PHOTOS - Pan Am Volleyball

PHOTOS – Pan Am Volleyball

Jul 16, 2015 Estonian Life No. 29 2015

On Thursday July 16, Women's volleyball began at the Exhibition Centre. I was pleasantly surprised to be led to the photographers' positions by a well-known member of the Estonian-Canadian community, who is volunteering as a member of the Photo Staff. The first preliminary match featured heavily favoured Brazil against Puerto Rico. The match turned out to be a 5-set thriller, with superb play on both sides. I was fortunate to capture the final point in the second last photo of the gallery. The extremely fast pace of indoor volleyball and the six players on each side made it necessary to focus the camera on certain aspects of the game. Although I tried to portray a variety of plays, most of the action, both in the game and with respect to photography, occurred at the net. I found it particularly difficult to capture "digs" or retrievals because of the unpredictable direction of spikes.

On the other hands, all spikes had to cross the net (at some point) making them an easier photo target. I also looked for facial expressions and flying hair to add interest to the photo. Occasionally, the ball ended up in an interesting place. Many of the photos capture the teamwork and the power required at this level of volleyball. Another technique which I began to use was following one particularly active player with the camera, hoping to get some good shots that way.

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For those interested in the photographic aspects, the lighting in the hall was superb. White balance was the Fluorescent setting. I used an ISO of 4000, but may have managed with less. Shutter speed of 1/1600 seconds seemed to work well. My aperture setting was F5, slightly higher than the F2.8 lens I was using. The higher aperture was an attempt to deepen the depth of field in the photo.

Peeter Põldre

PHOTO GALLERY – Potos by Peeter Põldre (2015)