November 02, 2007 - Word of Life’s Janna Kaupuiki goes up to try and block Seabury Hall’s Kaipo Rocha. This composite shows pre- and post-color and exposure correction. The image on the left is how it looks “right out of the box.” The image on the left has been corrected. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 200), Manual exposure, 1/320 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance

I went to McKinley High gym last night to shoot the HHSAA Div. II girls volleyball match between Word of Life and Seabury Hall.

Most high school gyms are notoriously dark, but I had recollections of McKinley not being too bad. But when I walked in last night, it seemed darker than usual. I took a test shot at 1/400 sec. at 3200 ISO and it was dark. Way dark. Gloomy. Oh well, shoot at 1/320 and hope for the best. I was worried a bit about subject movement, but there was nothing I could do. At least with volleyball, the players kind of “hang” in the air for a split second, so I figured I could get a shot somewhere along the line.

Of course, 1/320 sec. was still underexposing, but nothing too awful. Canon cameras yield good files even if underexposed, and the noise isn’t too bad. In the above photo you can see what came out of the camera, and how I adjusted the exposure and color in the end product.

A tale of two rosters — These two images are right out the camera. The color cycling of the gym lights is painfully obvious. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 150), Manual exposure, 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance

The color of light in gyms are also hard to work with. When you walk in a gym, and look at the light, it appears to be a constant color and brightness. Alas, it’s not really that way. The lights are like fluorescent lights, and are actually flickering at a rate fast enough that you don’t notice it. And the color temperature is constantly changing.

As you can see in the above composite of rosters (which we shoot photos of to ID players later), sometimes the light is a true fluorescent balance, while other times it’s not.

I used to try and set a custom white balance, but that doesn’t make any difference since the color is constantly shifting. It’s a sad fact that some frames are just going to look weird.

I’m going back there again tonight, looking forward to wrestling with color and light.