Club Volleyball, the 2011 season

[specialidiot]

Marie's new club team played their first event of the year today. She is playing on one of the 16's teams with one of the top clubs in the area and loving it. She actually advanced to a higher level team and will be traveling to a few tourneys ending with the AAU Nationals in June. Not sure I'll enjoy Florida in late June but I'll be going anyway!

I had a thread going last fall for her high school season here.

I just wanted to post up a couple of shots to get the thread going. Today I used three lenses with my Canon 50D. An 85mm f/1.8 that is on loan from a co-worker, a Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8, and my trusty 50mm f/1.8. I always use a monopod.

The lighting and white walls in this space gives me fits, but these didn't turn out too badly considering.

Your comments, criticisms, and suggestions are encouraged!

First the new team

and the coaches

a couple of action shots

1/320 1600 f2.8 (85mm lens)

again the 85: 1/250 3200 f2.8

1/250 3200 f2.8

1/400 3200 f2.8 using the Sigma

George, the team mascot
1/400 3200 f2.8 using the Sigma

 

[Ballylongford]

I've enjoyed your posts, although I have no eye for photography; I kept looking at last year's photos trying to remember if I was ever as young as Marie & her teammates.

I decided I never was......:sigh:

 

[dew042]

Did you set the white balance, or just do auto? It seems a bit off.

dew.

 

[specialidiot]

Did you set the white balance, or just do auto? It seems a bit off.

dew.

about 1/2 way through I did a custom white balance using the wall.

BUT, my understanding is that these gym environments are next to impossible to get right.

Any advice would be appreciated. (I'm fairly new at this)

 

[WhiteSE]

can u come take pics of my gear?

 

[specialidiot]

Yesterday was a 4 team round robin pool. The girls got off to bit of a sluggish start and only won the final match. Regardless the competition level at these events is quite high.

Most of these shots are with a borrowed 85mm at f/1.8, ss 1/320, and 1600 iso except where noted.

These last two are with a Sigma 50-150mm at f/2.8, 1/250 and 3200 iso

 

[steph_gaynor]

If you shoot in RAW, you could fool with the white balance in DPP.

or maybe some photoshop edits?

I am just learning about all the adjustments that are possible with my new G12 shooting in RAW.

 

[mulester7]

.....SpecialIdiot, this is the one I keep coming back to.....

 

[specialidiot]

If you shoot in RAW, you could fool with the white balance in DPP.

or maybe some photoshop edits?

I am just learning about all the adjustments that are possible with my new G12 shooting in RAW.

Well.... yeah. But let's see - I shot about 400 images that Sunday and threw out half of them. Then I did a batch rename, resize, auto correct for colors, and added a tick of sharpness using irfanview. Followed by a batch job using Imagenomic's Noiseware Standard Edition. That's about all I'm willing to do except for a chosen few images. Photoshop - I don't own it and at least for now I can't afford it.

So down the line maybe, but not for a while!

.....SpecialIdiot, this is the one I keep coming back to.....

Thanks! That's George, the four y/o team mascot and #22's little brother. I'm hoping he'll wear his "Sister for Sale $100" tshirt one of these times.

 

[saea501]

Photoshop - I don't own it and at least for now I can't afford it.

.

You might take a look at Photoshop Elements. I was going to buy CS5 and my friend mentioned Elements. I'm glad he did. It has way more than anyone outside of a graphics studio would ever need, I can do anything I need to with JPEGs or RAW, the learning curve is waaaay shorter than CS5 and..........right now on Amazon it's $76.00.

Something to consider.

 

[saea501]

...

 

[VinylHanger]

Like I've said before, these are my favorite threads. One thing I have noticed about this seasons girls is that they seem much bigger and tougher than last years group. She is playing with the big dogs now. :thmbsp:

 

[specialidiot]

Like I've said before, these are my favorite threads. One thing I have noticed about this seasons girls is that they seem much bigger and tougher than last years group. She is playing with the big dogs now. :thmbsp:

Yep, you got it! The game is faster and more demanding in a lot of ways, and Marie is definitely challenged both mentally and physically!

