High school and college gyms are notorious for horrible lighting. The low lighting is something you can work around, but then when you mix sports action with it...things get a bit blurry.
I need advice. I have a Canon xsi. I have daughters who do competitive cheer. I am trying to find the best setting for my camera to take shots that turn out in this horrible lighting.
If I get the grainy shots improved, then I get the blur...and vice versa. I also sometimes get it all figured out, and then the camera wants to focus on the far wall rather than on the cheerleaders! grrr...
I've been reading and reading...but none of the sites or books actually focus on this exact problem. I think I just need the advice of some people who actually take these kind of shots.
My wife cheered for 15 years ( Highschool, University, Club, and coached too) I have been in way too many gyms! For cheer... you need fast glass... I used a 70mm f/1.9 with a 1600 ISO gave me good enough images...
NO FLASH!!!! You don't need a top pulling cupie to get spoked by a flash and crash hard on her bases!!!
Honestly, best cheer photos are staged... or at events like regionals or nations with 'good' stage lighting...
Have her talk to her 'sound and lights club' at school they would likely love to properly light their next event!
Having them cheer on a grassy knoll in the summer makes for great photos too, or at football games... but side lines at a basketball game... or a little club comp... no luck...
Mark Derry, has a small walk on part on the TV show Hellcats, have cheered for pro football, university, club... he is an ok photog too... and even his event photos are weak... I mean it is just tough to shoot cheerleading...
@livingontheedge My first photography job was shooting all the sporting events for the Athletics Department at my college. Although they really only wanted photos of the sports, including the intensive basketball season, I also shot photos of the cheerleaders cause I knew they'd want them, too.
I shot with a Nikon D300 and D2H, both of which can handle low-light situations pretty well. At the beginning of the season the strobes inside the gym didn't work, so I had to shoot using ambient lighting. I shot the photos at 1600 ISO, f/2.8 @ 1/320 exposure.
That was the absolutely best you will be able to do with ambient lighting. If you are only interested in shooting photos of your daughters and the other cheerleaders, you'll be able to get away with a shutter as slow as 1/250 when they are doing simple cheer movements.
Unfortunately, this is just the nature of the beast that is poor-lighting inside gyms. I would not recommend using a flash in a college gym because they will often ask you to stop. High school is more flexible. But flashes have a very limited range so you'd only be able to capture about 2-3 cheerleaders at a time.
Hope some of this helps. Feel free to ask any questions.
I feel your pain, I shoot basketball and wrestling in our high school gym and I am continually battling low light issues. I am fortunate enough to shoot in a newer school that has modern lighting, but still, combined with high speed action, the grainy, fuzzy, darker issues are present. I try to leave my ISO at around 800, and my shutter speed around 200 to 320, with f/2.8 aperature. To keep the focus on the immediate action, I use the center focus sensor only. Also, have the AF set to continious, or "AI servo", keeping the lens refocusing while following the action. My drive is set to continious shooting, so I can rattle of 9 consecutive shots if need be, so as not to miss a pass/block/steal/pin/etc.
For better results, I purchased a flash recently and will be trying that out soon. Not being blessed with the biggest financial situation when it comes to my photography needs, this has been a slow progressive process. I have observed the long time pro's, that shoot for our local newspapers. They have the biggest, fastest and best equipment out there, and my envy erupts, lol. I have seen them set 2 to 3 "slave" flashes at the top of the bleachers, with a remote transmitter attatched to their camera. The whole gym lights up when they fire off their shots.
and, that is a whole lot of typing... here is the website that hosts my shots:
I use similar settings as mentioned above and using iPhoto afterwards, I up the exposure and lift up shadows to brighten the shots as well as sharpen and reduce noise.
Deb, this has been a problem that I have trouble with too and so I am glad you posted this and I am really grateful to Jordan, Jason and John for your insight. It will help me a lot.
Keep an eye out now for my daughters cheer photos next week :) hopefully I will get some keepers!
I've seen some very decent shots with a 2.8 lens. Mine is a 4.5, and not good in Gyms, so I feel your pain. I have to play in Levels in Photoshop afterward to get where I am somewhat satisfied.
thanks everyone! Some of these things I've tried and a few new things to try next time. At least I know now that it isn't just me being totally lame! I've been a longtime outdoors photographer. Inside a building and taking shots of people is a whole new world.
I love this site. Everyone here is so incredibly nice and willing to help out :-) Some other sites only cater to the professionals and don't like to give advice. Thanks again!
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NO FLASH!!!! You don't need a top pulling cupie to get spoked by a flash and crash hard on her bases!!!
Honestly, best cheer photos are staged... or at events like regionals or nations with 'good' stage lighting...
Have her talk to her 'sound and lights club' at school they would likely love to properly light their next event!
Having them cheer on a grassy knoll in the summer makes for great photos too, or at football games... but side lines at a basketball game... or a little club comp... no luck...
Mark Derry, has a small walk on part on the TV show Hellcats, have cheered for pro football, university, club... he is an ok photog too... and even his event photos are weak... I mean it is just tough to shoot cheerleading...
http://www.markderry.com/Sports/Cheerleading
I shot with a Nikon D300 and D2H, both of which can handle low-light situations pretty well. At the beginning of the season the strobes inside the gym didn't work, so I had to shoot using ambient lighting. I shot the photos at 1600 ISO, f/2.8 @ 1/320 exposure.
That was the absolutely best you will be able to do with ambient lighting. If you are only interested in shooting photos of your daughters and the other cheerleaders, you'll be able to get away with a shutter as slow as 1/250 when they are doing simple cheer movements.
Unfortunately, this is just the nature of the beast that is poor-lighting inside gyms. I would not recommend using a flash in a college gym because they will often ask you to stop. High school is more flexible. But flashes have a very limited range so you'd only be able to capture about 2-3 cheerleaders at a time.
Hope some of this helps. Feel free to ask any questions.
I feel your pain, I shoot basketball and wrestling in our high school gym and I am continually battling low light issues. I am fortunate enough to shoot in a newer school that has modern lighting, but still, combined with high speed action, the grainy, fuzzy, darker issues are present. I try to leave my ISO at around 800, and my shutter speed around 200 to 320, with f/2.8 aperature. To keep the focus on the immediate action, I use the center focus sensor only. Also, have the AF set to continious, or "AI servo", keeping the lens refocusing while following the action. My drive is set to continious shooting, so I can rattle of 9 consecutive shots if need be, so as not to miss a pass/block/steal/pin/etc.
For better results, I purchased a flash recently and will be trying that out soon. Not being blessed with the biggest financial situation when it comes to my photography needs, this has been a slow progressive process. I have observed the long time pro's, that shoot for our local newspapers. They have the biggest, fastest and best equipment out there, and my envy erupts, lol. I have seen them set 2 to 3 "slave" flashes at the top of the bleachers, with a remote transmitter attatched to their camera. The whole gym lights up when they fire off their shots.
and, that is a whole lot of typing... here is the website that hosts my shots:
http://johnhaskellphotography.smugmug.com
the slideshow on the home page has some good examples.
Hope at least some of this can help you. Good luck and have fun!
Keep an eye out now for my daughters cheer photos next week :) hopefully I will get some keepers!
I love this site. Everyone here is so incredibly nice and willing to help out :-) Some other sites only cater to the professionals and don't like to give advice. Thanks again!