Austinado, have we had email banter before regarding this topic?
If anyone is interested, in regards to the OP
I shot gymnastics today in a moderately lit gym.
I shot with a D300 70-200 is 2.8 and a brandy new Canon 7D with a 70-200 2.8...
The result? Honestly I just bought the 7D so you'd think I'd want to defend it, and maybe it's because I have more familiarity with the D300 but the D300 won the battle for me today.
The AF on the 7D wasn't the miracle I'd hoped it would be. The results at 3200 were just ok, I'd say as good as the d300 but I think we would've been better off with less MP
For what it's worth, I would try lowering your ISO and shooting a few at a lower SS, go for poses and apex movement shots. Try a few way tighter, try all sorts of stuff, Try shooting your 70-200 pegged at 200, even when the athlete gets closer, just recompose and get less of the body.
Oh bad news too, just when you though the music was horrible, they have introduced the new music and it has made me think the old music isn't that bad.
Just getting home from our meet. Spent 2hrs yesterday helping setup, about 3hrs tonight putting the gym back together, and shot 2 session of level 5, level 4, and level 6. Time to get sorting photos!
Thanks for the input you guys, I'm definately trying some different stuff. I guess it's the stubborn in me that wants to push the ISO just so I can stop motion, when really, I should probably raise the white flag, never go past 3200, and then just get what I can get at peak motion. All part of the "testing the waters and learning to swim with the big fish" process, I guess.
Lighting was better today, but I've only just done a quick slide show on the television....haven't seen 'em on the computer yet. I'll post some of the worthwhile ones over the next few days.
Oh, and interesting report about the 7D. I'll be interested in hearing more of your opinion after you've played with it a bit more.
70-200/2.8IS, 1/640th 3200ISO (Maybe should have been at 2500ISO and 1/500th instead for less noise) This one was shot all the way across the gym, maybe 80', with a focal length of 130mm, spot metering, AIServo, center focus point, thumb push focusing.
Same lens, 70mm focal length, 1/500th, 2500ISO. Focusing on the center of the vault table, then letting up on the rear focus button and waiting for the gymnast to arrive. There was a wall blocking my view of the vault runway, so I couldn't see the athletes until they were just about to the spring board.
Same lens, 165mm focal length, 1/250th, 2500ISO and same focusing/metering setup as in the first photo, just a different location.
Here's another shot from the floor:
1/400th, 2500ISO, 130mm focal length, and like the first one, shot across the gym.
You will get the most from your camera if you shoot raw, which means you have to do some post processing.
I shoot a lot of high school indoor sports. 40D with 85mm f/1.8 for basketball and the 135mm f/2.0 for volleyball.
Settings were, shutter-1/1000 sec, Aperture- f/2.0 and ISO-3200
Heavily post processed.
The last photo, I had printed at 16x24 size and turned out great.
You will get the most from your camera if you shoot raw, which means you have to do some post processing.
I shoot a lot of high school indoor sports. 40D with 85mm f/1.8 for basketball and the 135mm f/2.0 for volleyball.
...Settings were, shutter-1/1000 sec, Aperture- f/2.0 and ISO-3200
Heavily post processed.
The last photo, I had printed at 16x24 size and turned out great.
I didn't expect such good result at ISO 3200 from the 40D. What kind of post processing do you do to your images besides noise reduction?
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
This straddle jump image is outstanding. The others are acceptable but your timing was a little late. Don't you just hate back-lit setup?
Cuong
Thanks! I've had quite a few of those "luck shots" lately, so I'm starting to feel like my skills are improving. Still not really any magic on bars for either Level 4 or 5, but their bar routine isn't much anyway....get 'em jumping to the bar, get 'em straight out in a push-up type position, and the leg shoot through, and that's about it. Here's a vault sample from Level 4.
70-200/2.8, 1/400th, 2500ISO 70mm focal length. Focused on the "AAI American" logo because the athletes were passing right over that, took my thumb off the rear AF-ON button and waited for them to arrive. Then held down the trigger for a nice 4-5 shot burst resulting in some fun stop action in different positions.
To the previouis poster, thanks for the advice. Yes, I only shoot RAW, full-size, with the picture settings all dialed back to zero. The rest is hanled in PP.
I may pick up a couple of primes now that I can see some of the focal length shooting trends for me. Love the versatiliy of both my lenses, but on vault, and even bars, a prime could really be a nice tool. Anything to get out of 2,000-3200ISO (or higher), bring up the shutter speed significantly, and really freeze motion. I'll finish out the season with what I have, and patiently shop for next year.
