“Favorite go-to lens for volleyball…?”

I got this question today sent to me via Facebook messenger after sharing a few images from last night’s Bloomington North v. Bloomington South volleyball match-up, and it got me thinking a lot about shooting sports inside high school gyms.

In a nutshell, high school gyms SUCK to shoot in.

But, needing a break from editing and after having all these thoughts running through my head, I figured why not share a bit about my gear and my approach to try to make the most of taking a short break in the day.

Lights too high off the floor and usually an odd tint

Shooting high school sports in gyms is first and foremost hard because we have ZERO control over the light. While you may have total control over lighting shooting portraits in a studio or even doing family photos at a park you’ll have some control about where you pose your subject (relative to the natural light), sports photographers have to adapt how we shoot to what we’re given.

Usually that means old lights high above our subjects.

So to adapt to that, we have to think a lot about what gear we use to shoot with – primarily what lenses.

The element of the exposure triangle that lenses provide you the most control over is aperture. For those that aren’t familiar the other two levers photographers have to pull when shooting are shutter speed and ISO. Severely oversimplifying the exposure triangle, if you change one element of it (say aperture), you have to compensate either the shutter speed or ISO going up or down or your overall exposure in the frame will change. We can talk about this more separately if you want (send me a message).

For anyone who’s bought a camera lens before, you probably noticed that they’re labeled with two numbers – the first is their reach (50mm for example) and the second is their widest aperture (f1.8 for example).

That essentially means that for that 50mm lens you just put on your camera, the widest aperture (or the MOST light it can let in to hit your camera sensor) is f1.8. It has nothing to do with how fancy of a camera you have or how much money you spent on your camera, etc. It is a limiting factor of the lens.

Most kit lenses that come with a camera body will do at best f4.5 and usually will go up from there if you have the ability to zoom your lens to f5.6 or higher.

The unfortunate reality is that a kit lens at f4.5 is not going to produce you very pleasing images in a high school gym. Not enough light will be allowed into the camera sensor and as a result, you’ll have to CRANK up your ISO or severely reduce your shutter speed (and introduce a lot of motion blur) to try to get a decently exposed image.

So, what do you do? Invest in better glass.

In high school gyms, you’re VERY rarely going to have enough light to ever shoot at a narrower aperture than wide open so if you want to shoot volleyball, basketball, anything else that happens in a gym, you’re likely going to want to invest in lenses that are f2.8 or wider.

My primary lenses that I shoot with in gyms are:

Sigma 105mm f1.4
Sony 50mm f1.2
Sony 14mm f1.8
Sony 70-200 f2.8

What do I do if I don’t have the money to invest in lenses right away?

Unfortunately, lenses are expensive. Like outrageously expensive. But they’re a necessary evil, and to continue elevating your work, you will at some point need to invest in them and yourself.

The old adage is that the best camera you can have is the one that you can afford and use. Yes, that’s 100% true and I think applies to all types of photography equipment, but the reality is that eventually you will find yourself limited by your gear.

Now, with all that said, the other thing we have a decent amount of control over when shooting in a high school gym is where we position ourselves and how close to our subject we think we can get away with being. Yes, everyone in the gym can see you working, and yes, some people will be talking about you or wondering who you are or why you’re there taking photos of a sports event, but who cares? You’re chasing the light and trying to make interesting images that you love. If you love them, other people will too.

So… get too close to the action. Force someone to ask you to back up. Walk right up to a huddle on the sideline or sit directly behind the bench of a team to get those dreamy images of a player dripping sweat off their nose while guzzling down Gatorade during a timeout. You will feel uncomfortable but if the images rock, you won’t care. I have found myself dripping sweat from my own anxiety about what everyone thinks about where I am on the court. It is terrifying until you get the confidence to just not give a shit.

I promise you your images will reflect the work you force yourself to put in.

In summary, I’m sure that there are other key considerations to think about when shooting in high school gyms, but these two main ideas are great starting blocks to get you headed in the right direction. If you have other specific questions, want to share some of your work for critique, or just want to shoot the breeze about sports photography my inbox is always open (baechtpaATgmailDOTcom).

If you want to see some of my recent work, the best place to keep up to speed with what I’m doing is Instagram (@baechtold.jpg). Feel free to follow me, and I’ll probably follow you back!

Keep shooting!