Shot boys lax 1st time would love input

wolfie

Took some photos of my son's practice and was wondering what I need to do to get them to look "crisper"????? Would love some advice from the experts out there :-)

aktse

I think people need more info to help you.

1) What camera are you using? Lens? What lenses do you have?
3) What mode are you shotting in? Av? M?
2) What exposure settings are you using for this photo? Apecture? ISO? Shutter speed?

In general, it just looks like the exposure is a stop or two off and you are shooting in harsh light and it's giving a lot of shadows.

wolfie

aktse wrote:

I think people need more info to help you.

1) What camera are you using? Lens? What lenses do you have?
3) What mode are you shotting in? Av? M?
2) What exposure settings are you using for this photo? Apecture? ISO? Shutter speed?

In general, it just looks like the exposure is a stop or two off and you are shooting in harsh light and it's giving a lot of shadows.

ok, sorry. Camera is canon 30D lens 70-200 2.8 that is the only telephoto i have shot av mode at 2.8 shutter was 1/4000 iso was 200 whitebalance i used camera setting of daylight and I had all focal points set. I am a beginner and don't really know when to use what :-) Thanks

wolfie

wolfie wrote:

ok, sorry. Camera is canon 30D lens 70-200 2.8 that is the only telephoto i have shot av mode at 2.8 shutter was 1/4000 iso was 200 whitebalance i used camera setting of daylight and I had all focal points set. I am a beginner and don't really know when to use what :-) Thanks

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR A NEWBIE??

hschlessphoto

bring the iso to 400 or so, if it was a little cloudy, that will help. Also, fiddle around with settings. there is plenty of time in a lacrosse game so take something like warmups to figure out what settings you want. figuring out how to set manual settings, if you dont know already, is a quick read in the camera manual.

also, youd ot have to have superspeedy shutter speed, bring it down to 1/500th of a second or so. that with the 400 iso should bring you brighter results, thus more clear and hopefully sharper.

hope it helps!

oldtime

Post a larger picture next time
I can not see much detail in this shot at this size
Expose to get the faces
Get low so you are shooting up into helmets
Bump your ISO as pointed out

dunner

Shooting Lax
Looks like you're in for a few years of this so you'll get it right with lots of practice. I've been shooting lax for a couple seasons now and the best advice I can give (as Oldtime said already) is to get low and shoot up. Otherwise you end up with lots of helmet shots and no face. Also, look for the body contact shots. Good luck.

wolfie

dunner wrote:

Looks like you're in for a few years of this so you'll get it right with lots of practice. I've been shooting lax for a couple seasons now and the best advice I can give (as Oldtime said already) is to get low and shoot up. Otherwise you end up with lots of helmet shots and no face. Also, look for the body contact shots. Good luck.

okay, thank you all for the tips. I will try bumping up the iso and sitting down and post some more when I have them. thanks!

aktse

Also, you might want to read the info giving in this thread about baseball.

The information and suggestions given applies to LAX as well.

MichaelKirk

What?

hschlessphoto wrote:

bring the iso to 400 or so, if it was a little cloudy, that will help. Also, fiddle around with settings. there is plenty of time in a lacrosse game so take something like warmups to figure out what settings you want. figuring out how to set manual settings, if you dont know already, is a quick read in the camera manual.

also, youd ot have to have superspeedy shutter speed, bring it down to 1/500th of a second or so. that with the 400 iso should bring you brighter results, thus more clear and hopefully sharper.

hope it helps!

Bumping the ISO in an auto mode like AV will do nothing other than decrease the shutter speed a bit - exposure would look exactly the same....maybe you explanation was not clear You don't mention "Why" you would increase the ISO to 400 and what effect that should have on the image....so I'm assuming that by looking at the posted image that the player is in the shadows and you want to bring in more light. Shooter is using AV mode will need to add a +.3 or .7 EV in camera to increase the light or shoot manual.

Michael

kini62

hschlessphoto wrote:

bring the iso to 400 or so, if it was a little cloudy, that will help. Also, fiddle around with settings. there is plenty of time in a lacrosse game so take something like warmups to figure out what settings you want. figuring out how to set manual settings, if you dont know already, is a quick read in the camera manual.

also, youd ot have to have superspeedy shutter speed, bring it down to 1/500th of a second or so. that with the 400 iso should bring you brighter results, thus more clear and hopefully sharper.

hope it helps!

