooting at similar settings.  I do like to use my 50mm f/1.4 lens for basketball when I can, but I generally shoot at f/2.0 instead of f/1.4.  Even at f/2.0, I’m still shooting at ISO 1600 anywhere between 1/320″ and 1/500″.  I’m envious of sports photogrpahers who get to shoot in decent light.  I’m also envious of those people who have cameras that can shoot usable images at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400.  That is going to be my first priority after I graduate.  I’m getting whatever camera is current in the Canon 1d line.  Those cameras are amazing.  The high iso abilities of those cameras would let me forget about my flash as a light source.  I would probably still use it for fill light in football, but that would be about it. 

It looks like I’m going to have an opportunity to do some work with the newspaper staff of one of the local high schools.  I might be providing some training for a few photographers.  When and if that happens, I will write some posts here about it.  I’m excited about the opportunity to do a little teaching in the craft of photography…

Photojournalism, Sports