How to Fix Bad Gym Lighting in Your Basketball Photos

Gym lighting is the number one thing that ruins basketball and volleyball photos: yellow-orange color casts, flickering exposure, harsh shadows and dingy whites. Here's how to fix it in Lightroom.

Why gym light is so hard

Most gyms use high-bay metal halide or fluorescent lights that put out an uneven, green-or-orange spectrum. Your camera's auto white balance can't lock it down, so shots come out inconsistent.

Fixes in Lightroom

1. Set white balance manually

Use the eyedropper on a neutral white — a jersey number, the backboard — to correct the color cast. Then tweak the tint slider to kill any green.

2. Lift shadows, control highlights

Bring shadows up +20 to +40 to open faces. Pull highlights down to recover the court and bright jerseys.

3. Add clarity and texture

A touch of clarity (+10 to +20) makes fast action read sharp under flat light.

4. Use a preset built for gyms

A preset like Glimmer or La Salle does all of the above in one tap — they're tuned specifically for indoor sports lighting, so you start from a corrected image instead of fighting the cast on every photo.