Just starting out..

Brooklynjibaro

Hi guys. First of all I have to say I'm really impressed with some of the work in these galleries. I just purchased my first DLSR a year ago; my son had just started getting into sports, so I thought it would be a sound investment. Little did I realize how much fun I would have shooting with an SLR over a point-and-shoot.

To make a long story short, after the director of my town's football program saw some of the shots I was getting of the little flag football guys, he asked me if I would shoot the tackle teams. I was flattered and ecstatic, although I was a bit nervous about how my shots would come out. The games ran from 2pm until well after 9, so I got to experience shooting in all kinds of light. I was experimenting all day, playing around with my ISO and shutter speeds (although I didn't mess with the aperature much, I will definitely give that a shot next time). I currently have a Canon XSI, and I switched between my 28-135mm and 70-300 lenses. The first lesson I learned about shooting sports in low light: On-camera flash is bad!! LoL, so many potentially good shots were plagued with demon eyes!

Anyhow, these are some of the better shots I got from that day. Unfortunately it was the last regular football games of the season for the tackle teams, so I am going to have to wait until next year to work on my improvements. In the meantime, I'm working out possible court-side access for the basketball teams!


This was from the first game, so light really wasn't an issue for me yet.




I thought their stance was great for 7-year olds!




From the next game... the lack of light started to become a factor




This was the last game. No sunlight anymore.




Anyhow, those were some of the shots I ended up with. Overall, I was pretty happy with many of the shots I ended up with, considering. I also learned alot fro hands-on experience. I used Neat Image and Picasa to slean up and do some basic lighting and sat/hue fixes on these. Any critiques/feedback/advice/tips would be much appreciated, thanks!!

JimKarczewski

Heh, I wish the local paper thought "demon eyes" were bad. They constantly publish red-eye pictures of football. I got rid of that by moving my flash and attaching it to my monopod so it was about 20" below the lens. That moved it far enough away (via Canon flash hotshoe cable) to rid the shots of red-eye. Biggest problem is keeping shutter speeds up... depending on the field. If you shoot the same place every week, not much to worry about if you're getting good results, which it seems though you are. Problem comes when traveling and finding new, "interesting" lighting every week.


Try to keep your shutter speed as FAST as possible. The blurring really starts falling off (for me at least it seems) at 1/320 or better. Shooting at 1/500 is really good if you can get it.. which I'm hoping for next week at Lucas Oil field in Indianapolis...

Brooklynjibaro

Hey, thanks for the tips. Couple questions for ya

1) when I have my flash mounted on-camera, I'm not able to go higher than 1/200 or 1/250 I believe... how do I get around this? I do have a pair of Pocket Wizards, if that helps, but not sure how to use my flash at speeds higher than 250, I was told that the flash wouldn't sync. I'm using a 430 EXII btw. I also have the LumoPro LP160 manual shoe-mount flash as well, if you think that would work better.

2) Are you holding the flash on a monopod in one hand and shooting with the other? Or is it one of those monopods with the tripod legs that pop out? Or are you bungie-cording it to the monopod 20" below while the camera is attached to the top? That sounds like a really good solution to my red-eye problem, thanks!

johng

You don't really need fast shutter speeds when using flash to stop action. The flash will freeze the action - provided you have the camera's exposure set about 2 stops or more below exposure required if you weren't using flash. The reason is - the flash burst is only 1/1000-1/4000 long. So while your shutter may be open for 1/200 - if you have the exposure set 2 stops below proper there isn't enough light to record a good image - except for that 1/1000 when the flash burst goes off.

Now, another alternative is to use High Speed Synch which will enable you to use faster shutter speeds (if you're using synch cord vs. pocket wizard). The down side is this actually requires multiple flash bursts to achieve and thus you lose a lot of power from the flash.

I actually prefer non HSS not only because of the power issue but because with using the flash to freeze motion, the light falloff from the flash takes care of eliminating distracting backgrounds. Some people may like the stands/players in the background.

Here's a shot using that (non HSS) principle:


As for the flash, I find it useful to clamp on to the monopod. Here's a picture of my setup:


I would strongly recommend going with the 580exII or similar metz flash that will allow you to use a battery pack. That will help on not having to change batteries as frequently and speed up recycle time.

Kimyz250f

I totally dig the girls playing tackle football. Great day light shots. I don't have any suggestions for night time shots because I'm still struggling in that area

Icebear

John, it appears you have your lens screwed directly to the monopod, with no head. Am I seeing that right? Does that work for you? I use a small ball head on top of my monopod, and that screws up my ability to mount the flash on the monopod, cause I can't be sure where it might be pointing.

JimKarczewski

johng wrote: »

You don't really need fast shutter speeds when using flash to stop action. The flash will freeze the action - provided you have the camera's exposure set about 2 stops or more below exposure required if you weren't using flash. The reason is - the flash burst is only 1/1000-1/4000 long. So while your shutter may be open for 1/200 - if you have the exposure set 2 stops below proper there isn't enough light to record a good image - except for that 1/1000 when the flash burst goes off.

Now, another alternative is to use High Speed Synch which will enable you to use faster shutter speeds (if you're using synch cord vs. pocket wizard). The down side is this actually requires multiple flash bursts to achieve and thus you lose a lot of power from the flash.

I actually prefer non HSS not only because of the power issue but because with using the flash to freeze motion, the light falloff from the flash takes care of eliminating distracting backgrounds. Some people may like the stands/players in the background.

Here's a shot using that (non HSS) principle:


As for the flash, I find it useful to clamp on to the monopod. Here's a picture of my setup:


I would strongly recommend going with the 580exII or similar metz flash that will allow you to use a battery pack. That will help on not having to change batteries as frequently and speed up recycle time.

What John said. Brilliant minds think alike! My flash was setup exactly like his on a mono-pod as he pictured it.


I MAY, but may not, try shooting this weekend with my flash completely off camera fired by pocket wizard. I shoot at a DARK local school. Without flash it's 1/250 (center of field)/2.8 @ ISO6400. Problem is, I have to figure out my lighting. I set my 580EX to 1/4 power and fired it via pocket wizard at 1/250 and was getting an fstop of 8-22 depending on my position. So I might experiment more tonight and go down to 1/8 power. If I can get away with something in the F4 range, it might should work... if my logic is right. lol

johng

Icebear wrote: »

John, it appears you have your lens screwed directly to the monopod, with no head. Am I seeing that right? Does that work for you? I use a small ball head on top of my monopod, and that screws up my ability to mount the flash on the monopod, cause I can't be sure where it might be pointing.

Yes - for my preference a ball head is more of a hindrance than a help - hand rests on top of the lens to provide stability and zoom and I can pivot around the monopod when I need to. But - it brings up an interesting point - the OPs lens doesn't have a collar on it. So without a head they wouldn't be able to use the camera in portrait orientation. That would be problematic.

JimKarczewski

Unlike John, I do use a ball head on my monopod, but it's strictly for height... because of my height, my monopod doesn't cut it unless I really bend over, so I have one of those quick release ball heads from Manfrotto with the Grip that you squeeze to move the position. I don't ever touch it, it's strictly there for adding height... but collars are really essential, I keep mine loose so I can rotate the lens quickly.