Indoor lacrosse CC

wolfnature

Hello Everyone,

I was fortunate enough this past season to have been selected as a photographer for a professional indoor lacrosse team and am looking for some CC. I've received favorable comments from fans and team personnel, however I am interested in hearing opinions from other photographers (since we look at things differently). I feel that I learned a lot during the season, but am looking to improve for next season.

What I feel is one of the bigges issues is overall sharpness. I am shooting at high ISO, generally 3200 so I can get the shutter speed I need, but that ends up introducing a high level of noise into the picture. As a result of removing the noise the sharpness gets lost. I will boost the sharpness back up, but my PP skills are still growing.

All of these shots were taken with a Canon 20D (although I just recently upgraded to a 7D). The lens used was Canon 70-200mm 2.8L. Generally I would set the camera to AV mode and let it determine the shutter speed, and set the focus to AI servo.

Any comments and critiques would be greatly appreciated.

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#3 This was after a goal in the championship game and I love the looks of the fans.





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#8 This is one of those capture the moment shots. This was during the conference finals and the game had gone into overtime. The ball was grabbed right off the faceoff and this was the shot to win the game and send the team to the championships. This was done just 8 seconds into overtime. So even though it's not as good as it could be from a technical viewpoint (you can definately see some noise left), this is the picture that most people talk about.

Mark1616

It looks like you are in the same boat as me, being new here and trying to get people to comment on your shots, my Ruby from yesterday is also sitting with no comments.

I don't shoot lacrosse, but have shot sports for 5 years and one thing I've learnt is that with a 200mm lens if you want good sharpness then stick to shooting within about 25 yards, if you push over this things really start to get soft. Same goes for any focal length, once you get over a certain distance then it gets softer. It's a pain waiting for the action, but the added sharpness is worth it as you don't bin lots of shots. Sure there are times to forget about the softness, if you need to catch a celebration etc.... especially if shooting for a paper where they don't have the same quality of printing compared to a magazine.

KMCC

What noise reduction software are you using? I use both Noiseware and Noise Ninja and don't experience any loss of sharpness after all post-processing is completed. (Noise reduction is always my first step)

If I was shooting in that arena, I'd be shooting in Manual mode at f/2.8, ISO 1600 or 3200 depending on the quality of the lighting, and 1/400th shutter speed.

In Av mode, your camera will "see" those dark jerseys (among other things) and reduce the shutter speed with the net result of inducing blur. Manual mode keeps your camera from being fooled by dark backgrounds, jerseys, cycling arena lights, etc. At 1/400 or even 1/500 you'll have a shutter speed that'll help freeze action.

Another consideration is how do you have your auto-focus points configured. In a couple of those shots, it appears that the boards around the playing area are in slightly better focus than the players. If you're using more than one AF point, you may be focusing on the wrong areas. (Just a thought)

rockcanyonphotos

Seems like you are doing a lot of croping. Not necessarily a bad thing but i did notice on several of your shots that the words on the wall seemed to be in better focus than the players. Kind of goes back to the previous post about how many AF points are you using and how many assist points? Something just does not seem quite right on the AF, since your focus point on several of the shots appears to be off to one side of the action.

Regards, Kevin

wolfnature

Thank you for your comments so far.

For the focus, I have been using all the focus points, but can now see that I should set it to using just one point. I have seen quite a few reviews indicating that the focusing system on the 7d is considerably better, so I am sure I will have to adjust to that.

As far as the noise, I am using Noise Ninja and using the Canon 20d default noise profiles. It works well in removing the noise, but it seems to leave the images a bit soft, although some of that may just be in my settings and PP somewhere.

Generally my settings would be set in AV mode at 2.8 and ISO 3200. This typically will result in the shutter speed being between 1/800 and 1/1250. If I set my ISO to 1600 to try and reduce noise, it seems that my shutter speeds drop quite a bit and I get more blur in the pictures.

As I previously stated I recently upgraded to a 7d and am looking forward to using that at some of the games. I know I will have to make some adjustments to get used to the difference and will definately keep everyones comments in mind.

KMCC

wolfnature wrote: »

Generally my settings would be set in AV mode at 2.8 and ISO 3200. This typically will result in the shutter speed being between 1/800 and 1/1250. If I set my ISO to 1600 to try and reduce noise, it seems that my shutter speeds drop quite a bit and I get more blur in the pictures.

Av mode is going to drop your shutter speed when your camera "sees" those dark jerseys and dark backgrounds.

Shooting in Manual at a shutter speed that is fast enough to eliminate blur keeps your camera from being fooled by those same dark jerseys and dark backgrounds.

In Av, set the aperture to 2.8 and ISO to 1600 (go to 3200 if you have too), then see what shutter speed you get when focusing on the playing surface out near center court. Assuming that it's 1/400 or faster, switch to Manual at that shutter speed; leaving ISO and aperture at the same settings.

Take a few test shots. A quick look at the histogram for those images will tell you if you're in the ballpark or not.

That, plus using a single AF point (preferably the center), should give you better results.

Also, if you're not already doing so, try configuring your camera for back-button focusing. A quick Google search will turn up lots of information on that technique.

wolfnature

Kent,

Thanks for the tips on setting it for manual mode. I will definately get that figured out during training camp.

I am planning on setting my focus to center point and have been using the back button focusing for a while now (that always throws my wife off when she tries to take a picture).

emtajim

Another Indoor LAX shooter, all right! Tough shooting isn't it?

I like the shot with one of my Roughies in it.

I've been doing indoor LAX for about 5 years now and still struggle with the lighting in the dark barns. I'm shooting with a 40D and a 70-200 2.8 L ISM in manual with exposures of f2.8 ISO 1600 and end up with shutter speeds of only 1/200 to 1/250 in most locations. Find it hard to "shoot right" in most places. I've found single point focus and A1 Servo works best for me. I haven't tried the back button focus thing yet but since I'm about to pull the trigger on a 1DMk IV so may try it then. I was thinking of going with the 7D but ran into some bonus money so am making the big step. I just use the ACR noise reduction in my Photoshop Elements but thinking I may switch to Lightroom for the new and better version of ACR.

Although I haven't been lucky enough to do NLL stuff I have been doing the next couple of levels down (Jr A, Sr B and Jr . Lots of the NLL guys are playing Sr A/B ball in the summer leagues so pretty close to the same level of play just crummier facilities and lighting.

You can check my stuff out at www.picsbyjames.com

Keep up the good work and have fun this season!

Jim





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