Five Things I Learned from Photographing a Basketball Game
Yesterday, I borrowed a Canon 1000D camera to photograph the Singapore Slingers vs the Smart Pampanga Buddies basketball match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. It was my first time squatting at the baseline so I learned a few things.
1. The Referee Always Stands in Front of the Photographer
For instance, here is a photo of Eric Sandrin gloriously slamming the ball into the basket.
Dramatic slam dunk by Eric Sandrin
For this shot, I employed the technique of stretching my entire body and neck to the left, something that was learned from watching reruns of Lion King.
Timon as a photographer whose view was blocked by a referee
But still…
*sigh*
The solution is to keep changing location until you’ve found a spot that the referee doesn’t hang out at. (You could also keep running around the court and blocking the spectators’ views and tripping over all the other photographers.)
2. Basketball Players Run at the Speed of Light
I snapped this photo of Darren Ng running towards the basket from the other end of the court.
Run Darren Run!
The next millisecond, he had turned the corner.
Run!
The milisecond after that, he had jumped into the air!
And the very next milisecond, the photographer have missed the shot of the player dunking the ball into the basket!
Scoring against the odds
Donuts! There is a solution though. Just manually set your camera to take multiple shots instead of a single shot when you hold down the shutter button.
Related tip: Don’t neglect to read the camera’s manual to figure out how to change the settings in the middle of a game.
3. Choose Life, or Choose to Snap a Picture
I was happily snapping away when I saw through the lens that a ball was flying at full speed to punch the camera into my face.
Meteorrrrr! Arrrrrrrrrrr!
Thankfully, a player made a sudden lunge and captured the ball at the last second so the photographer didn’t have to be disfigured. What would you have chosen?
4. Shoes are Distracting
Spit-shiny basketball shoes
Some of the players have such nice shoes that it tempts you to daydream about shoe-shopping. Don’t. Just don’t. Keep your lenses on the ball, the players, and the game.
5. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a photographer will need a better camera and better lenses to capture the really good photos.
Too true. ;)
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heheh..good tips there man..I learnt it the same way you did…through experience.. ;)
Interesting tho..I took photos of Sandrin’s shoe too…I too was mesmerized..heh
Darren had nice shoes too, white and gold vs Eric’s black and gold. Interesting how the design of their shoes reflect their personality.
Interesting..first thing i did was snap Eric’s shoes as well. Those are nice pics for beginner..
So you joining myself and Jase from now on?
Heh nolah, the camera is only a borrowed on. The next game, I’ll be with my Pentax Optio S55 and probably trying not to stand too near you and Jase with the big cameras. :P
hakuna matata!
It means no worries for the rest of the day. It’s a problem-free philosophy.
6. When a girl is taking the photos, the cheerleaders get left out.
Duhh… I did take a photo of the cheerleaders, it was just not relevant to this post title. :P