middle school football in perfect lighting
Shot my cousin's middle school football game last weekend, what fun! Haven't shot much sports yet so this was a great learning experience.
The game started late afternoon with slightly overcast skies and the stadium lighting turned on. The conditions were beautiful for shooting with ample light for good shutter speeds and low iso ... I was loving it!
Canon Rebel XT + 70-200mm f/4 IS, raw, manual exposure, AI-servo auto focus on the center point only.
Very little post processing with Lightroom thanks to recently calibrating my camera using a 24patch colorchecker and lightroom's "calibrate" sliders. I can't recommend this enough, what a difference it makes! I didn't change any white balance, color, or curves. There was an occasional exposure adjustment because of the fading light, and the final photo with the officials was doctored a bit.
Junior cheerleader in training. She was featured in many of their cheers.
Quarterback on the right, returning from the opening coin toss.
Sacked! I have lots of respect for anyone shooting sports from eye level to the field. Getting a clear shot of the action was very rare with all the players running around the field, constantly blocking my view. I was pretty discouraged until capturing this.
The visiting team makes a beautiful catch and scores their only touchdown on the next play.
This poor guy made an awesome effort but was just a moment too late. This was another one that made me smile.
Another rare opportunity to see the action without a dozen other bodies in the way. Capturing a moment of the action is great fun, I like reading the expressions on the player's faces.
Near the end of the game one of the parents asked me if they could pay for a shot of the officials. This was a complete surprise and just made my day. My first random commissioned shot, wheeee! The print is in the mail as I write this : )
-Justin
The game started late afternoon with slightly overcast skies and the stadium lighting turned on. The conditions were beautiful for shooting with ample light for good shutter speeds and low iso ... I was loving it!
Canon Rebel XT + 70-200mm f/4 IS, raw, manual exposure, AI-servo auto focus on the center point only.
Very little post processing with Lightroom thanks to recently calibrating my camera using a 24patch colorchecker and lightroom's "calibrate" sliders. I can't recommend this enough, what a difference it makes! I didn't change any white balance, color, or curves. There was an occasional exposure adjustment because of the fading light, and the final photo with the officials was doctored a bit.
Junior cheerleader in training. She was featured in many of their cheers.
Quarterback on the right, returning from the opening coin toss.
Sacked! I have lots of respect for anyone shooting sports from eye level to the field. Getting a clear shot of the action was very rare with all the players running around the field, constantly blocking my view. I was pretty discouraged until capturing this.
The visiting team makes a beautiful catch and scores their only touchdown on the next play.
This poor guy made an awesome effort but was just a moment too late. This was another one that made me smile.
Another rare opportunity to see the action without a dozen other bodies in the way. Capturing a moment of the action is great fun, I like reading the expressions on the player's faces.
Near the end of the game one of the parents asked me if they could pay for a shot of the officials. This was a complete surprise and just made my day. My first random commissioned shot, wheeee! The print is in the mail as I write this : )
-Justin
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Comments
I also took the liberty of looking through your gallery for the game. One thing I thought you did particularly well was paying attention to the action around the game, not just in it. It is a hard thing to do but I always enjoy seeing photos of reactions on the sidelines, fans, etc.
Couple of suggestions for your next time out.
1) Try shooting an entire game in portrait mode, let the action come to you to fill your frame. (As one of the Sports Shooter Photogs on this site told me "most of the action in football is vertical"). I also think you will find that this will really improve the sharpness of your photos as the subject will fill a lot more of your frame and really help your camera's AF system, especially as it seems your games move in to the low-light arena.
2) If you can get behind the endzone when the offense is inside the 10 yard-line it is a great position to focus on the lineman and get some great action shots of them making their blocks.
3) If a lot of the action you shoot is going to be at dusk and/or night (as it was in this game) you may want to look at investing in a Noise removal software plug-in. I noticed quite a bit of noise in some of your later photos. Personally I love Noiseware and have used it for years but there are several good ones out there.
regards, Kevin
Canon 1DM4, 300mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8, 200mm 1.8, 24-70mm 2.8, 85mm 1.8
I had free reign of the entire field. This was both a blessing and a curse. I could shoot from anywhere I wanted to, but also had no idea what angles were best. I wound up staying 15-20 yards ahead or behind the plays and shooting at the ball carrier. The end zone was tempting too, but I thought the lighting was terrible from that angle and I couldn't see any of the players' faces. Oh well, all good stuff to know for next time.
And noise was an issue, absolutely. I was in 1600iso for the second half of the game, still wishing I could go higher. It was fun pushing the gear to the max, I'm still surprised how well it performed in the low light near the end. One day I'll look into some noise software or a higher-end body and glass, but I'm really content for today!
-J