... Still not really any magic on bars for either Level 4 or 5, but their bar routine isn't much anyway....get 'em jumping to the bar, get 'em straight out in a push-up type position, and the leg shoot through, and that's about it.
I may pick up a couple of primes now that I can see some of the focal length shooting trends for me. Love the versatiliy of both my lenses, but on vault, and even bars, a prime could really be a nice tool. Anything to get out of 2,000-3200ISO (or higher), bring up the shutter speed significantly, and really freeze motion. I'll finish out the season with what I have, and patiently shop for next year.
It gets better as they advance to higher levels. If there's college-level gymnastics in your area, you should attend one. It's fast-paced, high-energy and enjoyable whether you want to photograph or just be a spectator.
Prime lenses are nice, but don't expect miracle from them. I got the 85mm f/1.8, thinking that I can gain a full stop by shooting at f/2.0. Well, the result has been inconsistent. I got good result from the 1st meet, but then result from this past meet is crappy. I suspect the lower light is a factor since it means lower shutter speed. Since this lens doesn't have IS, slow shutter speed becomes a disadvantage due to camera shake with hand holding. It's frustrating to go home after the meet and see a bunch of blurry photos of decisive moments.
Here are some samples when they turn out decently using 85mm f/1.8 on Canon 40D at ISO 1600:
1. f/2.0, 1/640 sec
2. f/2.0, 1/1000 sec
3. f/2.5, 1/500 sec
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
Here are some samples when they turn out decently using 85mm f/1.8 on Canon 40D at ISO 1600:
Cuong
Thanks for posting these examples with the 85mm f/1.8. That is the next lens on my wish list. Right now I'm shooting with th 70-200 2.8 but those extra two stops look like they help. Nice pictures - they are so bright. My son is a gymnast so I usually am shooting the boys although I do cover one of the big co-ed meets for our team in March. Your season starts very early, our boys and girls don't start until late November.
I continue to enjoy watching your photos improve with every post. Looks like you have crossed a threshhold whereby your photos will not be lacking when held up to other parents with their cameras (much less mommies with Nikons ).
Are you using spot metering? I would think that more difficult than center weighted with exposure compensation dialed in depending on being backlit, etc. I don't think you need raise a white flag on high ISO yet, but it probably will better serve better for an occasional shot than as your normal setting.
And most important, if you wait until next year to get the prime, it will cost much more and you will not have its use NOW! Trend has been that if you buy it now, you may be able to sell it used for the same price next year. And the money you don't spend won't buy you happiness, but getting the lens might...
Thanks for posting these examples with the 85mm f/1.8. That is the next lens on my wish list. Right now I'm shooting with th 70-200 2.8 but those extra two stops look like they help. Nice pictures - they are so bright. My son is a gymnast so I usually am shooting the boys although I do cover one of the big co-ed meets for our team in March. Your season starts very early, our boys and girls don't start until late November.
Stephanie
All the windows and skylights in that place make it really bright during the day. The bright light was great but the back lighting was challenging. The 85mm f/1.8 is really only 1 stop more than the 70-200mm f/2.8. The f/1.8 setting is really useless so I don't even bother. When you do get one, make sure to check its focus accuracy before using it for an important event. I bought mine brand new from B&H and had to send it to Canon Svc Ctr to correct a back-focus problem.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
All the windows and skylights in that place make it really bright during the day. The bright light was great but the back lighting was challenging. The 85mm f/1.8 is really only 1 stop more than the 70-200mm f/2.8. The f/1.8 setting is really useless so I don't even bother. When you do get one, make sure to check its focus accuracy before using it for an important event. I bought mine brand new from B&H and had to send it to Canon Svc Ctr to correct a back-focus problem.
Cuong
Cuong......those are killer photos! So bright and crisp and the leotards show off as being shiny too. Can you give me some tips on what you're doing for PP?
With the 85mm are you finding that you're cropping down in PP to get those shots close like that? I've put my 28-70 on, and at 70, it's really only good for stuff within about 30'. In fact, I didn't use it at all at this past "home" meet because it doesn't have the reach.
Looking at that one bar shot, you're getting a great depth of field at f2.0. You've got the entire gymnast (except for her moving feet) and all the way back to the coupling at the bar end. That seems to be another thing that I'm struggling with, DOF, especially on bars.
