NCAA – Page 2 – Learn to shoot like a pro

Georgetown vs DePaul Women’s Basketball

January 2, 2017January 31, 2017

As with most photographers that try to move to sports from other photographic genres, they realize that it’s a different beast than what they are used to. Charles is an experienced photographer, so we were able to skip the camera set up lessons and the basics of settings and move right into covering the game.

The biggest stumbling block we encountered was proper focus. It takes a lot of practice to be able to get consistently sharp focus shot after shot and it was immediately clear that Charles needed some work. Stationary people were no problem, but once they got moving, sharp focus was harder to achieve. Better results will come from more practice.

With two more games to practice with, let’s see if we can sort out the focus issues and make bigger strides in capturing great basketball photos.

Georgetown vs DePaul Women’s Basketball

George Mason vs St. Joseph’s Women’s Basketball

January 2, 2017January 31, 2017

Bill’s second game showed a huge improvement over his first outing and it shows in his photos. As he got more comfortable with the speed of the game and his camera skills improved, his photos started to look better and better.

Most photographers will start to see more details during the game as their experience grows and most say the game tends to slow down making it easier to photograph the action.

With one more game left, let’s see if Bill can pull it all together to make a truly great gallery.

George Mason vs St. Joseph’s Women’s Basketball

George Mason vs Duquesne Women’s Basketball

January 2, 2017January 31, 2017

With a daughter that plays youth basketball, Bill wanted to improve his skills so he could take better photos at her games. College women’s basketball is the perfect way to enhance his skills since the game is much faster than what he would encounter at a girl’s game.

As with most new photographers, getting proper focus is difficult at first. The depth of field on a full frame camera combined with a large aperture and high shutter speed makes for a very steep learning curve. Throw in athletes playing at a high pace and it makes things even worse.

Once Bill got accustomed to the focus and speed of the game, he was able to settle down and make some great images.