Soccer Photo
I took this photo with my new Canon 50D and 70-200mm F2.8L non-IS lens. This photo was take at a shutter speed of 1/1600, F/5.6 and ISO/200. Please provide C & C. I am trying fine tune the camera settings, especially the auto focusing and white balance settings. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!
Fusion_09252010 115.jpg
Fusion_09252010 115.jpg
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Comments
Given the depth of field you got at f/5.6, the focus does appear to be just a little soft on both the girl and the ball. That's possibly a function of how you had your AF point(s) set.
I don't know if you shot the image that tight or cropped it, but it looks good.
The only suggestion I would make is to consider opening the aperture a bit, even to f/2.8. That would blur out the background and reduce any distractions back there.
Kent
"Not everybody trusts paintings, but people believe photographs."- Ansel Adams
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I mentioned this in another thread but be careful not to make your athletes into amputees, watch cutting off legs while running. It's hard when covering soccer but you have to anticipate and get both legs in the image.
Try to position yourself to get the least distracting background, if you can't, (I know it's hard with soccer, multiple fields, parking lots, etc) try what Kent suggested and blur the background by shooting at 2.8. In some cases, you can get rid of distracting backgrounds by shooting from a higher position and use the field as the background. This is always my last resort but sometimes it's much better than cars, other goals, empty stands, etc..
1. the pic is not in focus, her face and body are not sharp
2. too much space on the top & too little on the right
3. the bg, which i know you can only do so much with is very distracting....either open the lens up way more than 5.6 or be more selective when you shoot
Randy
http://www.CarolinaSportsPhotography.com/
I use aperature priority and keep it on the center focus point. I typically shoot in bright daylight, so keeping the shutter speed fast enough is not a problem. Re focus points - definately don't let the camera choose for you b/c more than likely it will focus on a player other than the one you want. I use center b/c I found that it feels like the center point focuses faster than one of the off center points.
you can check out my results in my smugmug site (see my sig). I shoot w/ a Canon 40D and either a 100-400 or a 70-200 f/2.8.
C.
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check out my (sports) pics: ColleenBonney.smugmug.com
*Thanks to Boolsacho for the avatar photo (from the dgrin portrait project)
in Nikon land we call it AFC (vs AFS), I think Canon calls it continuous servo....you want the camera to hold focus once you get it.
Randy
http://www.CarolinaSportsPhotography.com/
Aperture (or manual), you want to control the DOF
try to get the focus pt on the face, if this means changing it on the fly try practicing that. At f/2.8 on a DX body you can hit the mid section and get the face in focus so it's not a big deal to miss the face.
For my D3 I use 'dynamic focus' and 21 sensors. This means if i miss the kid the camera will try to help. Not sure what Canon has for this.
Randy
http://www.CarolinaSportsPhotography.com/
If you use Canon you can manually adjust the focus point on the fly, I use top center and focus on the face as Randy suggested. If that is not possible, I will focus on the jersey number.
Aperture priority works the best for me, and setup the camera to quickly change shutter speed with your dial and meter as needed. Inside is a bit easier as the lights are the same, outside the sun and direction will keep you on your toes and constantly changing shutter speed to keep your aperture wide open.
In the Aperture priority mode, I open the F-stop to 2.8 and the camera sets the shutter speed automatically and I adjust the ISO to fine tune the shutter speed, usually around 1/1200-1/2500 when shooting soccer. In sunny days with the sun at my back, I shoot F2.8, ISO 100 and the shutter speed ranges from 1/1200 to 1/2500. Any suggestions on controlling the shutter speed better?
The important question is: are the exposures correct? You don't need to have a constant shutter speed for stop-action photography - just a minimum. The only reason to specifically control all 3 elements (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) is to guarantee exposure in consistent lighting. So, don't fret over whether the shutter speed was changing - IF it was changing because light changed. If, however, it was changing because of jersey/background color which resulted in over/underexposed faces then you want that control. In which case, shoot with a manual exposure (which is what I use about 80% of the time for my outdoor sports).
As some of the others have mentioned, make sure your AF system is setup for continuous/tracking/predictive focus. The regular static/single shot AF modes are not going to be able to deal with moving subjects at f/2.8. Sorry I can't tell you the official canon names for the various AF modes.
Once you have AF system setup you'll need to spend some time getting used to what gives the best results. For example, once you have get the camera focused on the subject, the tracking system will need at least a little time (not long, a second or even less) to figure out how quickly the subject is moving toward or away from the camera. So next time your shooting, try to setup your shot, depress the shutter release half way, hold it and try to keep the same focus point on the subject for just a split second and then press the rest of the way.
This just an FYI....there isn't a women on the planet who will purchase (sorry, I look at this commercially) a foot strike shot. When the foot hits the ground gravity takes over and everything on the body, arms, breasts, body fat heads south. A fraction of a second later on either the toe-off, or stride, the arms pick up, the breasts and all body parts head north making for a much more impressive shot.
You shots will look much more impressive and will have a much greater appeal if you avoid the 'gravity' shot.
There are exceptions of course -when I shoot pro althletes who have no body fate their muscular bodies pop on the foot strike - which is awesome.
Keep up the good work and the C and C definitely makes your work much better over over time - I have learned much from others and from making many mistakes
George.
RI Photographer | RI Wedding Photographer