ISO 400 He's was already at 1/4000 SS at ISO 200

1/500 SS is very marginal for getting sharp photos. I try to keep at least 1/1000. That way if the shot is not sharp I know it's not because of SS. Plus at 1/500 you'll can still get motion blur in the extremeties.

As other's have said, get low. When I shoot my daughter's soccer (U6) I sit on the ground. Even kneeling is marginal at their size.

If the lighting is constant such as all overcast or all sunny try shooting in manual for consistancy.

Use C-AF of course and continuous high for the shutter. I've found that when shooting younger kids they tend to group alot so it confuses the AF when all points are active.

I get better results using just the center when the kids are in a group.

Gene

wolfie

MichaelKirk wrote:

Bumping the ISO in an auto mode like AV will do nothing other than decrease the shutter speed a bit - exposure would look exactly the same....maybe you explanation was not clear You don't mention "Why" you would increase the ISO to 400 and what effect that should have on the image....so I'm assuming that by looking at the posted image that the player is in the shadows and you want to bring in more light. Shooter is using AV mode will need to add a +.3 or .7 EV in camera to increase the light or shoot manual.

Michael

OK, now I'm confused. Should I set at TV 1/1000 and leave the iso at 200 (assuming the conditions are the same) I'm not sure what the +.3 or .7 EV is. Do you mind eplaining?

Sally

wolfie

kini62 wrote:

ISO 400 He's was already at 1/4000 SS at ISO 200

1/500 SS is very marginal for getting sharp photos. I try to keep at least 1/1000. That way if the shot is not sharp I know it's not because of SS. Plus at 1/500 you'll can still get motion blur in the extremeties.

As other's have said, get low. When I shoot my daughter's soccer (U6) I sit on the ground. Even kneeling is marginal at their size.

If the lighting is constant such as all overcast or all sunny try shooting in manual for consistancy.

Use C-AF of course and continuous high for the shutter. I've found that when shooting younger kids they tend to group alot so it confuses the AF when all points are active.

I get better results using just the center when the kids are in a group.

Gene

Okay I understand the center af point but what goes continuous high for the shutter mean? Forgive me, I am still learning :-)
Sally

MichaelKirk

I would suggest....

wolfie wrote:

OK, now I'm confused. Should I set at TV 1/1000 and leave the iso at 200 (assuming the conditions are the same) I'm not sure what the +.3 or .7 EV is. Do you mind eplaining?

Sally

Sally I would continue to shoot in AV mode and set the aperature at it's fastest (I forget wat lens you were using) f/2.8.

If you can maintain a shutter speed of 1/1000 or better, set your ISO at the lowest setting usually ISO200 or 100 depending on your camera. You will want to maintain a minimal shutter speed to prevent motion blur....probably that will be 1/750.

EV is an exposure compensation that will open or close your cameras exposure. Say your shooting in AV mode at ISO200 f/2.8 and it gives you a shutter speed of 1/1500. If you apply an EV copmensation of +.3 you will now be shooting at ISO200 f/2.8 and your shutter speed will drop by 1/3 of a stop. In effect letting in more light.

You really need to spend some time reading your cameras manual and understanding how a camera works - take a lot of time playing with camera setting and see how they effect images. It's digital so shoot away!

Michael

dadwtwins

MichaelKirk wrote:

Sally I would continue to shoot in AV mode and set the aperature at it's fastest (I forget wat lens you were using) f/2.8.

If you can maintain a shutter speed of 1/1000 or better, set your ISO at the lowest setting usually ISO200 or 100 depending on your camera. You will want to maintain a minimal shutter speed to prevent motion blur....probably that will be 1/750.

EV is an exposure compensation that will open or close your cameras exposure. Say your shooting in AV mode at ISO200 f/2.8 and it gives you a shutter speed of 1/1500. If you apply an EV copmensation of +.3 you will now be shooting at ISO200 f/2.8 and your shutter speed will drop by 1/3 of a stop. In effect letting in more light.

You really need to spend some time reading your cameras manual and understanding how a camera works - take a lot of time playing with camera setting and see how they effect images. It's digital so shoot away!

