Photographing Pool Tournaments

[rickdf]

Photos

Is it the low numbered aperatures that make those great crisp colors? Is this a result of letting more light in? Would you typically have your shutter speed at a faster setting?
Steve, very nice pictures. You certainly have a lot of talent. The one's that seem to "pop" the most are the one's where the player is wearing some kind of brightly colored shirt.

Chris, excellent pictures as well. I especially like the Vegas pics. Viva Las Vegas!


Thanks for sharing guys.



Rick

 

[macguy]

What's the general consensus about taking photos at pool tournaments? I recently got a new DSLR and am looking to try it out. I want to start with areas that interest me and pool is certainly one.
I'm not looking for tips like keep your flash off but is it generally accepted to take pictures? Are there any copyright issues with taking pictures at a promoter's venue?
If there are copyright issues, would they likely be the same for the larger tournaments like the U.S. Open and DCC as well as the smaller tournaments like the BCAPL regional championships?




Rick

I think things have changed with the internet. People post pictures on here all the time of tournaments or trade shows, even just taken at the local pool room and there are people in the background who may not like their pictures taken and certainly no published on the internet. Pictures taken for your own personal use is different but once you post them for all to see I think everything changes.

 

[JC]

.

Considering how long I have been playing I never really have gotten involved with really photographing pool action itself. For me, continuing to photograph the world's most beautiful women seems more enjoyable.

Do you ask permission? Take a candid of a hot mama out in public and be prepared for a shitstorm if she's a typical western feminist.

 

[JC]

Is it the low numbered apertures that make those great crisp colors? Is this a result of letting more light in? Would you typically have your shutter speed at a faster setting?
Steve, very nice pictures. You certainly have a lot of talent. The one's that seem to "pop" the most are the one's where the player is wearing some kind of brightly colored shirt.

Chris, excellent pictures as well. I especially like the Vegas pics. Viva Las Vegas!


Thanks for sharing guys.



Rick

The low number on the F stop is opening the aperture. Each number represents double the opening size so when you go from f3.5 to f2.8 it's letting twice as much light in. I don't think the nice saturation of the photos is caused by this which is why I asked if Steve was correcting the images later using software. When shooting wide open in a dimly lit environment any shutter speed under 1/60th of a second will likely give you blur if the subject moves or you don't use a support like a mono pod or tri pod. Set your exposure meter and focus point to center position so your subject in the center of the frame will be what is both focused and properly exposed. If you use any other setting your camera may grab something other than what your pointing at to decide these important things. I have a Nikon d90 and a 50mm f1.8 lens and use the manual setting when shooting pool. I open the lens to f1.8 and set the shutter to 1/60th of a second with ISO at 800 to start. Take a few pics and see how they look. If they are too dark you can increase your ISO but it can get grainy higher than 800 on my camera. If you don't want to do this you can slow the shutter down and use a support device like a mono pod. If it's the shot of a lifetime and you're ready to leave the event anyway, you can always turn on your flash as a last resort:nono:

 

[rickdf]

Photo

The low number on the F stop is opening the aperture. Each number represents double the opening size so when you go from f3.5 to f2.8 it's letting twice as much light in. I don't think the nice saturation of the photos is caused by this which is why I asked if Steve was correcting the images later using software. When shooting wide open in a dimly lit environment any shutter speed under 1/60th of a second will likely give you blur if the subject moves or you don't use a support like a mono pod or tri pod. Set your exposure meter and focus point to center position so your subject in the center of the frame will be what is both focused and properly exposed. If you use any other setting your camera may grab something other than what your pointing at to decide these important things. I have a Nikon d90 and a 50mm f1.8 lens and use the manual setting when shooting pool. I open the lens to f1.8 and set the shutter to 1/60th of a second with ISO at 800 to start. Take a few pics and see how they look. If they are too dark you can increase your ISO but it can get grainy higher than 800 on my camera. If you don't want to do this you can slow the shutter down and use a support device like a mono pod. If it's the shot of a lifetime and you're ready to leave the event anyway, you can always turn on your flash as a last resort:nono:

Metmot, thanks for the replies.

If the pictures were touched up a little after the fact, can that be done using regular format or do you need to shoot in RAW?


