Canon R6 College Volleyball Photography

[@mikephotos225]

Good shots, Phil. The only thing I would suggest is try to get lower (or higher). It looks like you have some good elevation in the stands. It's hard to tell what kind of space you have between the ref stand and the stands, but that's a good place to get low if you can get there. It also looks like you could camp at the ends of the scorer's table. There's quite a bit of space between the table and the benches so that's a good low-shot point as well.

[@AdamQuinnPhoto]

Volleyball is the one scenario where I **really** start wondering if I can justify buying the new RF 24-105 f/2.8L lens! One comment on focusing: I have my R6 set up so the main back-button AF is set to center area focus but AF-lock button overridden to do Eye AF so I can switch between those just by moving my right thumb a tad and not changing anything else on my camera. This is super-handy when a portrait-style shot presents itself (post-volley celebration/dejection or other show of singular emotion).

[@PhilThach]

I have a similar setup for focus. The new 24-105 2.8 would be a great lens for indoor sports!

[@AdamQuinnPhoto]

@@PhilThach That said, if it was between the 24-105 f/2.8L and the 28-70 f/2L I would go with that F/2 every day of the week and twice on Sunday!

[@seesantos]

I've used various prime lenses (1.8s) to help keep ISO low, depending on the venue. Of course that thins out the DOF. But I rely on my 70-200 on my D500 mostly, but that gives me a 105-300 range and that is tricky in smaller gyms. I've read that shooting from back court towards your players IF wearing dark jerseys makes the autofocus not bounce around since the net disappears against the jerseys. I haven't had that opportunity yet with my daughter's team. I usually use AF-C 25 or single AF-C, I think it's called servo(?) in Canon. Any more focus points and it gets confused. Thanks for sharing!

[@zippofire8550]

Well done and thank you for the inspiration for positioning around the court

[@PhilThach]

Thank you!

[@randybocksnick3750]

Randy Bocksnick- Mont-- Well done Phil! I shot volleyball this weekend and used my ole' D500 with 200mm lense! I find volleyball more difficult to shoot than Basketball or Football or softball! Your shots of the Girls in air, very impressive! Really Good video!! Randy B.

[@PhilThach]

I agree, volleyball is tough but I think basketball is nearly as tough! Thanks for watching, Randy! I hope you are having a great day.

[@1972mmpc]

Great shots! Volleyball is indeed a very challenging sport to shoot.

[@PhilThach]

Thank you!

[@paultrunfull3324]

Hi Phil, that looks like hard work, maybe try shooting with a long lens from the stands {so shooting down on them) might give something different. Nice one

[@PhilThach]

Thank you! That would be easier, but the low angle shots have much more.

[@adrianalfordphotography]

Good to see the R6 get a run Phil. Impressive in low light that's for sure. You got some great shots. 2:47 that girl can seriously defy gravity! Thanks for sharing shots and video.

[@PhilThach]

Thank you, Adrian! I try to pick the right camera for each situation. I've been picking the R7 because it's new if both can do about as well as the other. But, in this situation, in low light where I don't need much reach but need a higher ISO, the R6 was the obvious choice. Volleyball is difficult. I like beach Volleyball much better, it's outside with plenty of light and fewer players to get in the way of the player you are trying to photograph. I didn't get any sand in my shoes during this shoot, so that is a plus! UTC is not a huge college but they certainly have great athletes!

[@ses4vols]

Great shots of a difficult sport to capture! My favorite photo was at the 4:54 mark. Too cool that T.O. was there!!!

[@PhilThach]

Thank you, Stephen! This was homecoming week at UTC, apparently he comes back every year.

[@mikephotos225]

I agree it was a good shot but I cringed that the setter would set to an attacker facing a triple block.

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks Phil for sharing another wonderful video like always, you are everywhere, from birds, sports, landscape to micro 👌👍Phil it would be awesome if you can get photos of horses, it's my favorite subject after birds 🐦❤️👍

[@PhilThach]

I haven’t done a lot of horse photography but I would certainly love to! Thank you for your continued support and for the excellent suggestion!

[@chrisjmiller6]

I shoot tons of volleyball and rarely shoot wide. Shooting across the court from the net is the best way to get more faces. I use a Sony A9ii and mostly use center point focus. Thanks for sharing

[@PhilThach]

Interesting, thank you!

[@riotrob]

Yes, it’s neat to see the floor as a reference for how high they are jumping, but then [with those wide shots] you have the same composition as people in the crowd using their iPhone. It’s the clean, tight shots they can’t get. Your colors look good. 👍🏼

[@PhilThach]

That's an interesting goal, make shots that can't be made with an iPhone. I was just trying to make shots that I liked. As I rewatched this video today, I think the close-up shots are the ones I liked the best. I think next time I'll certainly make some wide shots to tell the whole story but maybe concentrate more on tighter shots. Thanks, Rob!

[@SJHFoto]

I do a lot of volleyball photography for work, and I also use the Canon R6! I do high school and middle school mostly because that is what pays for me

[@PhilThach]

Awesome!

[@tbowen577]

Great shots----

[@PhilThach]

Thank you!

[@johnw5427]

you got some amazing shots

[@PhilThach]

Thank you!

