One Game at a Time

On Thursday the Lady Terps took on the NC State Wolfpack. This was an especially emotional game for both teams given the recent loss of iconic Head Coach Yow from NC State. Coach Yow's positive influence on women's athletics (and basketball in particular) cannot be put into words and a blog posting does not do her justice. As a result I'll just move on to discuss the photography of the game.

I expanded on my recent climbings into the student "wall" at Maryland during this game and decided to head even higher than normal. I shot some initial shots down low in the stands but my curiosity about the view from above got the best of me. I climbed the 45 degree student wall and sat comfortably in an aisle seat next to some enthusiastic engineering students.

While up high I stepped down the aperture to f/5.6 and even f/6 at times. The overhead lights reflect really well off the floor and players when you are up high and you can get away with 1/500th at decent ISOs (2500) at smaller apertures. Plus, when shooting from up high the background is the court, which is extremely uniform in nature. You wouldn't want to shoot f/6 at the baseline (unless you strobe) because the background is going to be in decent focus and that will draw the viewer's attention away from your subject (the player). But when you are up really high an exposure at f/5.6 with the court as the background allows you to get the entire player (and their defender) in focus.

I also shot from down low and was in the perfect spot to capture Drey Mingo getting mauled by a Wolfpack forward. It was one of those things where I just dropped down out of the stands and the timing worked out. I couldn't have planned my spot or my timing better - it just worked out.