matthewpaskert

Basketball Shoes

NIKON D600

settings

Aperture 28/10 ISO 3200 Shutter 1/800 Focal Length 350/10

upload_date

Oct, 2016

Views

359

Likes

+13

Awards

Contest Finalist in Footwear Beauty Photo Contest

Absolute Masterpiece

Peer Award

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Superb Composition

All Star

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken during a NCAA Basketball post season game. Low angles are best for sports as it creates the effect that the players are larger. While my camera was down low the player went to inbound right in front of me and I simply thought hey while he's here, this may look cool!

Time

The game tipped off at 7.00pm. That's the one thing about shooting indoors is that time doesn't make a difference on lighting. It's always static.

Lighting

The lighting was all "natural" lighting. The arena was packed with terrible artificial lighting but for the safety of athletes, photographers could not add any strobes so it is all ambient.

Equipment

This photo was shot on a Nikon D600 with the 35mm 1.8 lens. This combo creates a lot of vignetting which I think actually helps draws the viewer in for this particular photo.

Inspiration

Low angles are best for sports as it creates the effect that the players are larger. While my camera was down low the player went to inbound right in front of me and I simply thought hey while he's here, this may look cool! Especially if I can blow out the background but still get the other players to be somewhat noticeable so that the viewer can tell it's a real game and not staged.

Editing

I used very minimal post processing. Simply adjusted levels with Camera Raw. The way the light was in relation to the subject brought out a lot of color and contrast on its own.

In my camera bag

I am colorblind, so first and foremost I pack a color palate and a grey card so that I can adjust to the proper white balance and color cast immediately. Then comes my d610 followed by my two go to lenses, the 70-200/2.8 and my 16-35/4. After that is my memory card wallet, charger, and an extra battery. Once I have my "essentials" I throw in whatever lenses I think will work best for the particular shoot I am doing.

Feedback

First of all, get access to a game! That is probably going to be the hardest part. I suggest reaching out to local news outlets who may need some photo help. Once you are in and you are sitting on the baseline make sure to have a wide enough lens to capture the shot as basketball players have rather large shoes... but you don't want it too wide where you lose attention on the subject. Open up your aperture and snap the photo. I suggest getting as low as possible. I believe I was actually lying on the court for this photo. To me, the reflection and having the court out of focus in the foreground really helps make the picture.

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matthewpaskert

matthewpaskert

Basketball Shoes

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow matthewpaskert

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