Dec 9, 20233 min read

Sports Photography tips for shooting an NBL Basketball Game

Updated: Nov 25

Melbourne United vs Brisbane Bullets

10th December 2023

Thanks for having me, Melbourne United! I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph my second NBL game, and this time in my hometown—Melbourne—at John Cain Arena. My first NBL game was earlier in the season with the Sydney Kings at Qudos Arena, and I loved the experience. So I did what I could to get to another one!

What’s in My Bag for Shooting a Basketball Game

• Camera Body: Sony a7iii (of course)

• Lenses: Sony 70-200mm f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, Sony G Master 24mm f/1.4

• Film Camera: I bring whichever film camera I’ve loaded with film—this time, it was my Canon Underwater camera (yes, really, lol) and it was loaded with ISO 400 film. (In hindsight: I should’ve used ISO 800)

• Snacks: girl’s gotta eat

• Spare Camera Battery

• Lens Cleaner

• Air tag (After learning the hard way)

action shot of the basketball court at melbourne united vs brisbane bullets nbl game

Sports Photography Tips at an NBL game

First things first... you need a media pass. This might be the hardest tip of them all. Everyone has different ways of going about this. For me, playing in the WNBL and connecting with other sports photographers helped.
Keeping Gear Compact
For court-side sports photography at the top leagues in Australia (NBL and WNBL) you’re not allowed to carry a bag around with you. So it’s important to condense your gear and have everything you need on hand, while your bag is stored in the media space. Which you do have access to throughout the game, but it would be a burden to constantly go back and forth to change gear. Good thing I came extra prepared wearing my pair of jeans with the most amount of pockets, to hold my spare lenses, my film camera, phone, and snacks:) (Side note, strict bag rules only apply for NBL and WNBL in Australia. All other leagues like NBL1 and Big V are more relaxed and this does not apply.)
Navigating the Arena as a Photographer
Since I’m still new to this, I took the “act confident” approach, wearing my NBL vest and credentials and exploring wherever I could until someone told me otherwise. It worked! At one point, I even found myself sitting in the commentators’ box.
Every NBL game has official photographers who typically claim key spots, especially along the baseline. As a guest photographer, I respected their go-to spots and focused on finding unique perspectives or different angles to give my shots more variety in helping capture the whole entire environment- not just the action.
Shooting Film at a Basketball Stadium
This was my first time using film at an NBL game, and I learnt an important lesson the hard way: ISO 400 is not ideal for indoor sports under these stadium lights, but this was the only film I had at the time- so I gave it a go. Many of the images came out quite dark, but I edited them best as I could to bring in more light. Next time, I’ll be going with ISO 800.
Choosing the Right Lenses for Basketball Photography
The Sony 70-200mm lens is a go-to for sports photographers, perfect for zooming in on player action. On the other hand, using a wide angel lens is also an options, it is a gamble... but one I am always willing to take. The wide angle like a the 24mm captures the entire environment, adding context and depth to your shots (I like this).

Photos shot with the Sony G Master 24mm F/1.4:

Photos shot with the Sony FE 70-200mm F/2.8:
Don’t be afraid to use high ISO in low light
While higher ISO can add grain to your photos, it’s often a trade-off to properly expose your shots in low-light scenes like a sports stadiums. Quick tip I learnt from a well seasoned professional sports photographer: when editing and saving your images, opting for a slightly lower-quality file can make the grain less noticeable. However, if you save at the highest quality, the grain will be more apparent—but keep in mind, that level of quality isn’t usually necessary for low-resolution uses like social media or web posting.