Looking for comments and suggestions

jtutp4 · August 22, 2011

Last year I started shooting pics of my children's high school's sports teams. Some I had never shot before, the rest never from the sidelines. What I need is some comments/suggestions for some pictures I will post, plus suggestions on the best way (where I should place myself, etc.) to shoot some of the sports I am less familiar with. Those would be cross country, volleyball, softball, and golf. I use a Nikon D300s with either a Nikkor 35-70 f2.8 or a Nikkor 18-200 f3.5-5.6. I am hoping to very shortly add a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8. Thank you.

johng · August 22, 2011

I see one image - a soccer image. The posted image does not appear to have anything in good focus. Now, that could be the resizing you performed for posting. Or not. My GUESS is that since you only have a 200mm lens the image is rather heavily cropped. That's a problem. You can't heavily crop sports images and expect sharp results. The key is to shoot action that is within range of your lens. A good rule of thumb is - you want your subject filling about 2/3 of the vertical frame IN CAMERA. If they're smaller than that in the frame they're not close enough. A 200mm lens is useful for about 25 yards of coverage, give or take. For soccer, that isn't much. Now, the action in the above shot is very nice - but the image quality isn't. So, how much did you crop the above photo?

VitaminV · August 22, 2011

Welcome
Welcome aboard, and good for you for seeking comment.

There's a lot of great info posted about shooting sports, but I think for the most part it all boils down to a few basic concepts and techniques. First, I'll assume you have a broad enough understanding of photography concepts like shutter speed, aperture, and what I still call film speed but I guess is now sensor speed and how they interact with each other as well as their individual effects on the photograph. If that's the case then here's what I see are the basics:

Understand enough about the sport to allow you to anticipate where the action is going to be and in what direction the action is going to move. I'll use lacrosse as an example, if one team is significantly better that another, then chance are most of the action is going to be in that teams offensive end or moving toward that end of the field. That's where I'm going to be.

If the lighting conditions are fairly stable, then make some test shots during warm ups and check your exposure. Sometimes you might even get a keeper.

I shoot strictly aperture priority. It is the only way to keep from getting distracting backgrounds, like your fence and light pole. But then again if you're stretching your lens too far and cropping, like this photo, then there's not much you can do except to be aware of your background at all times and go for the cleanest one you can get. If your shutter speed is too slow, then bump up your ISO shoot RAW instead of JPEG and deal with the noise later in post.

I shoot center focus point only. I'm taking most of the focus control away from the camera. I recently shot next to a newspaper gal who trusted only manual focus. She did not want the camera making decisions especially in high contrast shots which a lot of sunny outdoor sports can to be.

I shoot in servo mode. THIS TAKES PRACTICE

VitaminV · August 22, 2011

Sorry I hit the enter key at the wrong time.

But that brings me to my last point. You can never get enough practice. Go to events that are not your child's and fire away. Keep a notebook or I guarantee you'll get confused. When you find what works for you, write that down in the notebook too and keep it with you. I'm not a Nikon guy, but I'm sure once you get your setting where you like them you can register them as a custom setting.

That 70-200 2.8 will be real nice, but I'd still get a 1.4X. With a 1.6 crop factor, that going to push you up to what? around 600mm at f4? Now you can really reach out there and not have to rely so much on cropping.

Good luck...and have fun.

MikeV-

jtutp4 · August 22, 2011

johng wrote: »

I see one image - a soccer image. The posted image does not appear to have anything in good focus. Now, that could be the resizing you performed for posting. Or not. My GUESS is that since you only have a 200mm lens the image is rather heavily cropped. That's a problem. You can't heavily crop sports images and expect sharp results. The key is to shoot action that is within range of your lens. A good rule of thumb is - you want your subject filling about 2/3 of the vertical frame IN CAMERA. If they're smaller than that in the frame they're not close enough. A 200mm lens is useful for about 25 yards of coverage, give or take. For soccer, that isn't much. Now, the action in the above shot is very nice - but the image quality isn't. So, how much did you crop the above photo?

I tried to post ore than one image at the same time, but for some reason, it would only let me post one. Original picture is a lot sharper. And image actually filled about 1/2 to 2/3 of the frame vertically. Thanks for the comments! I need all the help I can get.

jtutp4 · August 22, 2011

VitaminV wrote: »

Sorry I hit the enter key at the wrong time.

