HS Volleyball

My first match of the school year, and it was tough.  I hear all the time how hard it is to photograph baseball, or hockey, or soccer, but in all honesty, I think volleyball is the hardest sport to photograph.  It can be difficult getting good angles, the net is in the way a lot, playing havoc with autofocus.  I would put it right up there with tennis as being a difficult sport to shoot.

I did, however, head up to Ralston Valley High School to photograph the Mustangs and ThunderRidge Grizzlies match on Thursday night.  I feel it will take me another game or two to get into the swing of things.  My timing was off, so I ended up getting a lot of setter shots and serve shots.  Once my I regain my volleyball timing, you will start seeing some digs and spike.  Another issue is the lighting.  Some Colorado MaxPreps shooters are able to shoot with strobes for volleyball, but this gym is so small, I am afraid even one of my strobes would be too much.  I might try with my Canon 580EX II speedlight next game.

Ralston Valley took the first two games of the match, but ThunderRidge tied it up, taking the next two wins.  The Mustangs bounced back to win the 5th game 15-13 and win the match 3-2.

And here is the 10 Shot from the match.

You can view and purchase photos from this game at MaxPreps.