Michael

I totally agree with shooting in AV mode and bumping the EV to +.3

f/2.8 will give you great DOF and seemingly crisp picture of your subject without the distractions of the background. As best as you can, look for those great facial expressions that tells the viewer a story of your pic. When the faces are in focus, lit properly and show emotion, the picture just pops out with intensity that every sports photographer is seeking.

ASkip

wolfie wrote:

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR A NEWBIE??

Hi,
I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents for a newb. As a mom that took lots of pictures of my kids playing sports, including one that played lacrosse, here are my suggestions for someone just starting out.
Make the f stop higher than 2.8. No one's going to care (like you) if the background is fuzzy if your kid's face is fuzzy because the camera focused on the end of his stick or the dude next to him. f4 at least. I used to go f8, just in case. It's hard to predict where the kid will throw next. Until you get the game, it's safer to go with more depth of field. When you get better, then lower the f stop.
Then you want to see under that *&^$ visor. It's almost always shady under there unless its overcast. So I push that button that makes the camera overexpose the pictures by .3 or .7. On my Nikon it has a square that's half black and half white.
Your kid is pretty young still. I bet you don't really need to go faster than 1/500th of a second. The ball might blur a little or if someone's mouthguard flies out of their mouth the spit might not stop in midair, but you'll have more light to see the kid's face.
And then for me, I like to stand at the box line (the 30 yard line on football fields) because the kids always have to run to the box, then usually they stop and turn, that's when you can snag a face. and they look cute coming out from behind the goal too. Hard to see the goals from there though.
In addition, now that I read about it here, I unsharp mask everything in photoshop. 100% sharpen, 1.6 pixel radius (varies) and 0% threshold.
When the kids get bigger and faster and hit harder, and all the other parents start bugging you for pictures, you'll have to re-adjust some settings, but after a few thousand pictures, it'll be easier.
So there ya go, even more advice that you are probably tired of by now eh? Of course I'm sad to say I still stink after thousands of pictures, but I'm better at changing the settings on my camera.
Happy shooting!

wmstumme

Sally:

You're getting some great advice here--but you're getting the firehose version -- an awful lot and awful fast. I recommend you pick one aspect on work on that--then when you're feeling comfortable, try something new and more complicated.

Let me give a little heresy and suggest going back to more auto settings--the sports setting and let the camera do some of the setting work for you. This can give you a little more chance to get used to watching and follwing a game through the view finder. Even with the little guys, the action can move fast, and capturing that requires a little bit of feeling for the flow of the game.

Then see what you get. Try different locations around the field and see what you see from each area--from the Midfield line, the restraining line and near the end line. Compare what your seeing on the field and able to capture with the shots that some of the good shooters around here like Oldtime, KED, KMCC, and others are posting. If you can start getting the kids and the action in focus and in the frame similar to the way those shooters are able to get it in the frame, your well on your way. See what the zoom will get you, and what it won't. You can worry about getting great backgrounds and perfect exposure under the visor later.

That will also give you some time to finish reading the manual and then you can starting trying various settings and see what impact they have.

Best of luck.

PS: What part of MD?

KED

wmstumme wrote:

Compare what your seeing on the field and able to capture with the shots that some of the good shooters around here like Oldtime, KED, KMCC, and others are posting.

Thanks Will, I've very flattered --- you've included me in some pretty amazing company!

Wolfie, I agree that you've been inundated with advice here, and as you are just starting out, there are too many variables to master all at once. But I have a different kind of advice for you too, perhaps also heretical on a forum like this: put the camera down from time to time. I have found that you can either shoot the game, or you can watch your child play the game -- not both at the same time. Trust me, you want to have real memories of your son's lacrosse, not just memories of having shot his games. Also, and I think we may have communicated about this before, the better you understand the game, the more you will enjoy watching it and the better you will be at anticipating action and hence getting better shots. There's no way you can pick up the game while worrying about whether your exposure is pushed enough!

Lacrosse is one of the most photogenic sports, IMO, but even so, after a while you come to realize that lots of shots look mostly the same. You're not likely to miss any once-in-a lifetime, stop-the-presses opportunities. So if I were you, I would probably not shoot more than half of any game for a good long while. For the other half, just soak up lifetime memories of your kid playing sports.

wolfie

wmstumme wrote:

Sally:

You're getting some great advice here--but you're getting the firehose version -- an awful lot and awful fast. I recommend you pick one aspect on work on that--then when you're feeling comfortable, try something new and more complicated.