But that brings me to my last point. You can never get enough practice. Go to events that are not your child's and fire away. Keep a notebook or I guarantee you'll get confused. When you find what works for you, write that down in the notebook too and keep it with you. I'm not a Nikon guy, but I'm sure once you get your setting where you like them you can register them as a custom setting.

That 70-200 2.8 will be real nice, but I'd still get a 1.4X. With a 1.6 crop factor, that going to push you up to what? around 600mm at f4? Now you can really reach out there and not have to rely so much on cropping.

Good luck...and have fun.

MikeV-

Thanks for the suggestions. As far as moving up to a longer lens, it is unfortunately what my budget can tolerate!

johng · August 23, 2011

jtutp4 wrote: »

. Original picture is a lot sharper. And image actually filled about 1/2 to 2/3 of the frame vertically. .

The software dgrin uses to run the site has integrated logic that will alter the photo if you try to post a file that is too large. If you have a smugmug account - you're better off using the link from your gallery and you won't get the resize-compression that dgrin software imposes.

jhefti · August 23, 2011

I shoot soccer a lot, both pro games and U15-college, and here are my experiences:

1. If you're shooting with a 200mm or less, hang out around the goal. I routinely get my best shots with shorter glass there, despite shooting with a 400mm lens as well. If you can, move around and follow the action. You'll get some great shots with a 200mm zoom!

2. I keep my SS above 1/800, usually 1/1000 or higher depending on light. If you have a steady hand you can get down to 1/640 and get some nice motion blur in the ball and feet about to kick it. Aperture is almost always wide open, except sometimes for corner kicks when I want more DOF. AF in servo mode (does take practice) and use either center point, of if you have the option, a point slightly above center that you keep on the player's face.

3. I *never* shoot anything but full manual exposure. If there are high contrasts, I find that any auto mode will have my exposures jumping around--especially spot metering. I set the exposure before the game, using partial metering mode and scanning the highlights and shadows until I can bracket properly. I try to shoot to the right on the histogram, but not allow any blowout except *maybe* some very light saturation in the whitest parts of the uniforms. Most games have fairly uniform (though sometimes high contrast) light across the playing field, aside from clouds moving in and out. Night games are a bit more of a challenge; but then, you need really fast glass (f2.8 or better) to get anything worth keeping. That doesn't mean you need to break the bank to shoot night games; I have gotten some really nice shots using a 135/f2.0 prime near the goal.

4. Practice timing: I shoot games with a body that will burst at 10fps, and I still rarely use burst mode. Basically, if you can get into the rhythm of a game and anticipate what is going to happen, you can get really nice shots without using the spray and pray method (i.e. burst mode). I end up taking a lot of shots that I know will not be keepers, just to get my timing down.

5. Composition: Probably does not need saying, but try to get faces in the shots. The occasional back-to-the-camera goal shot can be good, but use sparingly. Also, be on the lookout for interesting reactions and facial expressions when the ball is out of play: perhaps an argument with the ref about a card, a crash, tense faces before a corner kick, or jubilation/disappointment right after a goal is scored. Some of my favorite shots are in this category. (example from a recent game: http://johnhefti.zenfolio.com/p211750114/h1d9e1ff5#h1d9e1ff5 )

Don't worry if you don't have the highest end equipment to shoot sports. With a little practice and good access to the field, you'll get some wonderful shots without hauling $20K worth of glass and bodies to the game!

Good luck!

John

jhefti · August 23, 2011

Oh, and one more thing...make sure you shoot from a position slightly below the average player's height. I use a small camp stool to sit on. Seems like a small deal, but the angle can really affect the feeling of the shot.

jtutp4 · August 23, 2011

jhefti wrote: »

Oh, and one more thing...make sure you shoot from a position slightly below the average player's height. I use a small camp stool to sit on. Seems like a small deal, but the angle can really affect the feeling of the shot.

Thanks for the advice. I learned after the 2nd game to place myself 5 feet behind the end line and about 10 feet to either side of the goal. Plus since if I stand I feel like I am shooting down on the players (even though I am only about 5'7') I actually just sit on the grass.

jtutp4 · August 23, 2011

johng wrote: »

The software dgrin uses to run the site has integrated logic that will alter the photo if you try to post a file that is too large. If you have a smugmug account - you're better off using the link from your gallery and you won't get the resize-compression that dgrin software imposes.

Thanks, I might try and add a few more photos to get more comments!

Looking for comments and suggestions

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