U10G Soccer

mikesjunk

Ok I've been a lurker for about a year now on this site. I purchased a Canon 40D about a year ago. I've just rolled the odometer, so I'm over 10,000 shots so far. Digital is certainly a great thing as I couldn't have afforded this in film. Especially when my "good" shots are probably in the less than 10% of the pics taken range.

I've been taking photos of my daughters soccer teams. I've certainly learned a lot from reading this site like getting low, watch the background, etc. Backgrounds are especially difficult as you never know where a soccer field will spring up.....or the parents on the far sidelines. So I think my pics are improving....well at least to a point to be brave enough to get some more tips.

Below are some shots from today. I was shooting in TV, shutter at 500 and ISO at 200. The lense I have is the Canon 28-135 IS. I'm hoping to someday upgrade to the 2.8 70-200.....but haven't quite justified it yet as a hobby. For the U10 the fields are still small enough this zoom lets me get some good shots. But in U14 I really see the need for more zoom.

I've got a lot to learn about editing these also for viewing. I had to do some resizing so they wouldn't flow off the screen.

Dano

Watch your horizons. It is such an easy think to fix in PP. I lean to the left a lot also . Action is good though. Good captures and have fun.

mikesjunk

Dano wrote:

Watch your horizons. It is such an easy think to fix in PP. I lean to the left a lot also . Action is good though. Good captures and have fun.

, I hadn't noticed that before...but now I do. As I was sitting I might need to get a wedged shaped cushion.

New requested feature is a level built into the viewfinder!

kini62

mikesjunk wrote:

Ok I've been a lurker for about a year now on this site. I purchased a Canon 40D about a year ago. I've just rolled the odometer, so I'm over 10,000 shots so far. Digital is certainly a great thing as I couldn't have afforded this in film. Especially when my "good" shots are probably in the less than 10% of the pics taken range.

I've been taking photos of my daughters soccer teams. I've certainly learned a lot from reading this site like getting low, watch the background, etc. Backgrounds are especially difficult as you never know where a soccer field will spring up.....or the parents on the far sidelines. So I think my pics are improving....well at least to a point to be brave enough to get some more tips.

Below are some shots from today. I was shooting in TV, shutter at 500 and ISO at 200. The lense I have is the Canon 28-135 IS. I'm hoping to someday upgrade to the 2.8 70-200.....but haven't quite justified it yet as a hobby. For the U10 the fields are still small enough this zoom lets me get some good shots. But in U14 I really see the need for more zoom.

I've got a lot to learn about editing these also for viewing. I had to do some resizing so they wouldn't flow off the screen.

Ok here goes- please don't take it personally. And I'm no expert, just another father taking photos of his kids.

All the horizons are off, some way off.

1/500 is marginal at best. 1/1250 is a nice place to start. Ditch Tv mode and shoot in Av or manual if the light allows (consistant light, cloudy, sunny ect...)

I started with my daughter in U5 fields. She's now playing U8 and the 70-200/2.8 is WAY too short. I wouldn't even attempt it with anything less, unless all you wanted were shots in front of the goal, which doesn't happend all that often at younger ages.

Heck 135 is too short for U5 fields.

U14 a 300 at a minimum for best results.

Exposures are kind of varied. Shots are mostly OOF. Shots with a lens that short and stopped down to F8 tend to make the photos indistinguishable from the mom next to you with her superzoom P&S.

You say it's "just" a hobbie and you can't justify a 70-200/2.8 for that. Well, it's just a hobbie for 90% of us.

If you care about getting better shots then you'll need to upgrade your lens. You do want photos from your $1300 camera to be better than the ones taken with the $200 camera next to you, don't you?

Also, shoot from a sitting or kneeling position if you're not.

Used Sigma 70-200s go for around $600 or less depending on model and age. New Tamron 70-200 is $700 but a little slower to focus. Or 70-200/4L used are $500 or less.

Keep on practicing.

Gene

mikesjunk

Thanks for the feedback. I'm here to learn as I have more to learn that to teach so I'm certainly not taking anything personally. I've seen some of the other posts that tend to go other directions.

On the day before I had tried some higher shutter speeds in TV but my focus seemed even worse. I've been trying to make only a change or two so I can see what the results are....it's the engineer in me.

Exposures may have been impacted by my "auto" exposure in the editing I did. And the OOF is the loose nut behind the wheel.

I've also been shooting in partial metering. I've played with these but not sure which one is the best. The manuals are exactly the best for those with limited knowledge.

I'll give the AV mode a try. I have 7 games from Thursday to Sunday so it's the last hurray for outdoor soccer. I'm assuming in AV I need to stop this down as far as possible which is 3.5-5.6 for my current lense.

I have been shooting mostly from a sitting postions now....from reading this site....and I do like the looks of the shots better.

I know I need to upgrade the lense but for now I have what I have. As I bought the camera for myself last Christmas maybe Santa will bring the lense this year.

Here was one of the shots from a U14 game.

mikesjunk

Ok today I used aperture priority and worked on learning how to fix the horizon.
Photo Info:
Exposure 1/1600
F Number F/3.5
ISO 200
Metering Mode: Partial

I only worked on the horizon and cropped this one.

mikesjunk

More Shots
Ok I re-cropped the photo above and tweaked a bit more on the horizon



And here's a photo from another daughters U9 soccer:

Exposure 1/1000
F Number F/4.5
ISO 200