Noob Shoots Wrestling

Macushla

slipkid wrote:

I have the D90 and use the AF-C focusing mode when shooting sports. It tracks the movement pretty well. You hold down the shutter button half way and follow the action, then press it all the way down to take the picture.

Steve thanks for the suggestion I will try it.

Macushla

Switching to the D90 and using the flash made and unbelievable difference. It is hard because there are 6 matches going on at one time and tons of people everywhere. I had to sit on the mat in the corner. If I was any further back people were standing in front of me so there a lot of missing limbs. I'm also not really aware of cutting them off yet. I'm concentrating on the kids faces and their extremities are not in the frame. I will work on it.

Shutter 1/200 - I was using the flash SB600. Aperture f/3.5 ISO 1000. I used the histogram to get the settings. I think I would have liked to lower the aperture to blur more of the background.
1.


2. The agony of defeat. (Sadly this is my boy)


3. The finger shot.

4. Another crushing loss. : (


But on a happier note my photographs are getting better. Here are the rest of them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/yohenrys/PatWrestling#

Any suggestions?

slipkid

Those look better with the flash, keep at it.

Macushla

Thanks Steve I think I have a few weeks off before the next match. I'm going to keep practicing and getting more familiar with the camera. Thanks for your help.

Macushla

This weekend I tried to bounce the flash off the ceiling. The gym was very dark, they only had 1/2 of the lights on to keep it cool and almost no windows. I thought the direct flash would be distracting for the wrestlers because it was so dark otherwise. I tried bouncing the flash - I thought it might not work because the ceiling was really high but it seemed to work out great.

1. I know their faces are not really in this one but I thought it was pretty funny.


2.
3.

4. I took this one at my house while practicing head shots.

C&C always welcome.

ole doc

congratulations. good face shots. some color casts that can be corrected in post-processing. Who'd of thunk that an SB600 could adequately bounce off a gym ceiling.
what ISO did you use (and shutter speed)
Nick

Macushla

ole doc wrote:

congratulations. good face shots. some color casts that can be corrected in post-processing. Who'd of thunk that an SB600 could adequately bounce off a gym ceiling.
what ISO did you use (and shutter speed)
Nick

Shutter 1/200 (that is the max for the flash) ISO 1600, Aperture f1.8. This was also the first time shooting wrestling with my new lens 50mm 1.8 - it is so much easier than with the 70-210 lens.

schlpic

Hi Macushla--You are not limited by 200 shutter speed when using the sb600, only when using the on board flash. Look on page 195 of your D90 manual, and enable the FP setting for high speed sync. ~Shelley

tjk60

schlpic wrote:

Hi Macushla--You are not limited by 200 shutter speed when using the sb600, only when using the on board flash. Look on page 195 of your D90 manual, and enable the FP setting for high speed sync. ~Shelley

If the camera is already at ISO 1600 with flash, why lower the flash power and introduce blur?

schlpic

tjk60 wrote:

If the camera is already at ISO 1600 with flash, why lower the flash power and introduce blur?

In the post right above mine, Macushla stated that the max shutter speed was 1/200 when using the sb600 flash with the D90.
I was sharing information with Macushla that there is a way to change this. By enabling the FP setting on the D90 (and the page in the D90 manual to reference this), you are no longer limited to a maximum shutter speed of only 1/200, when using the sb600 flash. Once the FP setting is enabled on the camera, you can select 1/320, 1/500 or whatever shutter speed you'd like to freeze the action.

I did not mention any change to ISO or any adjustment in flash power. Although when you increase the shutter speed you will change the relationship of settings that had been previously mentioned, and he/she will have to determine if a change in ISO/flash is also needed. ~Shelley

Macushla

schlpic wrote:

In the post right above mine, Macushla stated that the max shutter speed was 1/200 when using the sb600 flash with the D90.
I was sharing information with Macushla that there is a way to change this. By enabling the FP setting on the D90 (and the page in the D90 manual to reference this), you are no longer limited to a maximum shutter speed of only 1/200, when using the sb600 flash. Once the FP setting is enabled on the camera, you can select 1/320, 1/500 or whatever shutter speed you'd like to freeze the action.

I did not mention any change to ISO or any adjustment in flash power. Although when you increase the shutter speed you will change the relationship of settings that had been previously mentioned, and he/she will have to determine if a change in ISO/flash is also needed. ~Shelley

Shelley - I had no idea I could do this I will look into it. Thanks!

tjk60 wrote:

If the camera is already at ISO 1600 with flash, why lower the flash power and introduce blur?

If I change the settings to coordinate with the higher shutter speed it sounds like it would work. Why would there be blur?

johng

In general, high speed synch is not always a good idea for sports. It really reduces the power of the flash because of how it operates. Especially if you're bouncing, it might not work well at all. For direct flash with close subjects it's not as much of an issue. But in general, high speed synch is really for fill flash outdoors. Again, if it weren't for the dramatic decrease in flash power it would be an ideal cocept for sports. But as it stands you'll usually get better results if you stay at synch speed.