 

[specialidiot]

Yesterday's event was a 16 team tourney for the 17's age group. The girls hadn't played in competition for three weeks and came out strong, beating a very tough team (word is they are basically a high school roster up in Duluth) and winning their 4 team pool to make it to the medal round. They also beat a high school roster (kind of the way the smaller club 17's work is they way I understand it) in their first match of the medal round.

They then fell to the club's 15 Open team in the final in a pretty good match. So second place to a team that is selected and coached for a national championship. Not bad for a bunch of 16 year olds.

 

[specialidiot]

Yesterday's event was an 8 team bracket for under 18's hosted by one of our rival clubs. The first match was against an 18's team from a high falutin' suburb with 5 of their high school varsity players as members. Our 16's battled hard but lost 25-22 and 25-21 putting them in the consolation bracket right off the bat.

This shot with a borrowed Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 lens, set at 1/320, f4, and iso 3200. I'm struggling with this lens a little but it shows some promise.

The second match was against a 17's team and the girls demolished them 25-10 and 25-11. Really a dominating performance!

Canon 85mm f/2.8 lens set at f/1.8, 1/320, and iso 1600

The final match for the consolation championship was against the host club's 15 open team. On paper they should beat us, but our girls rose to the challenge to take this team for the second time already this young season. The first set was a tight, come from behind 26-24 win. The second was a smash mouth 25-16 crushing for the victory.

These shots with my "nifty fifty" 50mm f/1.8 set at f2, 1/500 and iso 3200.

Always great to see happy faces at the end of the day!

Full gallery here

 

[rroobbcc]

I coach a 17s team down here in Atlanta, currently ranked 3rd in the Southern Region (GA, TN and AL). We will be up your direction in April for the Northern Lights National Qualifier and we also have AAUs on our schedule. Here are a few pics of the team...

With yours truly in the background...

My wife took this pitcure...

This one is out of focus, but worth showing considering the serious AIR this girl gets!

 

[specialidiot]

I coach a 17s team down here in Atlanta, currently ranked 3rd in the Southern Region (GA, TN and AL). We will be up your direction in April for the Northern Lights National Qualifier and we also have AAUs on our schedule. Here are a few pics of the team...

wow, thanks for showing! We'll be at the same event April 15-17, please be in touch in advance. I love the big events with the uber talent. DD enjoys watching the elite setters and wants to be like Kellie McNeil.

 

[saea501]

I coach a 17s team down here in Atlanta, currently ranked 3rd in the Southern Region (GA, TN and AL). We will be up your direction in April for the Northern Lights National Qualifier and we also have AAUs on our schedule. Here are a few pics of the team...

I really get off on pictures that capture great emotion and focus. This is one of those. Every one of those girls are completely dialed in.

Dynamite shot.

Much of capturing truly great shots is the ability to see it and shoot it in the very few milliseconds that it exists. In photographic situations like this there no past or future. There exists only the present which is about 15 milliseconds wide.

 

[tx_polkhead]

Brings back so many memories, met my wife when she was 19 (as was I) and playing volleyball for our college. Fast forward 21 years we are 40, married nearly 20 years and she is starting to teach the game to our 11 year old daughter.

 

[specialidiot]

President's Day weekend is traditionally a huge weekend for club volleyball tournaments around the country. Every local "region" hosts a tourney, and there are several nationally known held in Las Vegas, Omaha, and other locations.

Marie's club team stayed in the Twin Cities and played in the 32 team 16 Gold division. Counting the Silver and Bronze divisions there were over 120 16's teams competing. 16 Royal played lights out on Saturday, and really stunk up the joint during the pool play Sunday morning which put them in the 9th - 16th place bracket. They turned on the steam and powered to the final where they came up just short. 10th place wasn't what was hoped for, but really not too bad when I think about it. Yes all of the very top of the club 16's were out of town in Vegas or Omaha, but there was plenty of competition from Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

16 Royal was missing one of their strongest hitters and certainly their sparkplug due to a bad case of the flu, who knows what could have been if "fluffy" had played?