Day 143: Flyin' High

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~86mm, f/4, 1/1250, ISO 200)

Sometimes the best shots are the ones you never really see.  Above is a heavily cropped photo from a volleyball practice that I shot on that particular Sunday.  He wasn't even the one I was focused on; I had cropped out my friend whom I had noticed was setting up the last few balls for his teammates, and this was just part of the burst that I fired off whilst focused on him.  

More details after the break.

I had been poking around a bit for something to shoot, and my buddy Matt asked me if I wanted to go to a Toronto Flying Tigers practice, for whom my cousin plays with as well on one of their women's teams; the Flying Tigers are a team from the area that competes in the North America Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament (NACIVT).  Having enjoyed that one other time I shot volleyball, I happily obliged - even if only to get my feet wet for shooting the sport.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~130mm, f/4, 1/1250, ISO 200)

The weather was largely cooperative, sans the occasional cloud moving in front of the sun - which is why I was at ISO 400 for some of the shots (either by accident or on purpose).  Being 9-man volleyball (quite simply, nine people on the court at one time), there was definitely a larger number of people on both sides at the same time.  This wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be, considering how crowded it was.  If anything, the sheer number of folks in such tight quarters meant that I wouldn't have much trouble with focus even with people cutting across my viewfinder.  Shooting at f/4 meant that I'd get a pretty decent depth of field given the circumstances anyway.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~86mm, f/4, 1/2000, ISO 250)

Shot the whole day around the court in Aperture Priority, which is starting to take over as the frequent mode that I revert to for almost anything.  Changed up White Balance and ISO whenever a cloud rolled over the sun, though occasionally fired off a few frames before doing so.  No worries.

 (Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~100mm, f/4, 1/3200, ISO 400)

This was by far a much more enjoyable (photographically) experience ompared to the last time I had shot volleyball.  Granted, the conditions were entirely different.  The first time was indoors in a gym, with only a D60 and a 35mm lens (no need for the 70-200), barely scraping by at ISO 800 with shutter speeds at only around 1/250ish - certainly not enough to freeze the ball.  Not much has changed since then, save for an extra body.  Given that same situation, I'd probably do the same thing, except push to ISO 1600 to ensure better exposure and higher shutter speeds since I could afford to with the D90's excellent low-light performance.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ 200mm, f/4, 1/1250, ISO 400)

And to close, we have a photo of Matt.  More coming.