Anyway, great shots and it motivates me even more to start hunting for a prime or 2.
Rainbow thanks. Yes, the photos are a hit. I'm winding up with about 40 keepers per athlete from this past weekend and have been making CD's for each of them. I'm giving them the full resolution shots, PP'd, and converted to exif/jpeg so they can send out for prints, print 'em at home, or just watch 'em on the computer. They are loving it....and yeah, these are now far and above the D80 w/ walk-around lens. Yesterday the gym owner asked if I'd give her photos from the meet so that she could use them in a brochure (and probably on the website). Kinda strange since she had a professional there the entire day.
Today I sent 2 team photos I'd taken this weekend, to Costco, and had 16x20's made. They really turned out fantastic. I brought them down to the gym at practice and asked all the girls to sign their respective team photo. The coach is putting them up on the wall. It was fun to be able to do that, and the girls were fired up about it too.
I'm shooting both with center focus, and with all focus points, depending on the event. I've been practicing enough that I can adjust the focus points on the fly without taking the camera away from my face, as well as ISO and of course shutter speed. So that helps me try to dial in the camera to what I think I'll need. I'm shooting with "spot metering" rather than "center weighted average," because I don't want the camera metering off the bright walls in the background. Maybe I'm wrong in doing so? I haven't played with "exposure bias" that I hear some people talk about.
So.....I'm having fun, but I still have a lot to learn! Next meet isn't until Oct 25th, so I've got some time now to practice more and who knows, maybe I'll trip over an 85mm or 135mm prime that I can't live without.
All 3 photos I posted are uncropped. I was barely 12 feet from the uneven bars on the side at an angle shooting up. Depending on the layout of the meet, I try to move around to get as close to the action as possible. This particular venue, a newly built YMCA facility, has plenty of windows and sky lights so it was bright during early afternoon compared to other enclosed buildings. I've never seen any place as airy and bright as this place.
For post processing, I use Lightroom 2 to quickly remove blurry, out-of-focus, and faceless shots, then crop, straighten, adjust the exposure, clarity, vibrance, and tone curve (high contrast). These are then exported and run through Noiseware. The resulting files are then uploaded to my smugmug gallery. LR and Noiseware are time savers considering the amount of photos I shoot at each meet.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
I don't have lightroom, but I've had several people recommend it to me. $199ish...ouch. But like you said, huge time saver, and that would really help if I'm going to continue to take shots of all our girls. Sorting through 1,200 pics using DPP is wearing me out.
I don't have lightroom, but I've had several people recommend it to me. $199ish...ouch. But like you said, huge time saver, and that would really help if I'm going to continue to take shots of all our girls. Sorting through 1,200 pics using DPP is wearing me out.
I wasn't on the floor, just right next to it, usually under or beside the rope/chain/tape limit.
Lightroom and Noiseware Pro are worthwhile investment given the volume you deal with after every meet. Since you've been good this year you might want to ask Santa for these instead of the 85mm lens. They'll definitely save your sanity in the long run.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
I wasn't on the floor, just right next to it, usually under or beside the rope/chain/tape limit.
Lightroom and Noiseware Pro are worthwhile investment given the volume you deal with after every meet. Since you've been good this year you might want to ask Santa for these instead of the 85mm lens. They'll definitely save your sanity in the long run.
Cuong
Nice location that you could get that close. That's how it was at Santa Cruz a month ago. You could touch the beam, floor was a walkway width from the rope line, and bars wasn't much further. Then if you stood in a back door way, the vault landing was just a couple feet away. That's when I realized I needed the 28-70/2.8L (and bought one about 2 wks later).
I've got noiseware pro, but don't often use it because it seems to almost do too much sometimes.....at least at pixel peeping views like 100%. So having never seen another photographer's work up close like that, I've been thinking it was sort of wrecking the images. I've just been using the noise reduction feature in DPP. I'll try the noiseware and have some prints made and see what I think.
Also, regarding PP. I've heard some people say to do the noise reduction first, then go back and sharpen, enhance colors, etc. Whatcha think?
Nice location that you could get that close. That's how it was at Santa Cruz a month ago. You could touch the beam, floor was a walkway width from the rope line, and bars wasn't much further. Then if you stood in a back door way, the vault landing was just a couple feet away. That's when I realized I needed the 28-70/2.8L (and bought one about 2 wks later).
