Shooting in Gymnasiums

Oh the horror, right? I know, yellow tungsten lights accompanied with yellow wood floors doesn't make a pretty picture. Add on top of that the motion you are trying to capture and you are tempted to just leave your camera at home. Which, I have to admit I never do, but do know that I miss out on some things because I'm always watching through my viewfinder. So if you have multiple opportunities to capture the same dance, or same game...leave it home...just once. Okay, those who know me are laughing because it won't happen for me probably!

Gyms, Dance, Basketball and more...add it all up and its easy to get frustrated. Not knowing what issues you ran into I plan to address the main three: yellow pictures, blurry shots and photos that are too dark. I am happy to review your photo if you aren't sure what to address (email it to fotosbyfleming@gmail.com).

• YELLOW PHOTOS - easy to fix. Granted, sometimes I just do it post-processing in Camera Raw, but for those of you who do not post-process, it's time to get familiar with your White Balance settings. This is quite easy to adjust actually...and for those of you with the LV (Live View) function in Nikon, you can throw it into LV mode and spin the dial and get real-time views of the different settings. Typically, Auto White Balance does wonders, but when you get the funky lights, like Mercury-Vapor and such, it's best to adjust. There is no right or wrong, adjust so it works for you. One year my daughter had fluorescent pink dresses and against the yellow gym floor, I found the photos looked better with more blue in them...not something I normally would do but with the 2 issues screaming at me, it provided the best overall look. See a previous post on White Balance if you need more help. http://fotosbyfleming.blogspot.com/2011/10/adjusting-white-balance-much-easier.html#!/2011/10/adjusting-white-balance-much-easier.html
• BLURRY ARMS - this is probably pretty common. You need to adjust your exposure time, or more commonly referred to as Shutter Speed. If the limbs are blurry, it's too slow/long....which is great for those nice fireworks trails, but terrible for action shots. S-Mode (Nikon) stands for Shutter Priority, which tells your camera that is what you are most concerned with for the photo. In S-mode, move the dial on the back of your camera to adjust the speed (move it left to right). Very short shutter speeds are what you want to fast-freeze moving objects. 1/60 or higher is good but don't set it too high of you will develop other issues. Meaning, just because your camera can go up to 1/1000 of a second, doesn't mean you should use this setting every time.
• PICTURE TOO SLOW/BLURRY EVERYTHING - you might have your camera in Aperture priority if this is the issue (or your shutter speed is at 1 second). Low Aperture is great for portrait close-ups with a blurry background...this is where you have heard about F-stops probably. F-4 creates that look, but in a gym, we don't want that...you want it wide open, like F-22. Remember, the wider the aperture opening, the more light will enter the camera and that's the goal here. However, I do believe in a gym, you are best shooting in S mode.
• TOO DARK - leave your flash off and save your battery. Unless you are within 10 feet of your subject, it's not going to affect the shot and all you are doing is blinding your dancer or ball player. Speedlights can counteract this, but I don't believe in most modern gyms that it is needed if you try any of these settings. If you feel you have the blurry issues under control, try adjusting your exposure in P mode. This is easy to do quickly between shots even. While pushing the +/- button, move your back dial to bump it up or down. Not too much or you will be disappointed to find yourself with a photo with a lot of noise.

The best advice I can give is that when you mess with settings is to then take pictures of the other dancers to see if the new settings work. Don't wait to try them out on your own kids! Also, if you use A or S mode, you only need to figure out ONE of the factors (exposure/shutter or aperture)…the camera will figure out the rest. Personally…I’d go with shutter speed because it should automatically adjust the rest.