Photos in a Gymnasium

[wildhairphotography]

All - Thanks for reading and providing feedback.

As the mom of a very active 8 year old, I often find myself taking photos inside gymnasiums and school buildings.

Any suggestions on how to get pitures SOOC without that horrible tint to them? I do adjust whitebalance, but still am not always happy with outcome.

Thanks.

[bluman95]

Have you tried to do a custom white balance? The presets are usually decent, but if they have a bulb that is a little off of the norm colorwise, they wont work.

[ramblinray]

Even doing a custom white balance will not always work for you. The lights shift color temperature as the voltage cycles so there will be some variance between the color captured for the white balance and the color captured in the subsequent shots. If you don't have a flash powerful enough to overcome the in-place lighting you have to live with the results. Some have said that a longer exposure while capture the white balance shot gives slightly better results since it averages the color swings of the lights.

[Dennis_H]

I shoot gymnastics and color is always an issue. Your best bet is to shoot RAW and fix each in post. There is never enough light though...

I shoot a 20D with a 70-200 F2.8 at 1600 ISO. I try to go to ISO 800 if I can and usually shoot AV at -1 compensation exposure. Someday, I'll get a 50D to help with the noise at higher ISOs.

Dennis_H

[ol geezer]

What Nikon are you using? Have you "fooled around" with all the white balance settings? One may work for you.
I shoot a D300 with a nikon 35-70mm f/2.8 in a gymnasium without flash and have had no problems.

[AndrewCCM]

As mentioned, cycling of the lights will shift WB throughout the event. No cure all for that when shooting with available light.

[toverman]

It's hard to get a digital image to be as great as it can be SOOC. Post-processing is a fact of life!

[PWadley]

Gym shots can be tricky with the amount of light, speed of subject and white balance. I always use custom white balance settings where ever I shoot and have good success in the gym. Only post work I usually need to do for gym shots is brighten and maybe increase the saturation. I use a Lastolite 12" grey card or Expodisc. You can pick either one up from any photography store for about $30 but make sure your camera allows you to set the custom white balance before spending any money. (look under White Balance in camera manual, custom is usually listed after all the presets.)
http://www.expodisc.com/
http://www.lastolite.com/exposure-an...tion-tools.php

Hope this helps!

[John Godwin]

Lights that cycle indoors will be a problem for any one that is using a shutter speed fast enough to freeze sports action.

My main problem with lights that cycle is that the exposure changes so rapidly that some photos are under exposed.

For lights that do not cycle the white balance can readily be compensated with either custom white balance in camera and/or post processing software manipulation.

I have good luck setting the custom white balance by taking a picture of a piece of white paper and tell the camer to use that. No need to spend any money for the little nifty things that some people say work quite well.

[paul48503]

The problem encountered in GYM shots is moving subects. I usually increase the ISO and shot in raw. Works great for me. One thing to consider is a grainy photo if you go up to high with the ISO. Hope this helps.