Week 33, Day 236, December 15, 2009, Keeping an Eye on the Ball

You might notice that there is a pattern to the days that I haven't posted a photo recently.  On the nights of the basketball games, I take about 900 photos.  After the game it is late when I arrive home, and I usually eat my dinner after the game.  Needless to say, I don't have time to look at all the photos before bed time.  So, I wait until the next day to select a photo of the day. 

I like this shot because of the intensity of the defender looking at the ball.  I looked at a whole series of photos, and his eyes were always on the ball.

It was another great game, and a lot of fun to photograph.  The lighting was also very good.  I was able to push the shutter speed up to 250 in this gym.

Lessons Learned:

• My lens has a switch on the side to help set the lens to the proper focal distance.  One setting is for photos under 1.5 m, and the other setting is for photos further than 1.5m.  I had the lens set for greater 1.5m, and the when the players were near me the camera would not focus correctly.  I realized it during the game and switched.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/250 sec, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 1600, Focal Length 180 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, handheld.