Snooker photography

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Kauto_Star

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Hi members.

A couple of months ago I took my camera along to a local snooker centre where Jimmy White was doing an exhibition.

I was a bit wary of taking my camera but wanted to get a few shots of the Whirlwind and some of my friends that were lucky enough to get the nod to play him.

To be honest I was worried about putting the players off so I turned the flash off and was hoping to rely on the lights from the table. The results weren't great though. I kept getting blown out shots and there was a horrible sheen across most of them (glare from the lights?).

I was using a 17-55 f/2.8 lens and the shutter speeds were slow to allow more light on them (you know what snooker halls are like!).

So where did I go wrong? Any advice for next time? I think there is a Dennis Taylor exhibition night at the same venue in March.

Cheers.

Craig.
 
You can't magic light so all that can be done is get faster glass and pump that ISO up to as high as you are happy with and that's about it. Depending how close you are the 50mm f1.8 or 85mm f1.8 would both give you 1 1/3 stops extra so just over double the shutter speed. Obviously your depth of field will be going down so focus is then key to get the main subject sharp.
 
Kauto_Star said:
Hi members.

A couple of months ago I took my camera along to a local snooker centre where Jimmy White was doing an exhibition.

I was a bit wary of taking my camera but wanted to get a few shots of the Whirlwind and some of my friends that were lucky enough to get the nod to play him.

To be honest I was worried about putting the players off so I turned the flash off and was hoping to rely on the lights from the table. The results weren't great though. I kept getting blown out shots and there was a horrible sheen across most of them (glare from the lights?).

I was using a 17-55 f/2.8 lens and the shutter speeds were slow to allow more light on them (you know what snooker halls are like!).

So where did I go wrong? Any advice for next time? I think there is a Dennis Taylor exhibition night at the same venue in March.

Cheers.

Craig.
Click to expand...

Blown out means you over exposed..... Did you shoot in Manual? If not the camera could have been exposing for the darker areas and therefore blowing the highlights. Although the hall is dark, the light under the table is what you should be exposing for.

Upping the shutter speed (-ive EC) should have allowed less light in and therefore exposing the table properly and leaving the background dark.

I think the camera would not be able to record the dynamic range you need and flash would be required to light the darker areas away from the lights
 
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mark1616 said:
You can't magic light so all that can be done is get faster glass and pump that ISO up to as high as you are happy with and that's about it. Depending how close you are the 50mm f1.8 or 85mm f1.8 would both give you 1 1/3 stops extra so just over double the shutter speed. Obviously your depth of field will be going down so focus is then key to get the main subject sharp.
Click to expand...

Mark
The problem seems over exposure.... although just on the table.... Dark everywhere else......
 
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EOS_JD said:
Mark
The problem seems over exposure.... although just on the table.... Dark everywhere else......
Click to expand...

I really should have read more carefully, LOL, was grabbing a quick 2 mins on here and fired off an answer.... oops :)

I agree with you then about going with manual (that situation is always going to be a manual one) and expose correctly. There could be a little playing around for example with the player trying to get their face correct as they will likely be getting less light.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I will check the settings again later and come back on.
 
there's probably quite a difference between highlight and shadow. in this situation I'd say expose for the highlight area and don't worry about the dark - Look for light on the players faces and try a spot meter exposure for that area......

Have play :)
 
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bensambrook said:
Pop the ISO up to compensate for the lack of light too :)
Click to expand...

Hi Ben
That's the thing - If you read the post the highlights are blowing so there's too much light so upping the ISO will make it worse- THe issue I think is the dynamic range. Too much contrast and the flash is probably the only way to achieve what is wanted.
 
I thought I would post up one of the pics from the exhibition.


Jimmy White by triple_ace, on Flickr

Settings:

Shutter Speed - 1/15s
Aperture - f/2.8
ISO 640
Auto White Balance
Centre-weighted metering
 
Well I like it.
 
No, it was a Jpeg.

It isn't bad but I was wondering if I could eliminate/minimise the glare.

Thanks.
 
Actually I rather like that as it is. The burnout's fairly close to what you'd see in real life.
 
Kauto_Star said:
No, it was a Jpeg.

It isn't bad but I was wondering if I could eliminate/minimise the glare.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes by getting the exposure right./ It's just as I said above. If shooting in a semi-auto mode (Av or Tv) dial in some -ive EC. IOf M just increase the shutter speed a little.

THis will darken the area around the table more butr without flash you will never ger that bright enough.
 
If you shot in RAW you could tweak the recovery/blacks to get a more even exposure, but like others have said I quite like that.

I can't for the life of me work out what shot he is trying to play there, any idea??
 
ash39 said:
If you shot in RAW you could tweak the recovery/blacks to get a more even exposure, but like others have said I quite like that.

I can't for the life of me work out what shot he is trying to play there, any idea??
Click to expand...

Yes he's already hit the white which is hitting the red on the cushion - Did he pot it is the question? :)
 
He missed it!

It was a good night though despite being overcrowded.

Jimmy was on good form having some banter with the crowd and his promotional girl was fit as(s).
 
EOS_JD said:
Yes he's already hit the white which is hitting the red on the cushion - Did he pot it is the question? :)
Click to expand...

If that's a red then where's the black? ;)

Nothing wrong with that shot, really. I've photographed snooker in my local club before, and suffered the same problem. Not a great deal you can do about it, unless you can get the player to hold very still whilst you take a range of exposures to blend together in post. :D
 
GrittyShaker said:
If that's a red then where's the black? ;)
Click to expand...

Well noted :) Initially I thought the black was on the back cushion but think you're right and it's the black he's played lol :thumbs:
 
OK guys, at least I can feel a bit happier about most of the shots I took now.

It is as you say a difficult thing to get right and I'll remember the exposure compensation tip for next time.

Thanks.
 
Kauto_Star said:
OK guys, at least I can feel a bit happier about most of the shots I took now.

It is as you say a difficult thing to get right and I'll remember the exposure compensation tip for next time.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

EC works to allow you to adjust the semi automatic exposure of the camera - If Av tells you it's f2.8, 1/60th but that's too bright then moving to f4 doesn't make any difference because the SS will move to 1/30th. But when you change the EC by say +0.3 it will make the image brighter, allowing in more light by slowing the shutter speed by that o.3 stops.

In your case you want to dial in just a little -ive Exp Comp which will darken the image a touch and stop the highlights from blowing out. Experiment and if you find the right exposure it's useful to note that and switch to manual as every shot you take on the table the light is pretty consistent.
 
Kauto_Star said:
Thanks Jimmy!

You're not him are you?
Click to expand...

No but once had a frame with Silvino Francisco (if you're not old enough you can look him up) lol
 
Oh, I'm old enough.

Crap player from South Africa who got into hot water for missing balls by more than I do!
 
Kauto_Star said:
Oh, I'm old enough.

Crap player from South Africa who got into hot water for missing balls by more than I do!
Click to expand...

His son was good at Missing too :suspect:
 
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