Football - Action, Portrait, Design.

Chasky

This is my first season shooting HS football. I have two d90s with a 70-200 and 300 2.8 lens for game photos. I shoot using maybe a 3200 or higher ISO at night, but I wonder what is the best way to reduce motion blur like on the ball in number 4 and hand in 6. I have other shots where this is happening and is even more distracting. Also just looking for some feedback on the shots...

1.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995921421_iC4wk-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995921421_iC4wk-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
2.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995946073_s5gBK-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995946073_s5gBK-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
3.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995953738_3Fz7J-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995953738_3Fz7J-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
4.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995963683_jFnnQ-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995963683_jFnnQ-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
5.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995935768_xcDaM-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995935768_xcDaM-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
6.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995935306_VCov4-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995935306_VCov4-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
7.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995959169_XjTt8-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995959169_XjTt8-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
8.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995919925_iYvKh-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995919925_iYvKh-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>
9.
<a href="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Other/Journey/10530154_etfdY#995921130_HntVp-A-LB&quot; title=""><img src="http://proproductions.smugmug.com/photos/995921130_HntVp-L.jpg&quot; title="" alt=""></a>

You can see more of the game photos here...
http://proproductions.smugmug.com/Sports-10/WHS-Football

Thank you for your time!

fmrnykr

Football, etc
On #s 4 and 6 you're using aperture priority and it's a bit slow for this type of action. #4's @ 1/250th and #6's @ 1/200th. Have you considered using shutter priority instead and try to keep it @ 1/500th or better? I don't have a D90, so I don't know if this setting will make you brick your ISO.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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Have you considered moving up the Nikon food chain for a camera that will support higher ISO settings?<o:p></o:p>
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rockcanyonphotos

First off, your post processing work is very nice!!

as for your concerns about blur, the previous post nailed the issue. For football you really need to be at 1/500 ss or better to stop action and even then you may get some occasional blurring of the extremities.

Your challenge is the lousy lighting conditions at HS stadiums. I am guessing that even with the higher ISOs you may not be able maintain a 1/500 ss. I know at the stadiums I shoot, I cannot maintain 1/500 even at ISO 6400. Another option is to breakout your flash and have that do the work for you to freeze the action at slower shutterspeeds. Yesterday I posted a brief description of the setup I use to do this. Go to: "http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=176817&quot; then scroll to the bottom of the thread.

regards, Kevin

JBHotShots

#9 is cool! Do you mind telling how you did that?

Chasky

Thank you for answering my question. I will put your responses to use this weekend and see what I can do with it!

As for the process for number 9... Here is a basic idea... I isolated the player from one of my photos and dropped him onto a black background. From there I duplicated his image, put a slight motion blur and drop shadow on it and moved it behind the original. The rest of the purples is all photoshop brushes with different blending modes and colors that I thought worked well either in the background or in front of the player. To finish it off I gave the top layer of the player a vivid outer and inner glow and of course added his name and year. Hope this is kind of what you were looking for

photodad1

Awesome photos! Great technique.

kiz5

In all honesty, I'd be completely going after the football sportrait / post-production work over any action sales. I know you probably love doing the sporting events, but with the work away from the field ... you'll be having kids coming to you, rather than you having to go to them and hoping.