Photographing Indoor Sports: The Right Settings, Gear, and Tips for Shooting Basketball, Martial Arts, and Other Low-light Sports

Knowing Your Light

Understanding the Intensity, Color, and Direction of Light

All photography needs light. Light features color, direction, and intensity, and it’s important to understand how these factors can affect your images. When you shoot sports outdoors under the sun, the light source is really obvious and easy to deal with. That all changes when you go indoors or shoot at night under lights. You need to adjust your White Balance setting to deal with the color of the light, especially if there is more than one light source. You also need to note where the lights are the brightest and watch as the action crosses into different areas.