Let me give a little heresy and suggest going back to more auto settings--the sports setting and let the camera do some of the setting work for you. This can give you a little more chance to get used to watching and follwing a game through the view finder. Even with the little guys, the action can move fast, and capturing that requires a little bit of feeling for the flow of the game.

Then see what you get. Try different locations around the field and see what you see from each area--from the Midfield line, the restraining line and near the end line. Compare what your seeing on the field and able to capture with the shots that some of the good shooters around here like Oldtime, KED, KMCC, and others are posting. If you can start getting the kids and the action in focus and in the frame similar to the way those shooters are able to get it in the frame, your well on your way. See what the zoom will get you, and what it won't. You can worry about getting great backgrounds and perfect exposure under the visor later.

That will also give you some time to finish reading the manual and then you can starting trying various settings and see what impact they have.

Best of luck.

PS: What part of MD?

Thank you for that...I can now breathe a sigh of relief b/c I was thniking I didn't know where to begin :-). I have shot in sports mode and have been feeling like I want to take the "next step" so I will start with some of the other things a little at a time and go from there. I have been reading the manual as well and am starting to understand a little of what was said...atleast on paper anyhow. I'm in Howard County in MD. How 'bout you?

wolfie

KED wrote:

Thanks Will, I've very flattered --- you've included me in some pretty amazing company!

Wolfie, I agree that you've been inundated with advice here, and as you are just starting out, there are too many variables to master all at once. But I have a different kind of advice for you too, perhaps also heretical on a forum like this: put the camera down from time to time. I have found that you can either shoot the game, or you can watch your child play the game -- not both at the same time. Trust me, you want to have real memories of your son's lacrosse, not just memories of having shot his games. Also, and I think we may have communicated about this before, the better you understand the game, the more you will enjoy watching it and the better you will be at anticipating action and hence getting better shots. There's no way you can pick up the game while worrying about whether your exposure is pushed enough!

Lacrosse is one of the most photogenic sports, IMO, but even so, after a while you come to realize that lots of shots look mostly the same. You're not likely to miss any once-in-a lifetime, stop-the-presses opportunities. So if I were you, I would probably not shoot more than half of any game for a good long while. For the other half, just soak up lifetime memories of your kid playing sports.

Thank you for some sound advice...having shot other sports I recognize that I easily can miss my own child's action on the field b/c of something going on with the camera, etc. This is my son's first season playing lax....I love your suggestion to shoot half of the game...Perhaps I will post a photo of his first goal here soon:-)

KED

wolfie wrote:

Perhaps I will post a photo of his first goal here soon:-)

OR . . . maybe you will miss it photographically, but it will be burned in your memory for the rest of your life; frankly, that is way better. Obviously I love shooting lax, but I still have memories of my now-college freshman son playing in the 5th grade (through 12th plus post-grad year, all without benefit of camera); you need to get those and keep them, not on your computer but in your mind!!! Sorry, I don't mean to beat this to death, but obviously you care about your kids, so this is important.

wolfie

KED wrote:

OR . . . maybe you will miss it photographically, but it will be burned in your memory for the rest of your life; frankly, that is way better. Obviously I love shooting lax, but I still have memories of my now-college freshman son playing in the 5th grade (through 12th plus post-grad year, all without benefit of camera); you need to get those and keep them, not on your computer but in your mind!!! Sorry, I don't mean to beat this to death, but obviously you care about your kids, so this is important.

I so appreciate what you are saying. I liken it to all those times, when my kids were babies, hearing friends say to "savor this time b/c it flies by"....At the time you just wish your baby would sleep through the night and then you blink and they are getting on the school bus for the first time and then you blink again and they are off to middle school....:-)

KED

wolfie wrote:

I so appreciate what you are saying. I liken it to all those times, when my kids were babies, hearing friends say to "savor this time b/c it flies by"....At the time you just wish your baby would sleep through the night and then you blink and they are getting on the school bus for the first time and then you blink again and they are off to middle school....:-)

You're a mom; I'm just a dad. You are already way ahead of me -- have fun!