Trying sports photography

The conference we have been organizing since around February was finally done and after almost two months of non-stop work in the office, I finally had the chance to grab my camera again and take some pictures. Watching and taking pictures of Shakeys V-League has long been in my plan and so I checked the Facebook page and saw that UP’s game vs University of Batangas is scheduled at 12:45 pm that Sunday, July 26.  So I went there and bought a ringside ticket. 

The seat I got is relatively ok for taking pictures. I was seated not that far from the net so I can have good framing of the spikers. However, when the game started, UP was in the court to my right. My location then was not ideal if I wanted to take photos of UP spikers so most of the photos I got during the first set were of the players of the other team.

Below are some of the shots I took during the second set.

This was the first time I took photos of a volleyball game and I was still familiarizing myself with it. I was not able to take that much photos because, aside from watching and cheering from time to time (couldn’t help it), I kept on checking whether I got a nice framing or whether my shots were focused correctly. Anticipating the action of the players was not a problem since I know volleyball but still I found it a bit difficult to focus because they move too fast. So although I promised myself I will watch only the first game, I stayed on for the next one: UST vs College of Saint Benilde. UP won against University of Batangas, by the way. 

These next two shots were taken during their warm up.

Here is a picture of the UST team with their coach before the game started.

Meet the team captain.

Now, the second spiker.

                                                                                                                                                                                  

Here, the front row players positioned themselves in preparation for blocking an attack.

UST won in the first set.

I wanted to stay longer and finish the game but I had to leave already. If only I don’t have other things to do I would have stayed for the game of ADMU. When I checked the photos at home, I thought there is still much to be improved like the focus. I can also try shooting from lower box next time.