I've got noiseware pro, but don't often use it because it seems to almost do too much sometimes.....at least at pixel peeping views like 100%. So having never seen another photographer's work up close like that, I've been thinking it was sort of wrecking the images. I've just been using the noise reduction feature in DPP. I'll try the noiseware and have some prints made and see what I think.
Also, regarding PP. I've heard some people say to do the noise reduction first, then go back and sharpen, enhance colors, etc. Whatcha think?
I don't print any of mine. I only share them online. Noise reducing process will soften the image, so if you do print them, then you should sharpen for printing after noise reduction. LR and DPP do a decent job on noise reduction, but I'm addicted to Noiseware Pro batch processing.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
I don't print any of mine. I only share them online. Noise reducing process will soften the image, so if you do print them, then you should sharpen for printing after noise reduction. LR and DPP do a decent job on noise reduction, but I'm addicted to Noiseware Pro batch processing.
Cuong
Just found out that I can buy LR2 for $98 from the academicsuperstore.com since my kidlet is in elementary school.
I checked out this retailer on www.resellerratings.com and the rating is not that favorable. My advice is to proceed with caution. Everything has its price.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
I checked out this retailer on www.resellerratings.com and the rating is not that favorable. My advice is to proceed with caution. Everything has its price.
Cuong
Thanks for the heads up. I won't be buying there. I always forget about checking resellerratings.com.
At the next meet, I think the gym is set up so that I can get in from the side on Bars. I'm going to, because I really like your shots from that angle. Much better looking than what I'm getting with 3/4's front view where they swing in and out of focus, and go from face down away from the lighting, to face up.
Here's what I've been working on:
A little "Atta Girl" project for the coach where I'm making posters for the girls area of the gym. Learning my way around Elements 7, and finding it a bit limiting, so I've just put on a trial of PS6. These posters were done in E7 though. Pretty basic and as my skills improve, I'm hoping to make some really cool posters for my daughter and the other girls. That's her in the upper left.
Good looking poster. Great catch on Kate's split leap and she has beautiful form. A few more meets and the compulsory season will be over. Catch them while you can.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
Good looking poster. Great catch on Kate's split leap and she has beautiful form. A few more meets and the compulsory season will be over. Catch them while you can.
Cuong
Thanks. Too bad that one in the lower right is a bit OOF.
We've got one more "regular" meet in 2 weeks, and then zones a couple weeks after that, and then State if Kate qualifies.
You're off to a great start with your posters.
I'd recommend filling them entirely with image for the background rather than simply a gradient. The background can be a color toned shot of empty equement, the gym floor, even an interesting flag ... but something other than a smooth gradient to add just a bit more texture.
The image can be very muted (low contrast, color toned to compliment the uniform(s), etc.) but will make for a much more dramatic look to showcase your photos.
Comments
If anyone is interested, in regards to the OP
I shot gymnastics today in a moderately lit gym.
I shot with a D300 70-200 is 2.8 and a brandy new Canon 7D with a 70-200 2.8...
The result? Honestly I just bought the 7D so you'd think I'd want to defend it, and maybe it's because I have more familiarity with the D300 but the D300 won the battle for me today.
The AF on the 7D wasn't the miracle I'd hoped it would be. The results at 3200 were just ok, I'd say as good as the d300 but I think we would've been better off with less MP
For what it's worth, I would try lowering your ISO and shooting a few at a lower SS, go for poses and apex movement shots. Try a few way tighter, try all sorts of stuff, Try shooting your 70-200 pegged at 200, even when the athlete gets closer, just recompose and get less of the body.
Oh bad news too, just when you though the music was horrible, they have introduced the new music and it has made me think the old music isn't that bad.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
Thanks for the input you guys, I'm definately trying some different stuff. I guess it's the stubborn in me that wants to push the ISO just so I can stop motion, when really, I should probably raise the white flag, never go past 3200, and then just get what I can get at peak motion. All part of the "testing the waters and learning to swim with the big fish" process, I guess.
Lighting was better today, but I've only just done a quick slide show on the television....haven't seen 'em on the computer yet. I'll post some of the worthwhile ones over the next few days.
Oh, and interesting report about the 7D. I'll be interested in hearing more of your opinion after you've played with it a bit more.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
70-200/2.8IS, 1/640th 3200ISO (Maybe should have been at 2500ISO and 1/500th instead for less noise) This one was shot all the way across the gym, maybe 80', with a focal length of 130mm, spot metering, AIServo, center focus point, thumb push focusing.
