Shooting Lacrosse

So I went over th Montgomery Blair to shoot their baseball game, but it looked like they called off the game due to the rain earlier in the week. Girl's Lacrosse was playing on the football field, so I shot that instead. I realized Al was right when he said that I'd have to get bigger glass for field sports. I compensated by setting up on the sidelines, and taking advantage of lacrosse's back-and-forth. That combined with the crop factor on the D300 let me work with what I got.

We're still heaing that the website should launch next Monday, so we'll see if people are interested in getting these

I finally did it

I finally ordered the Nikon D300. I'm hoping to take advantage of the upcoming season and work shooting more sports & special events. Amazon had it for $1499.99, which was better than my favorite store, B+H Photo. It was also better than Adorama, Ritz and Penn Camera, a large, local, true camera shop.

I charged it, but I expect to have money come in from some other work, including the photos I sold to Singletrack Magazine. Between that and some tax return money, I should not be hurting that bad. The good news is I upgraded my lenses when I only had my D70s, so I can hit the ground running.

I'm curious how hard the transition will be, but I expect the interface will be similar from one Nikon to the next.

First Basketball Shoot

Shooting my first basketball game was a humbling experience. The Maryland Boys' Basketball 4A Regional Finals was played at Montgomery Blair HS on Saturday. As soon as I got there, I knew the lighting was going to be challenging.

The gym was so dark, I had to crank up the ISO to 1600, then increase the exposure compenstion, and even then, the images came out passable. I was jealous of the other photographers there from the local newspapers, with full frame pro level D3s and Canon 1Ds. Even they had to set up strobes in the corners. I set up on the opposite end of the court, because with my ISO cranked up so far, the strobes would blow everything out.

The closest I can get to a pro camera right now is the D300, and even that is going to take some work.

I noticed another photographer on Saturday had set up a speedlight on a light stand as a strobe, and I wonder how effective that would be across a large area like a basketball court.