Second Football game, C&C would be cool.
EphTwoEight
Registered Users Posts: 552 Major grins
Shot with the D800 70-200 2.8VR2 (which by the way, has a lot of slop between the lens and body:scratch)
Shutter priority, auto ISO up to 4K
Even worse lights than the game before.
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This one was on the news site.
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This one also used on the news.
:dunno Still learning, playing and having fun. Thx
Shutter priority, auto ISO up to 4K
Even worse lights than the game before.
1
2
This one was on the news site.
3
4
5
6
7
This one also used on the news.
:dunno Still learning, playing and having fun. Thx
0
Comments
Two things:
1) I think you need to crop tighter. I found myself hunting for the action in some of the shots. Tighter the better.
2) You gotta push the shutter speed faster to stop motion and get crisper shots. I haven't shot the D800, but with it's full frame sensor I'd think you can push the ISO pretty high so you can get a faster shutter speed and still come out with a great shot.
I also had the blacks crushed a bit more, but editor wants to see faces if possible.
Four things to keep in mind when shooting sports.
Face, Action, Contact, Toys (ball,stick) - FACT. Get all four in one shot - winner, 3 out of 4 is very good.
Of course, guidelines are made to be broken.
I wonder if you can push it to 6400 ISO and use LR to adjust noise level. Worth a try.
Have fun.
Phil
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
And yeah, the faces are also very important. Rarely is a shot very interesting without the face - the face shows the emotion and intensity of the moment and makes the shot. There is an acronym: FACT (Face, Action, Contact, Toy). When you're reviewing your shots, keep it in mind and attempt to capture all 4, or at least 3 of 4.
I'm not an expert - I'm still learning, but I've found that as I've shot tighter, and then cropped even tighter then, and focused on FACT, the impact of my photos has increased significantly.
OP - one last thing - if you are using Lightroom you might do a quick fix of your horizon line at the same time as when you're cropping. Maybe most people don't notice it, but it was actually the first thing that popped out at me, although I didn't mention it above.
Good luck!
1. Crop is too loose, background is distracting, too much motion blur.
2. Nothing there. No faces, no ball, no conflict.
3. Best of the bunch, but you've missed peak action
4. I have no idea what is happening here. No context, no peak action, backgrounds are distracting, cropped WAY loose.
5. Would have been cool if you were on the other sideline. From here, not so much.
6. A tight crop might have made this one work.
7. Cropped tighter, this one has some strong elements. #60 is not involved. Get him out of there.
All of these photos seem to share the same basic flaws.
1. There is a lack of a story. A photograph becomes powerful when it tells us a story. Kid gets his helmet knocked off. Kid celebrates his first ever touchdown. Kid breaks tackles and looks toward the end-zone. Kicker gets hit trying to score the winning FG. Examine these photos, and tell me what the STORY is. Is that story compelling? Would someone looking at the photo be able to figure out that story with no captions?
2. You are cropped too loose. But this tends to happen a lot in sports photography when you don't have enough focal length. Everything becomes a snapshot. So here's a guideline. Get the ball in your shot near or in a person's hand, or near their foot. And get tight enough so you can tell what color the eyes of the primary player are.
3. Peak action. Peak action happens just as a ball is being caught, thrown, or kicked. Or just as a player is being hit. Two tenths before or after works. Half a second before or after does not. Such is the nature of sports photography.
4. You are standing in the wrong place. I know why you're there, but all your angles are wrong, and it's killing your backgrounds. You need to be behind the end-zones for most of the game. If you are roaming the sidelines, you shouldn't take your lens off 200mm and find stories. The QB under center. The eyes of a RB trying to get out of bounds before a hit, etc. When you've got long glass, you've got options, and you can chase shots. When you don't have long glass, you have to let the game come to you. Did the team you were covering win or lose? What was the coach's reaction? Who was the last player to leave the field, and did they walk off alone? Those are stories that you can get with limited equipment, they tell a story, you don't need a lot of light or shutter speed to capture them, and they can be more powerful than the action.
perroneford@ptfphoto.com
1) FACE, BALL, ACTION - if you don't see all of those in your viewfinder, don't press the shutter button. Shoot the action coming toward you. Images of the backs of players have limited, if any, interest. If the action is moving away from you, or on the other side of the field, don't try to force a shot.
2) SHOOT TIGHT, CROP TIGHTER - To accomplish this, the effective range of your 70-200mm is going to be no more than 15-20 yards. Which means that you're going to have to follow the action up and down the sidelines. I don't agree that shooting from behind the end zones is a good idea, as you immediately lose 10 yards. Concentrate on capturing the player in the center of the action and the one trying to tackle him or trying to block him. All those other guys don't add much to the image. Also if you're shooting tight, extraneous stuff, like bleachers in the background and people standing on the sidelines with you, will be kept to a minimum.
You'll probably find that most of your good images will be captured at 200mm.
Assuming that you're shooting games at night, once the lights get dim (as they do at every stadium I've ever shot in; especially high school stadiums), I'd recommend shooting in Manual mode at f/2.8, 1/500 shutter speed (no slower than 1/400), and ISO set at 3200 or higher assuming that your noise reduction software will handle it.
One last comment, watch your horizons and make sure your images are level.
Keep shooting.
Kent
"Not everybody trusts paintings, but people believe photographs."- Ansel Adams
Web site
I am glad it is being remembered that way. I had read a while back FACB - Face, Action, Contact, Ball. Since I have worked in the acronym laden IT work and since it is not always a "Ball", I thought "Toy" would be more widely applicable and easier to remember.
Phi
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil