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By Michael Guncheon
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Shooting Hoops
Q) I’m new to digital SLRs and want to photograph my son’s indoor basketball games. Working in shutter- and aperture-priority modes, I can get sharp photos or bright photos inside, but haven’t been able to get sharp, properly exposed photos without a lot of noise. My white balance and ISO are both set on auto. What am I doing wrong?
John Flamm
Via the Internet
A) My guess is that you’re doing nothing wrong. When you say you can get sharp photos or bright photos—but not sharp and bright photos—that tells me there isn’t enough light in the basketball arena. This is a problem common to most indoor sports venues. Even at the professional level, when arenas are lit for television broadcasts, the pros supplement the existing arena lighting so they can use a high enough shutter speed in order to stop the action. The pros use a system of remote-controlled strobes mounted above the arena floor. For high-profile tournaments, there’s even a schedule of “strobe time” for each media outlet.
In your case, your best bet is to set your camera for shutter priority and pick a speed high enough to stop action. Then start raising your ISO setting in order to get a decent exposure. You’ll have to live with the noise associated with the higher ISO setting.
 
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