[@angelogarciajr5356]

You were pretty lucky. College gyms are usually lit better than high schools. Especially that one had lights and windows to allow more light in. Your ultimate challenge is the old high school gyms like we have here. It is so bad, I gave up shooting in most of our gyms. I really need a small fast zoom. But $3000 is holding me back. Thanks for the video.

[@PhilThach]

I think I will probably get that 28-70 f/2 at some point. This gym definitely has better light than the high school gym where are used to do a lot of photography but neither one are very good. When I shoot basketball later this year I will be in their arena which has very good lights. Thanks for watching, Angelo!

[@angelogarciajr5356]

@@PhilThach Yup. Great choice. That is what I want.

[@riflegurlsmom]

TY for such a helpful video and AMAZING shots! My niece plays JV volleyball and I took some shots the other day with my 7d mark II (which I have not used for YEARS since I used to shoot my daughter's Colorguard team). So the images were.....eh....the gym is too small for my 70-200 with a crop sensor so I ended up using my 50 1.2 I threw in the bag last minute. My question is: I have the 7d, 6d mark II and the EOS-R. Since the gym is small, I am thinking one of the full frame cameras would be better. I would love to use the face detection on the R but do you think it would be too slow to quickly capture the shots? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[@PhilThach]

Thank you! I'd agree with you about picking a full frame camera but an APSC camera will work to with something like a 24-70 2.8. You can try the eye-detect and see how it does on your R. The 50 1.2 seems like it would a great volleyball lens!

[@leonfisher]

Great action photos. Now, onto an unrelated topic. You do lots of shooting and got me wondering what the shutter counts are on your cameras. Carry on, Phil.

[@PhilThach]

Thank you, Leon! I would say that the shutter count on my cameras are much higher than average. The good news is, with these canon cameras I have been using the electronic shutter the majority of the time. I do switch to the mechanical shutter for all sports photography so that is a lot of actuations. I will also use the mechanical shutter in situations where there is lighting that causes banding on the electronic shutter. But the majority of the clicks on my camera are bird photography and in that area I use electronic shutter which causes basically zero wear and tear on the camera. But you have hit on the reason why I try to buy less expensive camera bodies and more expensive lenses. I wear camera bodies out after two or three years and lenses can last literally decades.

[@leonfisher]

@@PhilThach Thanks! Let me put this another way. How many photos do you think you've taken with your cameras?

[@PeteMazPhoto]

Phil, any chance next time to shoot from the stands for a different perspective? Regardless, you had some good timing shots.

[@PhilThach]

That’s interesting. I didn’t even think of trying to get a high angle shot because I typically don’t like those but maybe I would step up a little higher in the stands for a couple of shots just to change it up some next time.

[@PeteMazPhoto]

@@PhilThach , shooting from at least net height or above you might get the faces of the players during a spike!? I used to do that in high school with my good ole’ Pentax K1000 film camera. Got motion blur of the hand and still my photography teacher told me I took some great shots. Just adding some perspective. One sport that shooting from above adds some depth to the action.

[@kusyhand]

Hi Phil, really nice video and great shots. I am an amateur photographer. Can I ask you a question? In the shot CR6_4074 How do you focus on the girl in the foreground and the writing on the stands at the back with f2.8 aperture? It's a truly exaggerated depth of field for that aperture. Do you use hyperfocal? do you have any advice for me?

[@PhilThach]

I was always attempting to focus on the player, if the background happened to also be in focus, it was purely luck.

[@kusyhand]

@@PhilThachWas it cropped a lot?

[@shanemichael6606]

So I have a R6 with the 24-105 f4 kit lens. I shoot both high school n college volleyball. Tonight I show two game and it seemed like my R6 struggled to get consistent sharp photos. Several photos are blurry and missed focus totally. I mainly use auto eye focus on a back button n single point if my lens doesn’t grab the eye. My setting me tonight were f4 1/1250-1/2000 n iso 4000. I’m thinking my settings might be messed up but I am also thinking my lens isn’t fast enough. I should have the sigma 70-200 f2.8 in less than two weeks. Any help would be appreciated

[@PhilThach]

Your settings should be good. Don’t expect sharp photos 100% of the time when shooting volleyball with any camera.

[@DuckMisty]

There's areal clarity to your shots here. Lovely sharp and natural looking photos.

[@PhilThach]

Thank you, Adrian!

[@SJHFoto]

I hope you don't mind some advice-trust me on this: you said, you used single point for one of your shots. This tells me why you were having problems shooting thru the net: you need to use face detection. I use it almost all the time on volleyball jobs, and the focus is lightning quick and extremely accurate

[@PhilThach]

Thank you! The only time I use single point is when face detect is failing.

[@SJHFoto]

@@PhilThach Was it failing? I mean, switching to my R6 from various DSLRS (like the 5Dmkiv) was a game changer for me to photograph spikes thru the net.

[@mikephotos225]

Another often used secret of through the net shots is to move your focus box to the bottom of the frame and focus on the attacker's legs - thighs in particular. In the vast majority of attacks, and particularly spikes near the net, the player's face will be in the same plane as the thighs. So by focusing on the legs under the net, you avoid the focus grabbing the net and you usually will get the attacker's face well focused.