While we are on the software topic...is there a basic free version that is recommended?



Thanks,

Rick

 

[JC]

Metmot, thanks for the replies.

If the pictures were touched up a little after the fact, can that be done using regular format or do you need to shoot in RAW?


While we are on the software topic...is there a basic free version that is recommended?



Thanks,

Rick

Shooting in Raw has the one great advantage that you can make post shot adjustments of exposure and temperature without losing any information from your picture. It's as if you had different settings before opening the shutter. With JPEG, every time you make an adjustment with software, some of the photo is lost and can't be recovered. Working with RAW does get tedious and it's always advisable to shoot with the best settings you can even if you have the ability to change them later. It's just good practice. As far as decent RAW software for free. I don't think I have seen any IMO. Adobe lightroom is what I use for precessing RAW and Photoshop for everything else. These programs are neither cheap nor easy to learn so it depends how far you want to learn. If you're just shooting jpeg snapshots mostly and want some basic correction, Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery tools are free and fairly effective for basic stuff. I also find Windows live photo gallery to be the best photo organizing software I have used at any price. And it's free! When you start to have thousands of pictures, organization is key.

 

[tommyceilings]

I looked at your site, you have nice pictures, but $95 for a pic ??

What you have will work to get familiar with photography in general. But more often than not your produced images are going to more like a snap shot than a professional / artistic photo. To get the best professional quality images you need top quality glass. Having a pro grade lens with apertures of 2.8 or lower is essential. Generally lens with an aperture of 2.8 are going to be zoom lenses, such as a 16-35mm, 24-70mm, or 70-200mm. Although you will also some prime lenses with 2.8 apertures and those can generally be gotten under $1000.00. But the zoom lenses in 2.8 will range from over $1,500.00 t0 $2,500.00.

If your go for primes you can get some 50mm & 85mm lenses in 1.4 and 1.8 apertures for under $500.00. When you get into primes with 1.2 or lower apertures then you get into the thousands of dollars for lens.

The best camera systems with the best quality lenses for DSLRs are Canon & NIkon. Sony comes in third, only for the fact their lens selection is considerably smaller then what Canon & Nikon offer.

I personally am a Canon shooter, and my main camera is the 7D and I use Canon's 70-200mm F2.8 L Mark II lens. Which is around $2,500.00. That's a great setup that will produce beautiful images.

Also, you want to make sure that you set your lens for the lowest possible aperture in order to produce the best bokeh. Or bluring of the background details so that the main focus of your subject is at its best in sharpness. A good monopod is a definite investment for what you want to do. I use and recommend Manfroto tripods, monopods, and ball heads. Figure to spend around $100 for a strong excellent Monopod.

Considering how long I have been playing I never really have gotten involved with really photographing pool action itself. For me, continuing to photograph the world's most beautiful women seems more enjoyable.

 

[tommyceilings]

Agreed, there are several pictures for sale, which you can preview that are of people who would rather not be published anywhere, especially with their names below them.

There is another issue, you put up a picture of someone, maybe that's ok, add their name and their location on the bottom, and it makes it worse.

Has nothing to do with sneaking up on a spot, but who really likes anyone to have all their information out there for all to see?

I think things have changed with the internet. People post pictures on here all the time of tournaments or trade shows, even just taken at the local pool room and there are people in the background who may not like their pictures taken and certainly no published on the internet. Pictures taken for your own personal use is different but once you post them for all to see I think everything changes.

 

[tenzip]

While we are on the software topic...is there a basic free version that is recommended?
Thanks,
Rick

There are some great free photo editors out there, I'm not sure if you're talking about software designed for working with Raw images.

Irfanview is a very flexible yet fairly simple program for basic viewing, including slideshows, and editing.

The GIMP is a Photoshop-like program, insanely powerful, you can do nearly anything to images with it.

Both are free.

 

[rickdf]

There are some great free photo editors out there, I'm not sure if you're talking about software designed for working with Raw images.

Irfanview is a very flexible yet fairly simple program for basic viewing, including slideshows, and editing.

The GIMP is a Photoshop-like program, insanely powerful, you can do nearly anything to images with it.

Both are free.

Thank you kindly. Very much appreciated.