Photographers often ask me, “How do I light high school basketball?” We all know high school gyms are caves. Everybody lights a gym there own way based on their equipment, but here’s a little insight into how I light high school basketball.

My typical setup when I have to cover both teams is like this:

Most of the time, I set up a remote camera on the far end of the court, opposite from where I will be sitting during the game. Usually, it’s on a floor plate as far back from the baseline as possible. For the remote camera, I set up two light stands with a Nikon SB-800 speedlight on each pointed up towards the ceiling of the gym. I try to set up the lights on each corner of the baseline, as far back as possible. I use the built in commander on the Nikon D300’s pop-up flash to fire the strobes. The camera is triggered with one set of Pocketwizard tranceivers firing the camera with a pre-release cable (note: if not set to pre-release, there will be a big lag and you will miss your shot!).

I do the same light setup for my end of the court, except I fire these directly with Pocketwizards, not using a flash as a commander. I only use the lights on my end for shots of offense, whether it be with my 28-70mm or 70-200mm lens. When the action moves to the far end of the court, I switch to the Nikon D700 with a 300mm f2.8 lens. I shoot available light with this camera because high ISO’s look really good. I shoot with the long lens and fire my remote camera at the same time so I get two sides of the play at the far hoop.

Technical info for above photo: Nikon D300 on floor plate, 17-35mm f2.8 lens zoomed in to 30mm, ISO 800, 1/250th, f4, two Nikon SB-800’s on remote mode, fired using built-in commander with output of +3. I triggered the remote camera with Pocketwizards (you can actually see me in the photo sitting on the opposite end next to the cheerleaders firing the camera). If you have questions or need help with your setup, feel free to ask!

Check out more photos from some recent games below:

Irvine – Laguna Beach, 1/7/10

University – Aliso Niguel, 12/10/09

Los Alamitos – Edison, 1/29/10

Photographers often ask me, “How do I light high school basketball?” We all know high school gyms are caves. Everybody lights a gym there own way based on their equipment, but here’s a little insight into how I light high school basketball.

My typical setup when I have to cover both teams is like this:

Most of the time, I set up a remote camera on the far end of the court, opposite from where I will be sitting during the game. Usually, it’s on a floor plate as far back from the baseline as possible. For the remote camera, I set up two light stands with a Nikon SB-800 speedlight on each pointed up towards the ceiling of the gym. I try to set up the lights on each corner of the baseline, as far back as possible. I use the built in commander on the Nikon D300’s pop-up flash to fire the strobes. The camera is triggered with one set of Pocketwizard tranceivers firing the camera with a pre-release cable (note: if not set to pre-release, there will be a big lag and you will miss your shot!).

I do the same light setup for my end of the court, except I fire these directly with Pocketwizards, not using a flash as a commander. I only use the lights on my end for shots of offense, whether it be with my 28-70mm or 70-200mm lens. When the action moves to the far end of the court, I switch to the Nikon D700 with a 300mm f2.8 lens. I shoot available light with this camera because high ISO’s look really good. I shoot with the long lens and fire my remote camera at the same time so I get two sides of the play at the far hoop.

Technical info for above photo: Nikon D300 on floor plate, 17-35mm f2.8 lens zoomed in to 30mm, ISO 800, 1/250th, f4, two Nikon SB-800’s on remote mode, fired using built-in commander with output of +3. I triggered the remote camera with Pocketwizards (you can actually see me in the photo sitting on the opposite end next to the cheerleaders firing the camera). If you have questions or need help with your setup, feel free to ask!

Check out more photos from some recent games below:

Irvine – Laguna Beach, 1/7/10

University – Aliso Niguel, 12/10/09

Los Alamitos – Edison, 1/29/10