Georgia / Mississippi State Basketball

Mississippi State Bulldogs forward Kodi Augustus (24) goes for a rebound against Georgia Bulldogs forward Chris Barnes (4) as Mississippi State plays Georgia in the first half of an NCAA men's basketball game on Saturday, January 22, 2011 in Athens, Ga., at Stegeman Coliseum.

Basketball is about momentum and runs. Every team is going to make a run at some point. The trick is to get the important shots you need out of the way first so you can focus on the swings of the momentum and who is going to win the game.

Prep Ball: Athens Academy vs Prince Avenue

Athens Academy's Davis Finney goes for a shot between Prince Avenue's Quinn Adamson, left, and Daniell Howell, right in the first half as Athens Academy beats Prince Avenue 43-41 in a GHSA Region 8-A boys basketball game on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 in Bogart, Ga.

Rivalry prep hoops. Its a cross-town rivalry. The big question is "Which end to set up my lights on"

Florida beast Georgia in 2 OT

Georgia Bulldogs forward Trey Thompkins (33) is fouled hard by Florida Gators forward/center Patric Young (4) as Florida beats Georgia 104-91 in double overtime on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 in Athens, Ga., at Stegeman Coliseum.

Ive been shooting a lot of basketball lately. High school, college, you name it. The shots are beginning to look the same after awhile; I'd really like to see a scramble facing me or something nice happen right in front of me without 12 pairs of legs in the way.

The worst part of sitting at the Georgia end in the Second Half is all the people who run out in front of you at the end of the game. Security, Police, and countless other people get in the way as really nice jube is happening at the other end of the court.

Lensbaby Basketball

Arkansas' Dominique Robinson goes for a jump shot as Arkansas faces Vanderbilt in the opening round of the Women's SEC Tournament at Gwinnett Arena on Thursday March 4, 2010 in Duluth, Ga. (Ed. Note. shot with a special effect lens)

I was cleaning up my files from earlier this month and remembered that i shot this. Tilt/shift manual focus basketball.

Too Much Processing?

There seems to be a trend of overprocessing & photoshopping photos to death these days. Pick up a major sports magazine and you'll see this very same overprocessed, desaturated look in their portraiture.

So naturally i wanted to see exactly how easy it was to do it. So easy it made me die inside a little as a photographer.

Three Angles of the Same Play

Georgia forward Trey Thompkins (33) goes for a slam dunk as Tennessee faces Georgia in the first half of an NCAA men's basketball game at Stegeman Coliseum on Sat. Jan. 23, 2010 in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/David Manning)

Nikon D2x 16mm fisheye, 1/500@f/4 1600 ISO

Generally at basketball I will set up a few remote cameras. Sometimes you get positive results and sometimes you pull it off and then some.

NCAA Women's Tournament: #11 Georgia vs #6 ASU

Georgia guard Ashley Houts (1) guards Arizona State guard Briann January in the first half as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga. (Shot with a special effect lens)

On paper, this seemed an odd matchup. #6 Arizona State flying and changing time zones to play Georgia in front of a home-town crowd (sorta) at Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, about 45 minutes from campus.

Georgia came out flat and sluggish and looked like they were playing in a totally different time zone. I approached it almost as if i would have any other game, except for remotes. No need, I assumed (correctly) that it would be one-and-done based on the up-and-down play of the team down the stretch. I went for using a 400 some and a tilt-shift for some. Did my usual "not sitting around" bit.

Made some nice photos. Mark Johnson jokingly asked me if i was trying to be David Burnett since i was shooting sports with a tilt/shift as Burnett shot the Olympics with a 4x5 and has done stuff like that.

Shooting basketball on manual focus was a bit of a challenge especially with the focus being such a narrow point.



Georgia guard Ashley Houts (1) dives for a loose ball in the first half as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga. (Shot with a special effect lens)



Georgia forward Angel Robinson (33) and Arizona State center Sybil Dosty (33) vie for the opening tip as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga.



Arizona State cheerleaders practice a routine in a hallway before the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga.



Arizona State guard Briann January (20) is surrounded by her teammates after drawing a foul in the first half as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga.



Dance dawg Holly King dances as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga. (Shot with a special effect lens)



Georgia forward Christy Marshall (22) fights for a loose ball with Arizona State guard Gabby Fage (30) as the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the #11 Georgia Lady Bulldogs 58-47 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Championship at The Arena at Gwinett Center on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Duluth, Ga.