Same lens, 70mm focal length, 1/500th, 2500ISO. Focusing on the center of the vault table, then letting up on the rear focus button and waiting for the gymnast to arrive. There was a wall blocking my view of the vault runway, so I couldn't see the athletes until they were just about to the spring board.
Same lens, 165mm focal length, 1/250th, 2500ISO and same focusing/metering setup as in the first photo, just a different location.
Here's another shot from the floor:
1/400th, 2500ISO, 130mm focal length, and like the first one, shot across the gym.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
I shoot a lot of high school indoor sports. 40D with 85mm f/1.8 for basketball and the 135mm f/2.0 for volleyball.
Settings were, shutter-1/1000 sec, Aperture- f/2.0 and ISO-3200
Heavily post processed.
The last photo, I had printed at 16x24 size and turned out great.
Cuong
Cuong
Thanks! I've had quite a few of those "luck shots" lately, so I'm starting to feel like my skills are improving. Still not really any magic on bars for either Level 4 or 5, but their bar routine isn't much anyway....get 'em jumping to the bar, get 'em straight out in a push-up type position, and the leg shoot through, and that's about it. Here's a vault sample from Level 4.
70-200/2.8, 1/400th, 2500ISO 70mm focal length. Focused on the "AAI American" logo because the athletes were passing right over that, took my thumb off the rear AF-ON button and waited for them to arrive. Then held down the trigger for a nice 4-5 shot burst resulting in some fun stop action in different positions.
To the previouis poster, thanks for the advice. Yes, I only shoot RAW, full-size, with the picture settings all dialed back to zero. The rest is hanled in PP.
I may pick up a couple of primes now that I can see some of the focal length shooting trends for me. Love the versatiliy of both my lenses, but on vault, and even bars, a prime could really be a nice tool. Anything to get out of 2,000-3200ISO (or higher), bring up the shutter speed significantly, and really freeze motion. I'll finish out the season with what I have, and patiently shop for next year.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Gene
Prime lenses are nice, but don't expect miracle from them. I got the 85mm f/1.8, thinking that I can gain a full stop by shooting at f/2.0. Well, the result has been inconsistent. I got good result from the 1st meet, but then result from this past meet is crappy. I suspect the lower light is a factor since it means lower shutter speed. Since this lens doesn't have IS, slow shutter speed becomes a disadvantage due to camera shake with hand holding. It's frustrating to go home after the meet and see a bunch of blurry photos of decisive moments.
Here are some samples when they turn out decently using 85mm f/1.8 on Canon 40D at ISO 1600:
1. f/2.0, 1/640 sec
2. f/2.0, 1/1000 sec
3. f/2.5, 1/500 sec
Cuong
Thanks for posting these examples with the 85mm f/1.8. That is the next lens on my wish list. Right now I'm shooting with th 70-200 2.8 but those extra two stops look like they help. Nice pictures - they are so bright. My son is a gymnast so I usually am shooting the boys although I do cover one of the big co-ed meets for our team in March. Your season starts very early, our boys and girls don't start until late November.
Stephanie
Are you using spot metering? I would think that more difficult than center weighted with exposure compensation dialed in depending on being backlit, etc. I don't think you need raise a white flag on high ISO yet, but it probably will better serve better for an occasional shot than as your normal setting.
And most important, if you wait until next year to get the prime, it will cost much more and you will not have its use NOW! Trend has been that if you buy it now, you may be able to sell it used for the same price next year. And the money you don't spend won't buy you happiness, but getting the lens might...
Keep at it and keep on posting!
Cuong
Cuong......those are killer photos! So bright and crisp and the leotards show off as being shiny too. Can you give me some tips on what you're doing for PP?
With the 85mm are you finding that you're cropping down in PP to get those shots close like that? I've put my 28-70 on, and at 70, it's really only good for stuff within about 30'. In fact, I didn't use it at all at this past "home" meet because it doesn't have the reach.
Looking at that one bar shot, you're getting a great depth of field at f2.0. You've got the entire gymnast (except for her moving feet) and all the way back to the coupling at the bar end. That seems to be another thing that I'm struggling with, DOF, especially on bars.
Anyway, great shots and it motivates me even more to start hunting for a prime or 2.
