How to take great basketball shots

Have you ever taken pictures at a basketball game only to have them turn out blurry or dark?  Basketball is probably one of the harder sports to photograph because you are usually in a gym with lousy lighting.  I don't use flash (for sports photography) and at some basketball games it is not even allowed if you wanted to.  My brother is a high school coach in Washington state and here are a few pictures I took last week when I attended a couple of his games.

So what is the trick to getting great basketball photos?  It's pretty simple really, it's all in the equipment.  To take good photos of fast moving subjects in a poorly lit gym you need to use a high shutter speed of about 1/250 sec.  To achieve a fast shutter speed I usually have to set my ISO at 3200.  The problem with cheaper cameras is they tend to have a lot of noise (graininess) when you use a high ISO setting. 

I shoot in shutter priority (tv) which automatically adusts my apurture, usually to about f/2.8  You need a fast f/2.8 lens if you hope to achieve consistently good results.  I use a Canon 1D Mark III to shoot sports because it shoots 10 frames per second.  This is important if you hope to catch the action at it's peak.  Set your auto focus to AI Servo and your good to go.  This will adjust your focus as your subject moves.

Another trick to great basketball shots is to shoot from along the base line where you can get a clear shot of the action underneath the basket.  If you can get a shot of the packed stands with fans cheering in the background... all the better.

Does this mean you need an expensive camera to shoot sports?  I would say that you definately need a good DSLR.  The point-and-shoot cameras do not work at all for this type of photography.  They just can't shoot fast enough and the lag in shutter response results in missed action.

After the shot there is some post-processing work that needs to be done if you really want your photos to shine.  I will discuss that on Wednesday.

That's it for today.  I'm off to watch the Boise State Bronco's take on TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.  Both teams are undefeated.  Should be a great game!

Keep shooting!

Ryan