Sports Photography

Thursday night I tried my hand at sports photography, in this case high school volleyball. My dad had invited me to make the trek down to Coral Reef High School to watch my younger brother play. He is the star for Miami Killian's varsity volleyball team (Sorry, I have to brag some. I'm very proud of him as if he were my son). During my lunch break at work, I brushed up on sports photography tips. The books I have and online forums all suggested I use the highest ISO setting possible, fast shutter speed, and the largest aperture. It was also mentioned that the white balance setting be put at tungsten or fluorescent since indoor gyms tend to give photos a green hue. Unfortunately, at this time, I'm only working with a point and shoot camera with limited settings. But I figured I would give it my best shot.

I came across some challenges during the course of the game. I was informed by my brother's coach that I couldn't use flash photography since the referees would complain that it was a distraction. Anyone who has been in a high school gym knows that the lighting isn't the best, so this had me a little worried. To compensate for the fact that I could not use flash, I had to reduce my shutter speed to 1/100. This provided me with somewhat decent lighting in my shots, but also hindered my ability to get those fast action shots without any blur. A member of the DPS forums suggested that I use a shutter speed of 1/500 and an ISO setting of 2000+ for indoor volleyball, which is clearly something my camera is not capable of. I can achieve a shutter speed as fast as 1/1000, but the highest ISO setting possible on my camera is only 400.

I think my first experiment with sports photography turned out okay. Maybe I'll have better luck with an outdoor sport. Here are some of my favorite shots from Thursday's game. Oh, and Killian ended up winning. My brother (#13) had 27 kills and 11 of the team's 14 digs, what a stud!

These photos, and others not included in this post, are going to be offered for purchase to the players' parents as a team fundraiser. So I guess I not only got my first crack at sports photography, I also got my first commissioned job!