All sports are a challenge to photograph, a least well. The consensus among sports fotags is that volleyball is one of the most difficult.

The ball comes in really fast and, with a longer lens, you typically have to guess where. The opposition gets in the way, and the camera’s focusing mechanism is often fooled by the net, rendering the player out of focus. Furthermore, gyms tend to be dark, making stopping action and getting shots with enough light and good dynamic range very difficult.  

Players when going up for a hit or block usually are looking upward, and so you get a lot of up-the-nose shots. Or, you get a lot of shots covered by arms.

I like to have the net in the shot because it is such a key part of the game. I posted a few from last night's Clipper game against New Ulm. http://www.rohlfingphoto.com/p285944031http://www.rohlfingphoto.com/p285944031.

I don’t want to say how many went in the recycle bin to get these.