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Thread: Action Shots

  1. #1

    Action Shots

    Action Shots

    I have been taking shots at our local school basketball games. Here is one of my shots from the other day. What do you think? How can I do better? Keep in mind, my lens is only f3.5, so my iso is pretty high, but I think my photos have potential. C&C Always welcome. Thanks.

  2. #2
    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Action Shots

    Quote Originally Posted by Warren View Post
    ... but I think my photos have potential.
    So do I. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Warren.

    So far as I can see, there are no technical flaws at all.

    With sports action like this I think it's a case of just having to shoot lots and lots, anticipate the action and, as a result of knowing the sport you are also able to understand the flow of it so can get your lens to where the action is going to be. This one, for example would, in my opinion, have benefited from not having that person just creeping into the frame on the left-hand side. But that's the name of game. You can't control how the players will be arranged at any given moment. So you just have to get the technical stuff right and keep shooting.

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    Re: Action Shots

    I reckon it is a great shoot

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    Re: Action Shots

    Nice shot, but are the uniforms pink or white? If white, I would say you have a slight color cast.

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    Re: Action Shots

    Hi Warren,

    This is really good, you 'got away with' the f/3.5 because there's a good distance behind the subject to the background, I'm sure in other court positions an f/2.8 would be preferrable.

    I can see what Paul means about the colour cast, the uniforms are a bit pink, but it could well be the floor reflecting up - the background looks OK which suggests even if you had shot a WhiBal or grey card under the lights alone, you'd still have had this

    Cheers,

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    Re: Action Shots

    You can get most of the pink cast out (in CS4 or 5) by making a duplicate layer, going to filter - blur-average which will give the duplicate layer a godawful color layer which you will do a "Control I" on to invert it and change the blend mode to Overlay. I made two layers, one with overlay and one with soft light and on the last, did a color correction, shifting away from the reds and magentas.

  7. #7
    Loose Canon's Avatar
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    Re: Action Shots

    Or do it in your RAW conversion.

    Great shot, Warren!

  8. #8
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    Re: Action Shots

    Nice exposure, sharpness, composition.

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    Re: Action Shots

    Hi Warren
    Great action shot but the saturation is a distraction ...... have you considered the white balance in the composition?
    Nick

  10. #10

    Re: Action Shots

    I have to admit, I always struggle with the wb in these situations, especially with their purple uniforms. The opposing team is white and now that you mention, I see the tinting of the uniforms. I have tried several methods, auto wb, use the white black and grey card, kelvin rating, but when I shoot, the purple never looks normal. My camera has pretty decent sensitivity with the exception of the harshness usually found under the fluorescent lights. Suggestions??

  11. #11

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    Re: Action Shots

    I use the same camera and find that on occasion, if you shift the in-camera white balance more toward a warm tone, this compensates for the bluish tint given off by fluorescent lights.

    Also, I have noticed that using "Auto" in the RAW editor helps to offset this cast. Another trick in RAW is to push the Vibrancy slider more to the left.

  12. #12

    Re: Action Shots

    I believe I have tried that, but this time, it was a different arena, and I did not update it, in other words, I probably need to be adjusting every time I go to a different school or gym. I was too excited and forgot this time. I was using the user settings that I had decent luck with from another event in a smaller gym.

    Maybe I need to shot more RAW images, as of right now, I have only tried a few times, and did not really get used to the post processing, and btw, I only have photoshop elements 8, so I am a tad behind the times.

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