Last night was the first time I’ve ever used flash to cover a sports assignment.
Last night may also have been the first time any of us photographers has shot basketball in New Hope Academy’s cafeteria/gym, so I tried to have some fun with it. After shooting one quarter from the ground, I decided to get up on the stage behind the home basket so I could pretend to be a remote camera clamped to the nonexistent post. It definitely resulted in photographs I’ve never before been able to make for high school basketball, which was exciting.
© 2012 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. New Hope Academy's Brandon Murray goes for the basket against Millersburg in the second quarter on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, at New Hope. New Hope defeated Millersburg 59-30 to advance to the District 3A semifinals.
Words and Light 
First let me say that the photo above is amazing. Great job on that.
Are their any “rules” of etiquette to follow when photographing sports events with a flash?
Thanks, Blake! I’m not sure if there are any actual regulations/rules regarding flash photography for PIAA sports in particular, but as a general rule of etiquette, I’d avoid using direct flash at all costs. Also, certain sports — such as swimming — don’t allow flash photography period because those matches’ outcomes are so reliant on athletes’ undivided attention.
We light all of our high school basketball games out of necessity. Looks like you were able to get them pretty high up, which is always nice. The Ohio High School Athletics Association has an entire section on photography for the various different OHSAA sponsored HS sports. We can shoot flash in everything except bowling, during a volleyball serve, diving, during the initial start of swimming, gymnastics, and during a golf swing. I get harassed the most trying to light wrestling. I actually had an official tell me “It’s ok. It’s bright enough in here you shouldn’t need flash.”
At first I was against lighting basketball. I would have preferred to just shoot it at like 5000 ISO, but our gyms are just absolutely atrocious. And the players just blend into the backgrounds. We usually mount flashes near the top of the stands at one end pointed towards the key. Helps make them pop a little from the background, but it certainly has it’s drawbacks. The flashes are at 1/4 +.7ev, so you get like a shot or two in rapid succession before they need to recharge.
Looks good though. Nice shot.
Ha. I actually had the strobe mounted on my hotshoe, and bounced. I didn’t know if there’d be any place for me to clamp remotes, so I didn’t bring any. I was basically firing two shots at a time, one for “the moment” and one to make sure I got players’ jersey numbers.
Based on my experience, OHSAA’s rules sound similar to PIAA’s. I haven’t been harassed for anything yet, except by a particular volleyball coach (who’s now retired) who insisted I was making her players scared to play in a particular part of the court, when in fact I was further from the court than the bench.