Basketball

Liam1901

Liam1901

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Liam
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Hi all!

Looking to progress and shoot some more sports and was looking at basketball. I have my 70-200 f2.8 on my D7200 but was thinking of using my D3200 with another lens also?
Just after people's experience with the best lenses they tend to use for basketball.

Thanks all!
 
The professional who sometimes comes to the games that I go to seems to have his 70-200 glued to his 1DX. he does sometimes fix a camera with a shorter lens above the basket. I like to stand by the basket with a 24-70mm f2.8. and then sometimes for a change go wider or longer up to 200mm
 
Chipper said:
The professional who sometimes comes to the games that I go to seems to have his 70-200 glued to his 1DX. he does sometimes fix a camera with a shorter lens above the basket. I like to stand by the basket with a 24-70mm f2.8. and then sometimes for a change go wider or longer up to 200mm
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Ah so my 70-200 will do the trick until I get a 24-70 f2.8! Don't think I'll be able to attach a camera as it'll be on a photographic agreement with the BBL.
 
You will need a pass to get court side at BBL games. There isn’t much left of the season now - we are in the run at the moment towards finalising the play off places. Which club are you nearest to?
 
Chipper said:
You will need a pass to get court side at BBL games. There isn’t much left of the season now - we are in the run at the moment towards finalising the play off places. Which club are you nearest to?
Click to expand...

Got all my paperwork finalised today, closest to the London lions. How many games are left? If it's not many it may be worth me just waiting for next season.
 
I think we have about 4 or 5 home games without the playoffs.. check the BBL website. Lions are at Wolves I think before the end of the season. Say hi if you come and I haven’t made it up about the fixture! And getting started this season can’t be a bad thing as far as I see it.
 
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Chipper said:
I think we have about 4 or 5 home games without the playoffs.. check the BBL website. Lions are at Wolves I think before the end of the season. Say hi if you come and I haven’t made it up about the fixture! And getting started this season can’t be a bad thing as far as I see it.
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Where do you short wolves or lions?
 
Worcester.. game tonight. Had a bug so it is a “probably” for me unless the food I have just eaten refuses to stay put!
 
Chipper said:
Worcester.. game tonight. Had a bug so it is a “probably” for me unless the food I have just eaten refuses to stay put!
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Best of luck!

Just wondering the agreement said 'they may only use the photographs for news items'

Does this mean I can't use an image I get as say part of a banner on my website??
 
Basketball is pretty much 90% of my paid work at the moment.. and from April to October.. about 99%...
There are as many different lenses you could use, as there are different actions you'd think to photograph (of course the BBL venues aren't the biggest in the world.. so the longest ones not much use in domestic games - apart from Cup/Trophy/PlayOff Final).

The widest I use for basketball photography is 10mm - and the longest I use is 600mm.
So you can take your pick from that range.. and each lens gives you different view/framing of the action.

The 'go-to' lens if you only work with one body, it would be the 70-200mm f2.8 - you are pretty good to go with that one and will get a decent variety of images with it.
When ever someone asks me which lens they should take when going to their first basketball games to photograph.. it's the 70-200 every time :-)

Depending on the venues, and access to photo positions.. then it comes personal choice (or customers requirements) ... many do like the 24-70 as their second lens.
And if you are doing a game where you need to be behind the advertising boards.. then 24-70 would be a good second choice, as you aren't getting any low angles.
My personal second handheld lens choice quite often goes to Samyang 14mm ... super sharp and great for those low angle images from next to the hoop. (check access with clubs - and also in smaller venues the ceiling/seating isn't that 'spectacular' ..)
Or otherwise the Canon 16-35mm .. but really do like the Samyang 14mm..

Then for remotes .. ceiling ones often on the 200mm range.. behind the board anything that gets you close to 18mm / 22mm ..

For the close up images of player.. 300mm/400mm (or I use Canon 200mm-400mm with the x1.4 built-in..)

BBL is a 'easy' league to get to photograph and has seen an explosion of photographers in the past two seasons... it used to be just handful of photographers in the whole league.. now it's sometimes 10 photographer in the game (London Lions are getting really popular with the photographers).
If you can find your own little 'market' .. there is some money to be made from the game (yes, even in the UK!!) .. but as with sports photography so often.. what matters the most is that you 'know' the right contacts.
It is definitely a sport that I would recommend for anyone to give a try .. and after doing basketball for a long time.. every time I get to a football game, I am surprised how slow and predictable football is in comparison to basketball ;-)

The nice thing about basketball is also that with the 70-200.. you are able to cover the game all the time, at both ends of the court (yes, bit of compromise when photographing the other end.. but very doable!!).
So there is no time when you need to wait for the action to come your way .. it's full on photography for the whole game!!

You should be well equipped with the camera body you have at the moment, and the 70-200 is a great way to get into basketball photography.
Also, mostly the photographers in basketball are a friendly bunch.. they are happy to talk to you before a game and give advice the 'newbies' .. so head to your first game early and have a chat with the photographers.

