Help with Sharpness for Low Light Action Shots
I take photos of our HS volleyball team. I am looking for help critique for getting sharper images.
Equip I am using D300 with 80-200m 2.8 lens (both handheld and monopod) I have played with various settings ISO 1600-3200, Shutter priority 500-1000, Servo Focus/Release, 21 and 51pt 3D,Matrix.
Example posted is ISO 3200, S-1000,51pt 3D. I am able to stop ball with relative sharpness but rarely get faces,body sharp. I am wondering if my technique is the issue. Any help is greatly appreciated...!
Equip I am using D300 with 80-200m 2.8 lens (both handheld and monopod) I have played with various settings ISO 1600-3200, Shutter priority 500-1000, Servo Focus/Release, 21 and 51pt 3D,Matrix.
Example posted is ISO 3200, S-1000,51pt 3D. I am able to stop ball with relative sharpness but rarely get faces,body sharp. I am wondering if my technique is the issue. Any help is greatly appreciated...!
0
Comments
I do know at that ISO the D300 is a noise fest if you aren't getting a bright exposure. To get there you would have to decrease the shutter speed which would introduce more blur so kind of a can't win unless you have a way to get some flash on the subject.
I believe you need a faster lens and/or a camera body that handles higher ISO like the d700 or start using flash.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21695902@N06/
http://500px.com/Shockey
alloutdoor.smugmug.com
http://aoboudoirboise.smugmug.com/
So, do you get to shoot these same conditions at practices, or are games the only place you can shoot this? If you can get the same conditions in a practice, it would allow you some tweaking time.
Try this.
Stay at 3200, but expect some noise and consider Noiseware or Noise Ninja in post. If it's just too much, then try 1600. But I think you can get some decent results at 3200 here.
No way a D300 with an 80-200 (slower focus than the 70-200 AF-S) will keep up with 51pt 3D under those lighting conditions. Go to either 9 point or 21 point with Dynamic Area AF. I think 9 points would be fine here. Select a focus point you think will make sense for where you intend to do most of your framing. Change as needed during the game. I like to have Focus Point Wrap-Around on to make this selection easier. Use continuous-servo AF. Set AF-C Priority to Release+focus (or just to Release, if you insist; you'll get more usable shots with Release+focus if you shoot some bursts). BTW, you can burst your D300 to 9 frames per second without a grip. If you want to try it, let me know, and I will post instructions. Only issue is you will only get 1 second bursts with a max of 9 frames (the grip gives up to 40 frames in a burst). But that 1 second burst should be fine for this sport (plus you can shoot another 1 second burst right afterwards if needed). I use bursts to try and capture just the right facial expression in a series, then usually toss the other shots from the burst.
What you posted looks like a camera JPG. Shoot RAW instead. Turn D-Lighting off.
If you insist on JPG, turn D-Lighting off. Set Picture Control to Neutral. Use JPEG Fine Image Quality. Set JPEG Compression to Optimal Quality. RAW will give you better results in these circumstances with this camera.
Shoot manual. Spot meter a face. Meter once and then set there. I think you almost have to do that with what you've shown here. White and black uniforms and a light sucking black fabric background in an already dark gym. Use the histo in the camera and aim for a little brighter than what you might normally do if you were shooting JPGs. In other words, keep the left graph edge away from the left side of the histo by more than normal. (Note: The on camera LCD may look a little brighter than what you would like. That's okay). If you have chosen to shoot JPGs (wrong choice), then just look for a good normal histo.
If you just can't bring yourself to shoot manual, shoot A and not S priority. Use matrix metering if you go this route.
Try the above and let's see what you get.
We can talk about composition and shooting position later.
Very helpful thanks. A couple of comments. I do shoot raw not jpg just uploaded jpg format.
Most settings you have suggested I use except 9pt and manual with spot metering a face.. I have not tried that yet as I was thinking at 2.8 the likelihood the action would come back to that specific point was small however in the course of the game there are lots of opportunities so I will try that. I am sure that is what a newspaper photographer must have been doing as I noticed he held his camera in one position and did not move it while shooting.
The histogram suggestions made assume shooting RAW correct?
I also have a grip so if you wouldn't mind providing instructions on burst rate discussed it would be much appreciated.
I do use Noise Ninja which does reduce the noise significantly but at 3200 I still seem to get what appears to be large digital splotches when reviewed at 1:1. Not sure I am using NN correctly so I will research.
I really really appreciate your post and help.. !
Lighting's going to be fairly consistent throughout (from the looks of it). You need to set once with the spot on a face for exposure. I suspect part of your problem is the exposure.
On focus, pick a point for focus where you expect there to be some action. Camera will focus there and then keep up with what it focused on (continuous-servo setting) for that shot. It will focus again at that same point next set. You want a point where a player will be. This is where composition and angle come into play somewhat. Can you get any closer? You can also move that point around as you try different framing. On a D700 or a D3, I'd use the Auto-area AF instead of the Dynamic-area AF, but the D300 just can't seem to keep up processor wise in this kind of lighting for Auto-area to work. You're stuck with having to find a focus point in Dynamic-area that will work for the series of shots you are taking, then moving that point as needed for other series. Knowing the game well enough to anticipate the action will help.
Yes
Have or do NOT have?
If exposure's off too much, the noise reduction won't be able to do too much. Plus, you'll lose some sharpness in noise reduction.
I think that is exactly what I am experiencing. I have been underexposing only because I have been trying to increase the shutter speed to 1000 to improve my sharpness. But the auto focus is still unable to get the players sharp and I am introducing more noise. I look forward to trying exposure using spot metering and the auto focus suggestions you have made. Since focus has not improved if only slightly using a monopod or hand holding the camera.
Here's an idea of how the shot should be framed in-camera:
Wow what a difference. This makes total sense. Does it matter what mm the lens is extended to? My shots posted range from 90-130mm I would need to be closer to 200mm end from where the position I can generally shoot from during games.
What other settings you would suggest using D300 and 80-200mm lens?
Is there an issue with this lens speed for focusing? It seems to focus very quickly to me. I am shooting continuous servo but don't seem to notice a difference btwn frames.
I have shot both hand held and on a monopod.
Comments and constructive criticism always welcome.
www.mikejulianaphotography.com
Facebook
I have always had problems with aperture priority on low light action shots, so I use shutter priority until I get the action subject together (whether I want leg/arm blur or sharpness) - then go to manual to adjust A for dof... THEN hope it works under iso 3200
That said, I don't do a lot of artificial light stuff and it seems it's always a crap shoot for me
Good luck.
Only if you are shooting JPG. He's shooting RAW.
Same settings I gave you before. This is what I was talking about when I said we could talk about framing later. Can you also physically get any closer as well?
Yes it matters what mm your lens is set to. Bigger mm means more magnification, less field of view (makes you seem to be closer). Leave your lens at 200 for one complete game to force yourself to learn how to use it there and get close. Once you get good at 200, then you can back it off a little when you think it's appropriate.
A D300 with that lens and low light will be slower to focus than a D300 with the 70-200 AF-S lens and noticeably slower than a D700 or D3 with either lens. For volleyball, where the movement isn't all that fast or the distance changed all that far, you should be fine. Still, when you shoot at 200 instead of 90 or 130, you are going to have fewer photos in focus. The lens has less DOF at the same aperture at 200 than it does at 80. So, what.
You don't need three hundred usable photos from a match. Look for 30 to 40 good action frames from a match, and 5 really great ones (once you get used to shooting at 200, using the gear, and know the timing of the game well). Cull your photos ruthlessly.
Thanks John I do have NR set and have experimented with all levels. I will turn off next outing..