Rainbow thanks. Yes, the photos are a hit. I'm winding up with about 40 keepers per athlete from this past weekend and have been making CD's for each of them. I'm giving them the full resolution shots, PP'd, and converted to exif/jpeg so they can send out for prints, print 'em at home, or just watch 'em on the computer. They are loving it....and yeah, these are now far and above the D80 w/ walk-around lens. Yesterday the gym owner asked if I'd give her photos from the meet so that she could use them in a brochure (and probably on the website). Kinda strange since she had a professional there the entire day.
Today I sent 2 team photos I'd taken this weekend, to Costco, and had 16x20's made. They really turned out fantastic. I brought them down to the gym at practice and asked all the girls to sign their respective team photo. The coach is putting them up on the wall. It was fun to be able to do that, and the girls were fired up about it too.
I'm shooting both with center focus, and with all focus points, depending on the event. I've been practicing enough that I can adjust the focus points on the fly without taking the camera away from my face, as well as ISO and of course shutter speed. So that helps me try to dial in the camera to what I think I'll need. I'm shooting with "spot metering" rather than "center weighted average," because I don't want the camera metering off the bright walls in the background. Maybe I'm wrong in doing so? I haven't played with "exposure bias" that I hear some people talk about.
So.....I'm having fun, but I still have a lot to learn! Next meet isn't until Oct 25th, so I've got some time now to practice more and who knows, maybe I'll trip over an 85mm or 135mm prime that I can't live without.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
For post processing, I use Lightroom 2 to quickly remove blurry, out-of-focus, and faceless shots, then crop, straighten, adjust the exposure, clarity, vibrance, and tone curve (high contrast). These are then exported and run through Noiseware. The resulting files are then uploaded to my smugmug gallery. LR and Noiseware are time savers considering the amount of photos I shoot at each meet.
Cuong
I don't have lightroom, but I've had several people recommend it to me. $199ish...ouch. But like you said, huge time saver, and that would really help if I'm going to continue to take shots of all our girls. Sorting through 1,200 pics using DPP is wearing me out.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Lightroom and Noiseware Pro are worthwhile investment given the volume you deal with after every meet. Since you've been good this year you might want to ask Santa for these instead of the 85mm lens. They'll definitely save your sanity in the long run.
Cuong
Nice location that you could get that close. That's how it was at Santa Cruz a month ago. You could touch the beam, floor was a walkway width from the rope line, and bars wasn't much further. Then if you stood in a back door way, the vault landing was just a couple feet away. That's when I realized I needed the 28-70/2.8L (and bought one about 2 wks later).
I've got noiseware pro, but don't often use it because it seems to almost do too much sometimes.....at least at pixel peeping views like 100%. So having never seen another photographer's work up close like that, I've been thinking it was sort of wrecking the images. I've just been using the noise reduction feature in DPP. I'll try the noiseware and have some prints made and see what I think.
Also, regarding PP. I've heard some people say to do the noise reduction first, then go back and sharpen, enhance colors, etc. Whatcha think?
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Cuong
Just found out that I can buy LR2 for $98 from the academicsuperstore.com since my kidlet is in elementary school.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Cuong
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Cuong
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
1. Tap swing
2. Cast
3. Straddle jump
Cuong
At the next meet, I think the gym is set up so that I can get in from the side on Bars. I'm going to, because I really like your shots from that angle. Much better looking than what I'm getting with 3/4's front view where they swing in and out of focus, and go from face down away from the lighting, to face up.
Here's what I've been working on:
A little "Atta Girl" project for the coach where I'm making posters for the girls area of the gym. Learning my way around Elements 7, and finding it a bit limiting, so I've just put on a trial of PS6. These posters were done in E7 though. Pretty basic and as my skills improve, I'm hoping to make some really cool posters for my daughter and the other girls. That's her in the upper left.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Cuong
Thanks. Too bad that one in the lower right is a bit OOF.
We've got one more "regular" meet in 2 weeks, and then zones a couple weeks after that, and then State if Kate qualifies.
Here's another poster:
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8
I'd recommend filling them entirely with image for the background rather than simply a gradient. The background can be a color toned shot of empty equement, the gym floor, even an interesting flag ... but something other than a smooth gradient to add just a bit more texture.
The image can be very muted (low contrast, color toned to compliment the uniform(s), etc.) but will make for a much more dramatic look to showcase your photos.
Good luck!
Well....here's what I went with. It's their big sign on the back wall. I'll try some different stuff on the next one I do.
Canon 7D... Canon 70-200/2.8L IS... Canon 28-70/2.8L... Canon 135/f2L... Canon 85/1.8... Canon 50/1.4... Canon 28/1.8