Girl's Lax

wmstumme

I've been rather busy lately--and haven't been around my camera much. Got out this past weekend at a tournament just northwest of DC. I felt a bit rusty, but it was nice to get out.

gman33

Nice shots Will....glad you are back at the games!!!

BlueHoseJacket

Nice shots...do mind telling me your camera settings? I finally got myself (Saturday) a new Sigma 70-200 f2.8 . I am heading to my daughters lacrosse tournament in Chicago on Friday. I have never shot with a 2.8 (this replaces my Canon 70-200 4.0). Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

wmstumme

Ed: Thanks for your compliment!

BlueHoseJacket wrote:

Nice shots...do mind telling me your camera settings? I finally got myself (Saturday) a new Sigma 70-200 f2.8 . I am heading to my daughters lacrosse tournament in Chicago on Friday. I have never shot with a 2.8 (this replaces my Canon 70-200 4.0). Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

BlueHoseJacket: I used a Sigma "Bigma" 50-500 on a 30D. I usually try and set up on the end line about even to the 12 m arc, and usually try and wait until action is this side of the restraining line. I then try and shoot in the 300-500 mm zoom range to still get a short DOF despite the high minimum F stop--which ranges from about 5.6 to 6.3 at the long end. I use aperture priority--open all the way, with about a -1/3 stop exposure adjustment (not sure why--just found I like the images a touch underexposed to avoid blowing out the whites on sunny days). With this lens--it's a bit soft wide open--so it always needs a bit of unsharp mask in PP.

Good luck--with Northwestern having so much success, I'd bet girls lax is taking off in Chicago! Hopefully it will be cooler than it was here this past weekend.

BlueHoseJacket

Thanks for the tips, I am looking forward to trying out the new lense this weekend. My daughter is on a team out of Atlanta...they are the defending champs of the Indian Prairie Shootout in Naperville, outside of Chicago.

KMCC

BlueHoseJacket wrote:

Nice shots...do mind telling me your camera settings? I finally got myself (Saturday) a new Sigma 70-200 f2.8 . I am heading to my daughters lacrosse tournament in Chicago on Friday. I have never shot with a 2.8 (this replaces my Canon 70-200 4.0). Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Hey! Congratulations on the new lens. i suspect you'll like it a lot.

Shoot in Av mode at f/2.8 with an ISO setting that keeps your shutterspeed above 1/500 (the faster, the better) and you're on your way.

Have fun in the windy city.

BlueHoseJacket

Thanks Kent...I took your advice on the lense and I don't think I will be disappointed...thanks for the tips.

Blake

KED

KMCC wrote:

Hey! Congratulations on the new lens. i suspect you'll like it a lot.

Shoot in Av mode at f/2.8 with an ISO setting that keeps your shutterspeed above 1/500 (the faster, the better) and you're on your way.

Have fun in the windy city.

Will -- Just be aware that at f/2.8 your DOF is pretty thin (couple of feet, I don't know the math), so for example if your camera is AF'ing on the tip of an extended stick (and it WILL), your faces may not be sharp -- happens to me all the time, but of course it's even bigger problem when long poles are involved. I remain torn between the beauty of blurred background at 2.8 and the extra focus leeway that I get from 4.0 for laxers who can move in any direction at any time; most recently (in my final lax of the summer) I did OK with a 300 at f/2.8, but with a fair number of throwaways for this exact reason. I've shot hundreds of images of summer lax this year - glad that you brought it back to the forum.

wizzy

Very nice pictures with the 50-500... I would have guessed a 70-200 2.8 or similar lens...

ian408

Always look forward to your LAX shots. The third one is nice. D & O in the frame.

wmstumme

Wizzy/Ian/KED: Thanks for the comments.

Wizzy: I find that with the Bigma--as long as I'm focussing on something that is about 30 yards or less distant while zoomed at 250mm +, I still get decent background blur even with f5.6 to 6.3. The girl in #3 was probably about 15 yards away (a guess) and I shot that at about 225mm. I have a Canon 70-200 2.8 (no teleconverter though:cry )-- if I have full daytime light, I usually go with the Bigma.

ian408 wrote:

... D & O in the frame.

Translation, please?

Photosbychuck

Great Photos!

I got to shoot men playing today in my area.

Take Care,
Chuck

ian408

wmstumme wrote:

Translation, please?

Defense and Offense.