Lessons
Lesson Info
Bonus Video: Shooting Basketball 101
I am Kevin Garage, and today I'm gonna show you how to get started shooting basketball. The first thing I would suggest when getting started is to get a good camera body. Most basketball gyms are pretty dimly lit, and so you're gonna have to be able to have a pretty high shutter speed. I want to say at least 800 of a second on your shutter speed, and you're gonna have to be able to crank your eyes so up pretty high. I want to say probably 2000 to 4000 so make sure you have a good camera body that's able to do that without having a lot of noise in it. I personally used a Canon one DX because it's one of using about 10 frames a second, and it's very good with low noise. Now, some of you guys out there might not be able to afford a candle in DX, and that's fine. You might be able to make up with it with some other bodies, like the Cannon rebels or what not as long as you have pretty fast lenses and what I mean by fast lenses lenses about 28 or less. Most of all, my lenses are 28 lenses be...
cause once it's dark in the gym, which most gyms are we talking high school? We're talking junior high. You're gonna have to be able to shoot at 28 just to get the shutter speed up. First lens I use. It's in my bag and this is probably my money lenses. Probably my 7200. It's a 72 100 to 8 lens and use it for just about everything. I use it when I shoot near court. I mean one side, and I could use it for shooting all my players coming in towards me. When I get to the other side of the court, I tend to use more of A 300. Or actually, I've been using this New Sigma. It's 1 22 300 which is actually a great lands, because I can actually shoot all the way across the court as well as when they come to me. Eso It's actually a pretty reasonable lens to use, and I just started using this. If I want to differentiate my look, I will sometimes use a wide angle lens like a 16 to 35 here, or sometimes like a 24 70. Most of the shooters air they're shooting with the 7200 or 300. Or like I mentioned the 1 22 300 By using a wide angle. You're gonna definitely get a different look than everyone else because you're gonna get the whole scene in. So it's wonderful for dunks. It's wonderful to put down low on the ground and shoot up. We can get the whole scene. I will also use the 16 35 on a remote camera if I mounting something behind the backboard. Okay, now we discussed lenses. I'm actually gonna discuss some tips and strategies for shooting positions to show you guys how you can get some great action shots when shooting basketball. As you can see for my mock diagram, I'm not really an artist, but this is the layout of a basketball court. I have got the home team on the left, and this is their bench area right here and then the visiting team Over here. This is their bench area now. Usually, photographers are allowed to be on one side liner, the other there's usually, like, maybe, cheerleaders over here. So, photographers, are we usually allowed to be in this sideline? Our baseline, I should say. And this baseline? Or it could be, You know, depending on your gym, find out before the game starts where you're allowed to be on some arenas allow you to actually be Georgians. Will you be on any side if they don't have cheerleaders? Now, when I'm have the choice of where to sit, I'm usually right at the very end right here. And there's two reasons why. Well, actually tell you, this is either here in the very end or here in the middle. And the main reason being is because sometimes the referees, when they're coming down, they're gonna stand right here. If I'm here in the middle, no matter what level of basketball we're talking about, we're talking Pee wee all the way up to N ba. They're going to stand right here and block my view. So I need to be here on the end or in the middle back and see the players and see the play clearly. Okay. Now, right here. I'm using my 7200. Or sometimes I'll have my 1 23 or 300 if I don't have my 1 23 100 in my 60 to 35. Those lenses I mentioned before 7 200 is for all my players. They're coming this late right here. Like we mentioned. I'm shooting right here. If they get on the other side, my 7200 is now to loose. Okay? I don't want to shoot with my 700. They're going to little in the frame. I want to get tight in the frame, and so I'm gonna bust out my 23 100 or my 300 to shoot any action going this way. Okay, One reason I want to be across from the bench is I'm allowed to, You know, when I've got the head coach here and head coach here. If I'm right here, chances are I'm gonna be blocked because the kid coach might be here. You might have players here. You might have coaches when the players going on. These guys are excited to go jump off the bench. You're gonna be blocked from any action on the bench. Well, if something happens with a coach's real animated and he's talking to a player yelling in a player, yelling at a referee. I wanna be able to get a clean shot. And by being on this side across from the bench is it allows me to get a clean shot here at my 7200 or my 300 or even over here. This coach is gonna be over here, especially when his team is in this area of the court and get a clean shot with no distracting elements in the picture. Another quick tip I want to share is when you're taking photos of players dribbling the ball. You always want to try to get the ball on their hands. I see a lot of amateur photos where they're dribbling and showing a basketball picture. But the ball is in the air like this when they're dribbling. Always try to be as part of their body connected and you'll be have a more professional looking shot. This has been shooting basketball one on one. I hope you've enjoyed the tips and good luck shooting
Ratings and Reviews
Ed Bindl
This was an OK class. It should be called how to photograph sports with credentials and professional gear. That said, Kevin was a good speaker and teacher, and did share some pretty good tips. I feel like he just touched the tip of the iceberg, and would have loved if the class was longer. It would have also been nice to have some kind of on location shoot. With this being the only sports photography class on creative live, I was hoping for a little more. I'd recommend catching this one on a replay.
JBPhotoDesign
This was a great class... It prepared me for the opportunity of a lifetime. My first time shooting football... NFL Full Field Access for the 2013 ProBowl! I am sure I would have not done quite so well without this primer!