Basketball Photographs are TOO dark, Plese HELP!?

Question

I take photo's at high school basketball games. obviously the indoor lighting is insufficient, so i turn the ISO up really high and i usually have the shutter speed around 200 or 225. What else can i do to make my photo's look bright like these....
http://www.maxpreps.com/Galleries.aspx/ImageList?PhotoGalleryID=9d1e3079-e4fc-42d3-9209-073839a1ace1&EventName=Flushing%20vs.%20Environmental%20(Queens%20Jam%20Christmas%20Classic)


as opposed to my photo's that look like these....
http://yourviews.mercurynews.com/mycapture/photos/FImage.aspx?ImageID=176236&EventID=256426&CategoryID=23410&CollectionID=0&Sort=UserPublicName%20ASC,%20DateUploaded

but how do we make the pictures brighter? i dont have any flashes available... is it possible?

Answer 1

Tell us what equipment you do have. Knowing this will help.

If your trying to use the popup flash on your camera stop. It doesnt through the light far enough to hit the subject(s) and your camera is trying to compensate for that flash hitting something thus making your shots darker. You will need a good flash to try to do flash photography at this distance.
Knowing this try taking more pics closer to the action, but a flash may interfere with the game that close.

I agree, the best solution is a good off camera flash. Your on a budget so check out these guys http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/ they live for the do it yourselfer off camera flash on a buget guys.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/311150-REG/Phoenix_P04219_D92_BZS_Digital_Slave_Flash.html One of these would really help.

Edit--

If your using a digital point and shoot you will get a wider aperture the wider you shoot. If you have more than 5 megapixells try a few shots wide (not zoomed in) and crop it later in the computer. As with trying anything new just try a few shots the new way and the rest the way you know what the results will be, unless your current results are absolutely totally unacceptable. You may not get enough resolution cropping to make it worth your while.

Answer 2

I would like to add that I understand that flash photography is not allowed in most games. I went to the Staples Center last week and still saw many people pulled out their P&S and tried to take photos with flash (that I thought was quite useless from where they were sitting).

Answer 3

You have a lot of good answers here. May I add shooting in RAW if possible. If this is not possible with your camera, photoshop or elements can be used to adjust the curves, contrast, etc. Like this...http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2075/2152043793_96a0069d1a_o.jpg

Is that any better?

Answer 4

The first image seemed to be taken with a flash unit. You mention you do not have access to a flash unit, but it may be high time to get one. It's either this, or keep coming up with dark images. The only other suggestion I would have is use a wide aperture lens. This will allow more light to enter the lens, as you probably already know. But, a fast lens will be much more expensive than a flash unit, so take your pick.

Of course, there's always Photoshop, but if you don't know what you're doing the results probably wont be good. Plus, it's best to get the image right the first time.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I think an off-camera slave flash was used in the first picture.

You have some tough lighting there.. I would do a spot meter on the player and expose for that. However, If you do that, I suspect you will need a much faster lens.

Also, if you fill the frame with the player you will have a stronger picture and the exposure will not be so difficult to manage next time.