Long Beach Middle School Girls Basketball Championships

This last Saturday Long Beach held their Middle School Girls Basketball Championships, which I shot. The first game matched Cubberley Cubs against Newcomb Spartans for the Division I championships with the second game matching Hughes Owls against the Stanford Hawks.

Below you'll find a few action shots from the game.

Here are your Division II champions, the Cubberley Cubs.

And here are your Division I champions, the Hughes Owls.

Long Beach Middle School Boys Basktball All-City Championship

I had the opportunity to shoot the Long Beach Middle School Boys Basketball Championship games. There were two games, the first being the Division I Finals and the second being the Division II Finals. Both were great games with all four teams giving it their all.

Division II Long Beach Middle School Boys Basketball All-City Champions

Tincher Tigers

Here are a couple shots to share from this first game.

Division I Long Beach Middle School Boys Basketball All-City Champions

Hughes Owls

This was a very close game and came down to the last minute. Both teams played a very tough game, which was very exciting to watch. Here are some action shots to share.

Middle School Boys Basketball "Hughes vs Hoover"

Well, this looks like it might be my last paid job with Hughes Middle School. As with most schools, money is tight and I'm fortunate enough to have worked with them for as long as I have. I will continue to shoot the middle school championship games and all their track meets.

This was hughes second basketball game of the season and I could only stay for the first three quarters. They were winning when I left but don't know what the final score was.

All pictures were shot with my camera on manual at f/2.8, ISO 3200, shutter of 1/400, with my flash bounced off the ceiling.

Middle School Basketball "Hughes vs Bancroft

Well I've finally finished editing my pictures from this game and two soccer games, which you've seen above.

It's now time for boys basketball with girls track to follow. Here are a few shots from the game I shot this last Wednesday right after work.

For these shots I used my 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens with my camera set on manual mode at f/2.8, ISO 3200 with a shutter of 1/400.

Middle School Girls Basketball - Game 2

Well I shot my second game of middle school basketball this last Wednesday night. Not one of my better nights of shooting. First let me tell you my settings. I shot on manual mode at f/2.8, ISO 3200, shutter of 1/400, and flashed bounced off the ceiling. They say hindsight is 20 / 20, well looking at my pictures I should have set my shutter speed to 1/320 to give me a bit more light and better expose the picture. This would have lessened my noise. I also didn't get the quality action that I would have like to.

I won't be shooting another middle school girls basketball game until the championship games on Jan 12th, 2008. Not sure if I'll get out to any of our girls varsity games. I just don't have the desire to shoot basketball as I do most other sports.

Here are just a couple of shots from the game.

First basketball of the season

My first basketball of the season. Most of my basketball photography is at the middle school level and their season is broken up into two different seasons. During the first part of the season, there's girls basketball and boys track, during the second part of the season there's boys basketball and girls track. Of course there's the championship games that will be played at the end of each season. I will more than like only shoot two season games for the boys and girls and then the championship games. Not sure if I will get out there for some high school shooting, it's all a matter of time as I will have high school girls soccer soon.

All of these shots were in manual with my 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens. My settings were ISO 3200, f/2.8, and either 1/500 or 1/400. I also used my flash, which was reflected off the ceiling, at full power. The gym I was shooting at has only about 2 to 3 feet between the court and perimeter walls, making things rather tight when the action got close.