As for the usage of the images from BBL games.. not 100% sure what the agreement reads out.. but I keep on seeing tons of images on FB galleries, blog posts, Instagram, Twitter..
Maybe drop the guys at BBL a quick message (should get a reply from the same guys who you mail the 'agreement' to) .. helpful bunch at the BBL offices as well.

Not sure there is much that makes sense in my long blabbering on about the sport i love to photograph.. but hopefully you have picked up something useful from there....
 
GooGaBu said:
Basketball is pretty much 90% of my paid work at the moment.. and from April to October.. about 99%...
There are as many different lenses you could use, as there are different actions you'd think to photograph (of course the BBL venues aren't the biggest in the world.. so the longest ones not much use in domestic games - apart from Cup/Trophy/PlayOff Final).

The widest I use for basketball photography is 10mm - and the longest I use is 600mm.
So you can take your pick from that range.. and each lens gives you different view/framing of the action.

The 'go-to' lens if you only work with one body, it would be the 70-200mm f2.8 - you are pretty good to go with that one and will get a decent variety of images with it.
When ever someone asks me which lens they should take when going to their first basketball games to photograph.. it's the 70-200 every time :)

Depending on the venues, and access to photo positions.. then it comes personal choice (or customers requirements) ... many do like the 24-70 as their second lens.
And if you are doing a game where you need to be behind the advertising boards.. then 24-70 would be a good second choice, as you aren't getting any low angles.
My personal second handheld lens choice quite often goes to Samyang 14mm ... super sharp and great for those low angle images from next to the hoop. (check access with clubs - and also in smaller venues the ceiling/seating isn't that 'spectacular' ..)
Or otherwise the Canon 16-35mm .. but really do like the Samyang 14mm..

Then for remotes .. ceiling ones often on the 200mm range.. behind the board anything that gets you close to 18mm / 22mm ..

For the close up images of player.. 300mm/400mm (or I use Canon 200mm-400mm with the x1.4 built-in..)

BBL is a 'easy' league to get to photograph and has seen an explosion of photographers in the past two seasons... it used to be just handful of photographers in the whole league.. now it's sometimes 10 photographer in the game (London Lions are getting really popular with the photographers).
If you can find your own little 'market' .. there is some money to be made from the game (yes, even in the UK!!) .. but as with sports photography so often.. what matters the most is that you 'know' the right contacts.
It is definitely a sport that I would recommend for anyone to give a try .. and after doing basketball for a long time.. every time I get to a football game, I am surprised how slow and predictable football is in comparison to basketball ;-)

The nice thing about basketball is also that with the 70-200.. you are able to cover the game all the time, at both ends of the court (yes, bit of compromise when photographing the other end.. but very doable!!).
So there is no time when you need to wait for the action to come your way .. it's full on photography for the whole game!!

You should be well equipped with the camera body you have at the moment, and the 70-200 is a great way to get into basketball photography.
Also, mostly the photographers in basketball are a friendly bunch.. they are happy to talk to you before a game and give advice the 'newbies' .. so head to your first game early and have a chat with the photographers.

As for the usage of the images from BBL games.. not 100% sure what the agreement reads out.. but I keep on seeing tons of images on FB galleries, blog posts, Instagram, Twitter..
Maybe drop the guys at BBL a quick message (should get a reply from the same guys who you mail the 'agreement' to) .. helpful bunch at the BBL offices as well.

Not sure there is much that makes sense in my long blabbering on about the sport i love to photograph.. but hopefully you have picked up something useful from there....
Click to expand...


Oh wow you've got some great experience and great tips!
Perhaps I'll start with my 70-200 then and invest in a 24-70/14mm as suggested.
I'm glad to hear that the 70-200 will be of use though! My bank account wouldn't have liked me otherwise!

I have contacted the BBL as suggested just awaiting a response!
Was hoping to use some images as part of my own web page.

Thank you for your great advice GooGaBu!
 
Liam1901 said:
Oh wow you've got some great experience and great tips!
Perhaps I'll start with my 70-200 then and invest in a 24-70/14mm as suggested.
I'm glad to hear that the 70-200 will be of use though! My bank account wouldn't have liked me otherwise!

I have contacted the BBL as suggested just awaiting a response!
Was hoping to use some images as part of my own web page.

Thank you for your great advice GooGaBu!
Click to expand...

Good idea might also be to trawl through basketball images on Google Images/Instagram/etc ... you will get a good idea of what the other photographers use and maybe get ideas which lens you might want to invest in next.

Enjoy shooting basketball - and looking forward to seeing your images and what you think of shooting the game!

Can't think there would be any problem using the images on your own website.. but, always worth the double-check if unsure :-)
 
I will take my 16-35 next time as well. Leicester are coming so it should be a good match as Worcester appear to be getting their act together.
I just wish they could retain players. Hey ho.
 
I would echo most of the advice given in this thread. The 70-200mm is probably all you need to get nice action shots but almost every other lens you bring along will open the doors to taking different types of shot which in turn adds a lot more variety to your galleries.

