OK, let me start this post by saying that indoor volleyball is not the easiest one to shoot. There is so much movement around the court that it is hard to track everyone. AND, I found it difficult to shoot in a creative way.
This is yet another sport that I have never photographed before (other than beach volleyball which is very different). I was able to get there in time for the game with Japan against Italy.
I arrived at the venue and tried to figure out if I was better off to the side of the court or in the back of the court. I decided to start from the side. I was using a combination of the
Canon R1 with the
RF 70-200mm and the
Canon R5 MKII with the
RF 24-70mm lens.
It was difficult to predict which athlete was going to make the big play, and make sure my focus point was on them.
The venue was really fun, with a very active crowd and fun announcers. Whenever a team would make a big block at the net they would play a song with "Monster Block, Monster Block" and the whole crowd would get involved (regardless of which team made the play).
After shooting from the side for a while, I moved to the back of the court to get some different angles. I really liked this spot for photos like this.
As I mentioned, the action is fast, and with many subjects to track.
I saw this Italian preparing for their serve, and he was standing in a good position in between two Japanese athletes. I shifted my position a little (to center him up) and got this photo. Yay - something more creative!
I spent the majority of my time on the Japanese side, since I loved the way they showed emotion when winning a point.
There were big spikes...
... and big blocks.
I liked that shooting from the back of the court allowed me to capture the offense and defense a little better.
In the early stages of the match, it looked like Japan was going to walk away with the win, but the Italians came back and took the game to overtime.
After it was all said and done, the Italians won the match...
...and celebrated in a big way.
This game went WAY longer than I expected and I needed to head back to the pool for my next shoot. I was literally walking out of the venue when I turned around and saw the team getting together for a photo. I ran back over, took this shot and then moved on to the next shoot.
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3 comments:
Did you use action priority autofocus?
I understand your plight; the back of the court is my sweet spot.
Volleyball is the hardest sport I have ever photographed, for all the reasons you mention. In addition editors these days are not as interested in peak action as they are in celebrations, high fives, ass slapping, etc. For VB, you need to be in three places at once: to the side to get overall action and "digs" in the middle/back of the court, second at the back of the court to get kills at the net of team facing you as well as celebrations by the team with their backs to you (until the celebration happens), and lastly on the opposite end for the same results with the other team. After all of that a ceiling remote can be useful, but you will get maybe 4-5 useful frames out of every 100 exposures. Pregame (with permission) I use a full frame fish (15, 15-35, etc) close to the players as they practice kills.
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