Shooting the Knicks
*The view from the baseline at Madison Square Garden.*
Not long ago, Canon invited a select group of editors to shoot a Knicks game with their EOS 50D. Among those editors was Popular Photography’s technical editor Philip Ryan. Everyone met at Madison Square Garden before the game to get some tips from the official MSG photographer Geoge Kalinsky.
For more than 39 years Mr. Kalinsky has had the privledge of being the official photographer of the world’s mot famous arena. He publshed 10 books along the way, including his most recent Garden of Dreams. Kalinsky and his crew of photographers have the advantage of a bevy of strobes mounted throughout the arena triggered wirelessly using PocketWizards. The editors had to boost their ISO to get the shutter speeds necessary to capture the action. Luckily, Canon brought along some 50D bodies, along with EF 24-70mm f/2.8L and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L lenses.
Per Mr. Kalinsky’s suggestion, we shot at ISO 2000 and f/2.8. The combination yields images that isolate the particular players we focused on and have very little noise while also allowing fast enough shutter speeds to stop the action on the court. In a couple of the shots, you can see the cameras that MSG has mounted behind the glass of the backboards. Like the strobes Kalinsky’s team uses, these are triggered by PocketWizards.