Mascot Fun

Star, the mascot of WNBA's Atlanta Dream, covers his ears while the national anthem is sung by an elementary school choir before the the Georgia Lady Bulldogs play the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009.

Yesterday i was archiving and came across this gem that still makes me laugh. I was UGA's womens team to come out of the locker room and run out into the court when the national anthem started. Generally i look for a photo and if there's nothing to shoot, I stop and be respectful - its what you do.

Apparently Mr. Mascot known as "Star" - the mascot for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream - decided that hearing a bunch of third graders try and sing the national anthem was just too much for him/her/it. Naturally i took a photo of it.

The kids really did try and its a very hard song to sing. (I hear it 2 or 3 times a week; grown adults and professional singers have trouble with it) Whether i agree or disagree with the sentiment put forth by the mascot, it still makes me laugh.

EDIT: Now that i see there was a page spike from the AtlantaDreamBlog, I have one thing to say - sign Jen Deverjanik. (FA, Phoenix.) That ends my plugging of athletes i went to college with.....

More Remote Fun

Georgia's Albert Jackson grabs a rebound in the first half as the Auburn Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 71-59 on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. Auburn lead by 29 midway through the first before Georgia cut the lead to 6 points late in the second half.

With basketball remotes, its either going to be really good or really bad or such my experience has been. With both basketball programs here at Georgia having off-years, there are fewer and fewer photographers on the sidelines to share the spaces with, also meaning more available positions for remotes.

The biggest problem I've found with the available light overhead remotes is depth of field. I'm shooting wide open at 2.8 which means i have to choose a spot somewhere between someone's head and the rim to be the center of focus. If i had the strobe resources, i could just focus on the net and shoot at f/8-f/11. So i think i have that mastered and I think I'm done with all my fun in the catwalks, well for basketball anyways.

The floorplate, eh. Its an interesting look of being right under the basket, only thing is that all the subjects are looking up at the ball/hoop and 3/4 of the time it looks like a deodorant advertisement.




Georgia's Travis Leslie goes for a slam dunk in the second half as the Auburn Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 71-59 on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. Auburn lead by 29 midway through the first before Georgia cut the lead to 6 points late in the second half.



The pole remote? Gets the lane, you see the whole court, its okay. You see everyone, you see the play under the hoop.

Backboard? Same problem with available light, depth of field and it looks flat. All the remote stuff looks flat.

Which brings me to my new favorite angle (and i really have to credit John McDonough of SI and super-assistant Jordan Murph for where i got this idea from) which is putting a fisheye on the angled part of the pole looking down. I really feel that this view brings you into the game in a way that you cant get any closer. You see faces, you see action and its where all the action happens in a game thats not being played above the rim.




LSU's LaSondra Barrett is fouled in the first half as the LSU Lady Tigers beat the Georgia Lady Bulldogs 57-46 on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.

The View from Above

Before we start the "Dennis Felton Death Watch" (2009 Version), I'm finding myself trying to find new and creative remote angles for basketball.

Cliche` angles seem to be backboard, overhead and hassleblad on a floorplate. At Stegeman Coliseum, there is no direct overhead over the basket. But after Georgia's 19 point first half showing against Kentucky, i felt reaosnably safe in going up in the catwalks, beyond dealing with panic attacks. I found a spot, ONE spot, that looks down over the basket and is reasonably clean - have to shoot through grating but i can get a shot of the lane. So thats what's up for next time. If i can get ahold of another camera, I'm going to do the backboard bit again.




A word on backboard remotes..... %@#$^. I'm determined to get it right - I'm determined to get these cliche` angles right just to prove that i can get the cliche's down before moving on to something a bit more bizarre. This past adveture involved 45 minutes of trying to find the ladder. I finally found an 8 foot, rickety ladder that resulted in the camera not getting up as high as it was needed. Would have had one or two pictures from it if it weren't for one thing - focus. Focus jumped on me; i forgot to tape it down.

Of course if we had strobes ... then i could shoot at f/9 or f/10. Instead, I'm at 2.8 and using whatever equipment i can find.

I'd kill for another D700 or 3 just for remote bodies.

TAMUCC beats Georgia

Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders surround guard Kevin Palmer, center, after a game-winning three-point-shot from near half-court by Palmer to upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

Now thats good jube. Poorly photographed good jube. Call it a risk taken and gone bad, even when you're competing with one other photographer who happens to be your boss.

No one saw TAMUCC actually beating Georgia, well not until midway through the second when i suggested the idea to my boss before going upstairs to photograph from uptop.



