One Photo Under the Lights

Zanotti

Last night we had an away game. When I arrived I was crestfallen - there were several little pools of light - and that's it.

When the fastest speed you can find is ISO3200, f2.8 and 1/125 - it doesnt make any sense to even continue.

I took a total of 20 frames, threw out 10 and was disappointed with the rest.


You are not stopping any action at 1/125! Oh well there's always next week.

Z

gus

We all get it from time to time Z. Sometimes its just as easy to pack up the gear & go look for a pie.

For those setting , your photo came out far better than i would have expected.

pathfinder

George, did you try any flash?

It will really reach out there at ISO 3200....... It doesn't take a lot of light to get you to 1/250th at f2.8 ISO 3200

I agree with Gus, very nice color for ISO 3200. A little too smooth maybe, what did you de-noise it with?

rwells

Z,

Did you try flash?

Check this out for next time.

Zanotti

I didn't try to use a flash, I have been having so much luck without it and I had just broken down and bought the 70-200 f2.8 IS lens. I had been doing so well at f4, I thought that the f2.8 would be the answer!

Next time I will try with flash as well. I have a 530EX. I do find that flash with these new ultra bright white uniforms makes the picture look a bit too bright in some areas and too dark in others.

I did post process with Noise Ninja: calibrated to Canon's ISO 3200. Randy, I broke down and bought an Expodisc as well. Didn't try it at the game last week since there was so little light.

I could have shot at -2Ev and tried to push it in post. I am kind of kicking myself for not at least trying that. Of course that will bring up a lot of noise.

It was really, really dark there. I was having a hard time following the ball it was so dark. Each end zone had a pool of light, but that's it. Next week, we are away again at another stadium, perhaps they'll have better lights.

Thanks for the help!

Z


Hey: I just noticed that this is my 500th post!!!!!!

rwells

Hey Z,

I hear ya' on the lighting, or lack thereof. I know how disappointed you must feel after buying up to the f/2.8 and that still wasn't enough at this particular gig.

There are NO SILVER BULLETS!


We are always going to run into situations that need more stuff to make it happen , or to use the stuff we have a little differently.


See, there's a legitimate excuse to buy more gear


Rest assured, the 70-200 f/2.8L is the real workhorse in many a pro's bag. You will never be disappointed in that lens, but that doesn't mean that it's the answer to everything.

Same goes for the ExpoDisk. Over the long haul, it's gonna' make your life easier.



That's the cool part of photography; you get constantly challenged.

What would be the fun of it if you never had to use your creativity?



Believe me, the games/events where you HAVE to get the shots (contract shoot) and nothing, and I mean NOTHING is working for you...

You make some changes, pull a magic bunny out of your -ss, um, hat.

Those are the games/events you will remember and laugh about. Not the ones where you were on autopilot and every shot turned out perfect.

Hang in there buddy, and just remember: Your having fun!

natephoto

I have the same problem.. Except it's at every home game where the field lights are not so great...

Personally, I don't use a flash. What happens when you're about to get a great shot of a touchdown reception, but the player is distracted by your flash!? It doesn't seem appropriate to me.

(This can be debated I understand; just my two cents)

Anyway, the way that I get around this is to shoot ISO 1600 f/2.8 with a shutter speed between 300 and 400. This will stop the motion, but the photos will be dark.. They KEY is RAW!!! Shoot these settings in raw only mode, don't even bother to shoot jpegs at these settings, they will definitely be junk. (you can always up to ISO past 1600 if it looks okay on your camera, but I've found that 1600 works pretty well to reduce noise on canon 20ds and 5ds.)

Good luck! Night games are fun, and dark!

Nate

rwells

natephoto wrote:

...Personally, I don't use a flash. What happens when you're about to get a great shot of a touchdown reception, but the player is distracted by your flash!? It doesn't seem appropriate to me.

(This can be debated I understand; just my two cents)

Anyway, the way that I get around this is to shoot ISO 1600 f/2.8 with a shutter speed between 300 and 400. This will stop the motion, but the photos will be dark.. They KEY is RAW!!! Shoot these settings in raw only mode, don't even bother to shoot jpegs at these settings, they will definitely be junk. (you can always up to ISO past 1600 if it looks okay on your camera, but I've found that 1600 works pretty well to reduce noise on canon 20ds and 5ds.)

Good luck! Night games are fun, and dark!

Nate

Unless you are taking flash pictures FROM the field (from the QB position or mounted to the ball) then the receiver darn sure shouldn't be looking at your camera


I personally find that I can only get +1 stop from RAW with any resemblance of quality at those ISO settings. (I won't even do that for a paying gig) If I try and bump the exposure up more than that, even using NoiseNinja, the resulting image just isn't acceptable to my clients. Way too much noise when underexposed at those ISO levels.


If that's working for ya' , but I don't think that's a good rule of thumb for sports shooting.

jonh68

I have never had a problem using flash for a football game. There just isn't a time it would be a distraction. If you are on the sidelines and the RB is running towards you, he is looking at the defense, not you. A receiver is looking at the QB, not the sidelines. I don't like using flash as well, but if I am in the endzone and want to get that play up the middle, a flash is about the only way to get that play as the endzone is usually a dead zone. You can debate it, but if the referees, coaches and players don't mind and don't care, the debate is moot.

Rwells has a good tip on using flash with out getting redeye. Get two off camera cables and and clip the flash at the bottom of the monopod so the flash shoots up.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=74851