Rugby photos first attempt please help

Pam7

Shot my first Rugby game last week. Photos were flat, blown highlights , and/or too dark. The pitch was in harsh sunlight on one end and deep shadows on the other.

Needless to say I need help for next time. Would a poloarizing filter help?
I shoot with a Canon 20d and a Canon 75-300 mm 4.6 lense in manual mode ISO ranged from 100 to 200. I was basically trying lots of things.

I don't want to spend a lot of time post processing and I only have Photoshop elements 4.0 so no curves just levels. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://Pam7.smugmug.com/share/wxFEBCZAjmJ2x

blob

Pam7 wrote:

Shot my first Rugby game last week. Photos were flat, blown highlights , and/or too dark. The pitch was in harsh sunlight on one end and deep shadows on the other.

Those pitch conditions seem pretty typical of most outdoor fields in the afternoon, for soccer or rugby.

I would recommend cropping a bit tighter; I don't need to see the branches in the background.

I've found that a shallow depth of field works best for these sorts of sports. With a 75-300 f/4.6 I would recommend setting the camera on aperture priority, and setting the aperture as wide open as you can get. That will also bring up the shutter speed.

I would also look at changing your point of view to something lower, closer to the same level as the players. You get more dramatic shots that way. Your shots appear to be from above, perhaps spectator seating. I find if you can at all get to the sideline, and kneel down occasionally, you get more dramatic shots.

I like the subject, and some of the shots are quite nice; they just need a bit tighter cropping. Thanks for sharing these, Pam.

(By the way, Scott Kelby's book on Photoshop Elements 4 for Digital Photographers is quite helpful with tips and tricks to post-process your photographs to make them better.)

Steve Cavigliano

Pam,
I think you did pretty good considering the conditions Mid-day shooting is always rough. There's just too much dynamic range for your camera to capture it all well. If you try to cut back on the blowouts, darker areas will be even more under exposed

You can get better post processed images from RAW files. But, you say you don't want to do much p/p Since you don't have a choice about when to shoot these matches, you will have similar issues shooting jpgs only during harsh mid-day lighting.

I agree with Blob. A shallower DOF would be nice. Especially with that busy "dead tree" background. I'm not sure if I'd recommend shooting your lens wide open though. What you gain in background blur might be lost through soft focus. Zooms are usually softer wide open than stopped down a stop, or so. A faster lens would help with these 2 issues, but not the harsh light Shooting your subjects tighter (like the 9th shot in your gallery) would also help with BG blurring and subject isolation. It looks like you can accomplish this with your current lens. Many of your shots showed 135-220mms. So you can get tighter

Shooting in harsh light is one of the toughest challenges we face. All you can do is minimize the effect, not negate it. So no a polarizer won't fix this issue. It will only wind up costing you 2 stops of shutter speed and will help very little with blowouts. IMHO, shooting RAW is your best bet. If you need some p/p help, there's lots of folks here who would love to help you learn how to get the most from these shots.

Steve

wxwax

If you look at sports shots in magazines, you'll see some common features. Often very tight on the action, ball in the image, eyes visible, dramatic moment. There are, of course, mavellous exceptions.

Only bigger glass or cropping will get you tighter on the action. Sports editors don't seem to be afraid of stray body parts in the frame, as long as they don't take the eye away from the principal action.

Pam7

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I'm going to shoot another match this evening. Hopefully they will come out much better.