Georgia freshman guard Dustin Ware yells after being fouled as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

One of the biggest things I learned from listening to Rod Mar was that you have to make yourself look like a staff when you shoot. There's one of me and I can move around. I have two cameras, three lenses and remote equipment. There's no reason why you cant have photos that look like they were shot by a staff of people.



Georgia guard Dustin Ware, right, and Islanders center Filip Toncinc dive for a loose ball



Georgia guard Travis Leslie goes up for a shot as the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.



Islanders guard Kevin Palmer lays on the ground after diving for a ball near the scorers table.



Georgia forward Tre Tompkins sets himself to attempt a shot as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

So thats my new thing to work on. Not just sitting there. 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there and at least one remote, not until i can get a shutter replaced on my D2H. (Not unless someone wants to donate more D700s and D3s to me? Anyone? Anyone?)

I try not to be the streotypical photographer or GWC (guy with camera) who takes photos pf cheerleaders, dancers, etc., but the hair here just made for a photo. Wish it was a cleaner shot tho.



Dance Dawn Erin Gurley's hair flies during a routine as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

The Nikon D700. It shoots in the dark.



Cheerleader Sasha Dlugolenski looks back before running out onto the court as the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

Remote FAIL

Yes, thats my camera.

Remote photography takes lots of preparation, patience and above all, a willingness to accept that you have put hours (or days) into a shot only to have one little thing you overlooked screw it all up. I've done remotes at basketball, baseball, shuttle launches, soccer (and on my dog's food bowl).

My success ratio? Slim. Very slim. The dog hated me for a day, the soccer wasn't dominant enough, the baseball never fired right, the shuttle ... abysmal failure. This leads me to Georgia's 67-66 win over Virginia Tech. Very good game. Since it was an off day, i grabbed the second pass and decided that i would get there hours early and set up a backboard remote. Here's the how-to. My only suggestion is that you add infinite patience and have someone help you focus.



Same shot as above, different angle. What's wrong with this picture....

So i get it all set up, its framed nice so that I'm looking down on the play - there's not much 'above the rim' play in the college game. I get it just right, adjust the gobo, double magic arm, all the works. Cleaned the glass too. Decided for whatever insane reason that somehow it would be a good idea to focus on the netting. Lord knows what the heck i was thinking because what was in focus? Only the rim and the net! Not the players, not the lane, nothing other than the net.

Here's the two really nice photos i really would have liked to have. Yes, i went to the trouble to crop, tone and resize two completely out of focus pictures just to show the readers why you need to double check everything.

Georgia vs Vandy Hoops

Sundiata Gaines grabs a rebound.

Georgia hoops part whatever. Georgia kept it a 1 or 2 posession game for most of the night but couldn't hold on for the win. Its the story of their season - close but comes up short on the end.




It was a busy day all around, with football's signing day taking up the rest of the time before i ran (emphasis on RUN!) over to put up my backboard remote. I like the photos better this time then before. The ones before had the camera more to the side of the rim while this time it was above the rim and looking more down towards the lane. Its my third try at this and i like these more. Granted the action wasn't all that i wanted but i have two nice ones.

Hoops. Hoops. Hoops.

After looking at many people's work, i'm really wanting H.S. Hoops to be in black and white but strobed. I just like the contrasts and the feel of the photos. There's some serious warmth in the photos, or thats how i look at them.

Anyways, this was my 2nd take on H.S. basketball and again its mainly the ladies. Made for good photos.

Hangin With.....

Athens Academy Spartans senior Claire McDonald on Wednesday, January 23, 2008.

Every Friday our Sports section runs a feature called "Hangin With" wherein they have a silly-ish Q&A with a high school athlete. They want a portrait that's a little more unusual or goofy or silly or something that shows some personality. I ran out of creativity so i went for the multiple-exposure trick and i think it works well.

Post 71: UGA vs Arkansas Men's Hoops

Billy Humphreys goes up for a layup.

Well its a heck of a Tuesday. I'm 0-for-2 on breaking/spot news today. But here's photos of this weekend's men's game. I went with 3 remotes - one backboard, one floor and one pole one that i forgot to triple-check the focus. Hense 400 out of focus remote shots... not like thats the first time i've done that.



Arkansas' Steven Hill blocks the shot of Georgia's Jeremy Price.



Georgia's Chris Barnes gets trapped in the corner.



Dave Bliss goes for a layup.



Billy Humphreys celebrates a three-point-shot.