Help! How do you take sports photos in a gym with a digital camera?

[tanya]

Even my best shots are so blurry and awful! Are digital cameras used for this sort of thing? I click the button and the photo finally happens so much later. The flash seems to even make it worse.



My 15 year old daughter and 16 year old granddaughter. This one is not so bad, but not great.






Sisters. Our only senior, my 5'4 16 year old and our starting freshman, my 5' 13 year old - a gymnast. Both girls skipped a grade so they are young. This is one of the better of the photos and is still blurry even though they are holding still.

I love watching them play! They are so good! I would really love to be able to take some good photos of them playing.

[ibenick]

Easy.

Buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G5ZTLS?ie=UTF8&tag=bogloutdcomm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creative ASIN=B001G5ZTLS

this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033PRWSW?ie=UTF8&tag=bogloutdcomm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creative ASIN=B0033PRWSW

and this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NP3DJW?ie=UTF8&tag=bogloutdcomm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creative ASIN=B000NP3DJW

And you should be golden.

[CarpeyBiggs]

shooting sports in a high school gym is probably the most demanding application of all. you need fast lenses and a good camera.

what's your setup? the most cost effective way to get into it is the 85 1.8 lens for canon dslrs. but you won't be able to zoom in. however, it's likely the only lens that will get enough light in a gym.

speedlights typically aren't allowed, since the players don't appreciate getting hit with flashes in the middle of a game... sometimes you can set up strobes from up high, but that is very complicated and expensive.

[tanya]

My camera is old and the lens does not change.

http://www.ggentertainment.com/Olymp...us-C_8080-8MP/


I have to live with these girls! I sure don't want to mess up their shots!
I am not ready to buy a new camera either.... and those prices! ouch! But I might actually consider getting one if it was not too much.

I am on picture 270 something from the game and one action one turned out pretty good of who I was trying to get, (#31) so its possible. lol

[p40whk]

Tanya,

What shutter speed are you using? You should have a sports setting for that camera or a Shutter Priority mode to set the shutter speed. You get the blurred motion because the shutter speed is too slow to stop the motion, this is how we make the water in river and waterfall shots look so mystical.

Try changing your shutter speed to a higher (faster) value somewhere around 1/500 or higher.

Here's a good article on the subject: http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/StoppingMotion.htm

[tanya]

It's on auto, but on the sports setting. Cool... will check that out!

[dioscuriII]

I used to shoot college sports at Idaho State University. Holt Arena was a cave when it came to light. You need a DSLR to get really good stuff. And like they said a fast lens. I would manually set my lens wide open to f2.8 and shoot at a 500th or a second. I would not let the camera control anything. I used to shoot film and push it. That just means you underexpose and overdevelop your negatives. Lots of grain. I don't mean to rain on your parade, but your camera is the culprit. It will probably never produce what you are seeking. We used expensive equipment to get good shots. That is always the answer to a problem. Throw money at it. The new cameras are better, but the good lens is how you get results.

Try to anticipate them getting into positions where they are moving the least.

Kevin

http://www.wickedmantis.com/sports.html

[tanya]

I tried to shoot younger son and grandsons game last night in a smaller and older gym where its much darker. It was bad! I tried to shoot in the best lit spot on the floor but it did not help much. I have a great SLR camera but put it away when I got the digital. Think its a canon of some sort. Perhaps I will dig it out. It use to have all kinds of lenses. I hope I still have them.

Thanks for all the input guys! It helps!

[rwpontius]

The newer digital SLRs have improved high ISO performance and a faster response time than the digital point and shoots. You'll need to pay careful attention to the color balance depending on the light source for the gyms otherwise the colors look very different form real life. This can be done in camera or later in post processing. Of course a faster lens will also help. I would suggest either a Nikon or Canon, both have very capable cameras for under 1K.
RP

[tanya]

I shall look into it! Thanks!

[HighPlainsPhotographer]

I shoot freelance for a couple of local papers, mostly high school sports. While I consider myself a decent photographer, it was quite a learning curve for me shooting in gyms. To get decent shots you will need to use DSLR camera and a faster shutter speed, at least 1/200. Depending on the lighting in the gym, you will probably need a fast lens for this, I would not venture into a HS gym with anything slower then a 1.8 aperture lens, unless you are shooting with a high quality off camera flash. Most of my successful shot were shot with a 50mm 1.2 or 85mm 1.8. As previously mentioned, the white balance can be an issue. Set a custom white balance or shoot some test shots on the different preset for white balance in your camera. Always shoot in manual mode, more test shots with different shutter speeds, the light in the gym should be consistent so once you have it set all should be good. If you try to rely on your camera to set white balance and shutter speed your shots will be inconsistent.

[tanya]

Taking photos in wet slots canyons is so easy in comparison.


Thanks!

[kenyu73]

I know this thread is months old, but I had the same problem just yesterday. Here is my amateur info for anyone else with this issue...

I just got my 1st DSLR camera a few months ago. I've been reading a lot on how shutter, exposure and ISO are key to good pictures. Here is a laymens definition:

Firstly, auto sports mode really sucks indoors, don't try to use it!

Shutter: speed is listed in seconds (or fractions of a sec). For sports you need at least 1/200th of a sec.
Exposure: Controls how much light is brought into the camera (like your eyeball). Higher F/stop means less light (tiny hole) and vise-versa
ISO: This is a digital modification to increase or amplify what little light you have. High ISO equal brighter photos, but more chance for noise/static in the photo. Its like cranking up the TV brightness so you can see that spooky night scene better

All these effect each other when you change one.

-- Dim gym/sports solution with 200mm lens--

• Increase shutter speed to at least 1/200 to reduce blur
• Increase ISO to almost max of your camera (I set mine to ISO 12800 which is REAL high)
• I used shutter priority mode [S] on my Nikon 3100 (it controls exposure auto-magically), but you want a low F/stop

This was taken using Auto/Sports mode last week.. before I knew better:


This was done using 1/250 shutter and ISO 12,800 (auto exposure mode)


I hope this helps anyone who comes across this post!

-Eric

[tanya]

My old camera finally died in Hawaii. It did not like the humidity there. My new one is a cheaper one, but I have not tried it out in the gym yet. Pretty gymnast! I have a tiny little gymnast daughter too!