What I would say with respect to bringing a 16-35mm along with you is that you don't want to be doing too many shots on that lens. Throwing in a handful of wide angle shots to any gallery is always nice but if you over do them they can become tiresome and uninteresting very quickly.

If basketball is your thing then you do definitely want to get the 24-70mm. I've often found the 70-200mm too tight around the basket to frame the shots as I'd like. Again it depends on what you want to frame but I do like a full body shot that also includes the basket.
 
Yes, a variety of lenses does help. U fortunately having the 70-200 glued on isn't an option for me as my left shoulder won't tolerate it. Had fun with the fish eye on occasion too.
 
Thanks for the tips! I will be shooting a wheelchair basketball match this weekend, any special considerations or specific variations for this? I imagine all the above applies, but framing may need to adapt?
 
You will probably want to make sure you are shooting from low. Seated on the floor will probably work best. I can imagine you might want to throw in a few more landscape orientated shots than you would with regular basketball too.
 
Thanks guys, think I'll bring along a remote with fisheye or wide angle too.
 
For me - basketball is a sport you shoot 'low' about 90% of the time.. be it able bodied or wheelchair variety.
In wheelchair basketball.. if you place yourself under the basket, you get some cracking shots from there when the players are in the paint.

For wide angle/fisheye ... these pictures are great... but!! ;-) for these types of images, have a look at the size of the venue, seating, crowd, etc.
If the game is at a small high school gym with no seating and so on.. the images will lack the impact they would if you would get exactly the same image.. when shooting in a 17.000 seater venue.
(if I wouldn't be on the road.. would post few examples)
This really only has to do with the background of the image.. and what visual impact it gives to image.
As photographers - we can still appreciate the technical, etc aspects of the photos from smaller gyms.. but for fans they sometimes seem to lack that 'wow' factor.
This is not to say that I wouldn't recommend you get few wide angle shots from the game as well :-)

Enjoy the game - and hopefully you'll get some cracking images!!
When the players really go for it... and you get the chairs flying... they are some super shots!
 
Thank you very much ! I'm planning on shooting mostly with 70-200, maybe 300 for far end or close ups. For under the near basket would 24-70 be better or a prime?
 
newbie1 said:
Thank you very much ! I'm planning on shooting mostly with 70-200, maybe 300 for far end or close ups. For under the near basket would 24-70 be better or a prime?
Click to expand...

Under the basket - my choices are zoom for certain action (a bit further away from the hoop) - a prime with MF locked for the wider action.
When you shoot at.. let's say 14mm under the basket.. manual focus locked to about 3 meters.. you get many more keeps that way, rather than using AF.
You'd probably be OK even with the 24-70mm under the hoop - if using it at 24mm end... but if you have something wider.. grab it with you and see what you prefer :-)
 
Thanks again - I put up some examples of the results early next week
 
What a game! Pretty close match Pilatus Dragons (Lucerne) eventually overtook Aigles de Meyrin (Geneva) to win 51-43 to at home in the first of the Swiss wheelchair basketball championship play-offs. First time I've tried this, here is a sample of the results, more on flickr if you're interested to look:

1.
Swiss Wheelchair Championship March 25, 2017 by Good Lux Photos, on Flickr

2.
Swiss Wheelchair Championship March 25, 2017 by Good Lux Photos, on Flickr

3.
Swiss Wheelchair Championship March 25, 2017 by Good Lux Photos, on Flickr
 
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Looks like you had fun covering the game... :-)

I do like the 1st and 3rd image in the set.
The first one is the 'usual' bringing the ball up the court kind of photo... one that when you end up covering the games for longer period.. you think you have millions of ;-)
Still.. always worth a snap and with the eyes on the ball, etc...

The second one.. I think it is just me.. but I can't get my head around the pictures from higher vantage points..
Sorry...

Last one .. the wide-angle.. you got a pretty decent arena there.. with the background still being interesting. (not just blank blue walls .... :-( )
How far behind did you have to be for this one?? Maybe try to creep a little closer to the baseline next time??

Just my two pennies worth of views... and with this being your first time.. well done!!
 
Thank you for the comments and feedback. I did find it difficult to get pictures that made it obvious at first glance what is happening in the game. The shots under the basket were taken about 3m behind the baseline and as close as the organizers allowed. From the bleachers it was more difficult to get clean shots. Overall pretty exciting and definitely something to do again :)
 
You will find it difficult to get clean shots of action at basketball of any level. The court is pretty small and because teams generally set up to defend around the basket it can get congested very quick. There aren't a great deal of occasions where you will be able to isolate two players completely with nobody else in the background.

3m behind the basket isn't too uncommon either. Some places where I've shot lower league games have pretty much no run-off so you simply can't get in behind the basket. One in particular was an older style school gym hall where I had to shoot from what was effectively a storage cupboard on the edge of the D. The challenge of course is trying to make the best of what you have available to you.
 
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