need help/advice quickly...

BlueHoseJacket

I am leaving about 5:00 EST to attend the ESPN Thursday Night Football game between Georgia Tech and Virginia in Atlanta, kickoff at about 7:45. Over the last several weeks I have taken shots at the games with varying degrees of sucess. I am sitting in the stands and will NOT be roaming the sidelines which limits alot of opportunities. I am a true rookie with the DSLR (Canon EOS Rebel XT, an EF 28-105 1:3.5 to 4.5 lense, and an EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 lense).

Below are several shots I have taken over the last several weeks. I am going to be sitting on the third row, lower level (same seats as shown in Picture #1 & #2) with kickoff at around for both this game and tonights game.



These pictures were from a day game from the UPPER level in the middle of a very sunny afternoon.



The last two photos are from the third week of the season with 1:00 kickoff on another sunny day God made for Georgia Tech football. These were taken from the lower level ,35 rows up in the stands . On this day I started using the Aperture priority setting on the camera and trying to learn how to use this camera. The first two games (4 pictures above I had the camera in automatic mode because I am a big chicken).





NOW...what do I need to do tonight to get some decent shots...I know that due to inexperince (I have loads of that), restricted access, and restricted equipment (no 2.8 lense no monopod,etc.)I am not going to get incredible shots. I want something that I can be proud of and enjoy. Any and all advice is appreciated

sirsloop

take photos EARLY... the more light the better. See if you can get right down next to sideline pregame and get some shots from the wall. I dont know how tight security will be, but arrive early and take as many photos in good light as you can.

BlueHoseJacket

Early Shots....
I will be there early and my seats are on the 3rd row so I will not have any security type issues. My biggest problem tonight is going to be shooting the action on the field because of the players on the sidelines blocking the view of the field.

sirsloop wrote:

take photos EARLY... the more light the better. See if you can get right down next to sideline pregame and get some shots from the wall. I dont know how tight security will be, but arrive early and take as many photos in good light as you can.

mikeshots

I'd say in order to really freeze the action in the game you might consider also trying the shutter priority mode (Tv). If you're using your 300mm lens and you're zoomed in all the way (focal length of 300mm), try a shutter speed at 300 or slightly higher. I use shutter priority for all sporting events that have lots of fast action.

stephiewilliams

mikeshots wrote:

I'd say in order to really freeze the action in the game you might consider also trying the shutter priority mode (Tv). If you're using your 300mm lens and you're zoomed in all the way (focal length of 300mm), try a shutter speed at 300 or slightly higher. I use shutter priority for all sporting events that have lots of fast action.

Shooting shutter priority often times will give you sharp backgrounds which in my opinion really detracts from a good sports photo. But there are times when it is useful...this is going to be tough...I would say for football you need at least 1/640 if not 1/800 or higher. I would bump your ISO as far up as you need to. Some people are worried about grainyness but if these are just for you then a grainy sharp photo with stopped action is going to be better than a clear blurry photo...

When I shoot football I shoot on Aperture priority, ISO as high as I need it to get at least 1/640 and AF-C mode with a center target focus.

sirsloop

stephiewilliams wrote:

Shooting shutter priority often times will give you sharp backgrounds which in my opinion really detracts from a good sports photo. But there are times when it is useful...this is going to be tough...I would say for football you need at least 1/640 if not 1/800 or higher. I would bump your ISO as far up as you need to. Some people are worried about grainyness but if these are just for you then a grainy sharp photo with stopped action is going to be better than a clear blurry photo...

When I shoot football I shoot on Aperture priority, ISO as high as I need it to get at least 1/640 and AF-C mode with a center target focus.

agreed... 1/500th really is minimum - 1/1000th is preferred. Use AI servo to track the action and I've had the most luck woth using center weith average metering.

johng

Well, to be honest, a huge obstacle is going to be focal length. In my experience, if yo want to crop the action tight, a 200mm lens on a 1.5x or 1.6x crop camera gives you about 30 yards of realistic range, 300mm gives you about 45 and 400mm gives you about 60. Beyond that, images usually aren't sharp enough to crop tightly.

Given the distance between the stands and the field that doesn't give you a lot to work with. So, even with shutter appropriate shutter speeds you'll be hard pressed to get sharp images from the stands except for a very limited area on the field.

Now, back to shutter speeds. About 1/400 seems to be my cutoff for freezing major body parts - with some hand and foot motion showing. Which isn't too bad. The ball is another matter. But, over the last couple years I seem to notice the drop from 1/400 to 1/320 as being where you start to pick up really noticable motion blur.

Definitely us AI Servo and center point. Use either aperture priority or manual metering mode. If aperture priority make sure you're using center weighted or partial metering - not evaluative. And, remember, you want to expose for faces not uniforms. So, the risk with AV mode is one team has dark uniform tops the other white - you could get a full stop difference depending on which uniform top the camera meters off of - which means if the camera meters off the white jerseys you might lose too much face detail. So, if using AV mode you may want a positive EC to adjust metering to better expose faces. Or, just use manual - which is what I currently do. Typically I'll have one setting for 35 to 35 where lighting is usually brightest. And I'll adjust my shuter speed when the action gets inside the 35 (or wherever the light falloff is in your stadium). This way I don't have to worry about jerseys throwing off my metering.