HS Football C&C

[jmandell]

Here a couple of shots for the first football scrimage. This was my first time using my new D700 for sports. Shot with D700 and 80-200 2.8

#1

#2

These next 3 are a sequence in a touchdown
#3

#4

#5


C&C welcome. All of these are heavily cropped and I feel as though I need a longer lens, but a 300 2.8 is not in the budget of a high schooler:cry:. I am the photographer my high school yearbook.

Justin

 

[imagemaker46]

They must get tired running up hill, make sure you straighten up the horizon all the time. Even though you have already cropped them, they could use a lot more cropping. Thry aren't too bad, just keep at it.

 

[Ballistics]

Like image said, they could be cropped in a lot more. If the 200mm isn't doing it for you, have you looked into a teleconverter? [h=3]AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III from Nikon[/h]

 

[TheLost]

I shoot high school football... here are a couple of things I'd work on.

As noted, fix your horizon. Thinking about it when you take the shot is best... but fix it in post.

Don't be afraid to crop. Not only will your final images be cleaned up.. but it makes you think about what makes a good shot. Over time you'll notice you are taking better framed images and have to crop less.

Use your f/2.8!!! Seperate the subject from the background. The focus point should be the players and not the sideline. A shallow dof will make your images look more professional.

Shoot practices, shoot games, shoot scrimmages... learn where the play is going. The a more you know about the game you'll get better shots.

And my final advice is... not all the action happens on the field. Some of the most powerful pictures from the Olympics are the emotions after the events. The cheers and tears, the screaming coaches, the players being carried off the field and the crazy fans.

High school football is a crazy experiance.... have fun!!

 

[jmandell]

Like image said, they could be cropped in a lot more. If the 200mm isn't doing it for you, have you looked into a teleconverter? AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III from Nikon

As far as I know there are no TCs that autofocus with the 80-200 af-d

 

[Ballistics]

Like image said, they could be cropped in a lot more. If the 200mm isn't doing it for you, have you looked into a teleconverter? AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III from Nikon

As far as I know there are no TCs that autofocus with the 80-200 af-d

There are TCs that will focus with the D, I didn't know that's the one you had though.

 

[Ballistics]

Use your f/2.8!!! Seperate the subject from the background. The focus point should be the players and not the sideline. A shallow dof will make your images look more professional.

Even @ 2.8, the subject isn't that close for the sidelines to be blurred out. He's using a 80-200mm. For it to "look more professional" with a shallow DOF, he would have to be much closer to the object, or have a much longer lens. If the subject is in the center of the field, there is 80 ft behind him that is still slightly in focus @ 200mm f/2.8.

 

[MLeeK]

They seem really rather dark.
Aim for the emotion of the game. Don't be afraid to use your lens at 200 ALL of the time. I shoot football with a 70-200 while wishing I had a 400mm.
Are you able to be on the sidelines or do you have to be back further?

 

[fjrabon]

The D700 has enough resolution to crop way more than you are doing. This is also a good example of why I prefer shooting football crop frame anyway. You get more reach, and since the files are smaller you can shoot faster.

Also, one good strategy is to make a constant mental inventory of where your clean backgrounds are, and always be searching for shots that line up there. Pro sports photographers will have a lot more clean backgrounds, and the only time you see a busy background from a pro sports photographer is when it was a moment that just transcended everything and it couldn't have been captured otherwise. This is not an accident. They make a mental notes of where their clean backgrounds are going to be, where they need to be to get those backgrounds, and as the action marches in that direction, they quickly position themselves to get the perfect shot with the perfect background.

Also, try to shoot lower more often. This is especially important for high school football, because the kids aren't very big (or at least compared to NFL). In the NFL you'll see pro shooting only half stooping. But the average NFL player is about 6'5". The average high school player is probably 5'10". That means you have to shoot a good bit lower to get the same perspective. Even though you were shooting from the sidelines, a lot of these look like you were shooting slightly downwards. Shooting up more will also help you backgrounds as well, as sky is better than parents milling about.

 

[jmandell]

They seem really rather dark.
Aim for the emotion of the game. Don't be afraid to use your lens at 200 ALL of the time. I shoot football with a 70-200 while wishing I had a 400mm.
Are you able to be on the sidelines or do you have to be back further?

I did brighten them a little in Lightroom but I didn't focus so much on making them perfect in PP as this was a scrimmage and practice for me. I was more focused on getting good composition. There was also a lot of clouds that would darken the field for a few seconds and it would brighten up again. And yes I am able to get on the sidelines. All of these were 200mm.

 

[jmandell]

The D700 has enough resolution to crop way more than you are doing. This is also a good example of why I prefer shooting football crop frame anyway. You get more reach, and since the files are smaller you can shoot faster.

Also, one good strategy is to make a constant mental inventory of where your clean backgrounds are, and always be searching for shots that line up there. Pro sports photographers will have a lot more clean backgrounds, and the only time you see a busy background from a pro sports photographer is when it was a moment that just transcended everything and it couldn't have been captured otherwise. This is not an accident. They make a mental notes of where their clean backgrounds are going to be, where they need to be to get those backgrounds, and as the action marches in that direction, they quickly position themselves to get the perfect shot with the perfect background.

Also, try to shoot lower more often. This is especially important for high school football, because the kids aren't very big (or at least compared to NFL). In the NFL you'll see pro shooting only half stooping. But the average NFL player is about 6'5". The average high school player is probably 5'10". That means you have to shoot a good bit lower to get the same perspective. Even though you were shooting from the sidelines, a lot of these look like you were shooting slightly downwards. Shooting up more will also help you backgrounds as well, as sky is better than parents milling about.

That makes sense what you are saying about height, I'm a pretty big guy ~6'4".

I will try to crop out some more. I have always been afraid to crop to much and lose resolution.

 

[jmandell]

I also saw on ebay that 300 2.8 af-i lenses are going for ~$1500 to $2000. Is the auto focus on these fast enough for sports? I might be able to get one if we sell off some of our old glass.

 

[TheLost]

Use your f/2.8!!! Seperate the subject from the background. The focus point should be the players and not the sideline. A shallow dof will make your images look more professional.

Even @ 2.8, the subject isn't that close for the sidelines to be blurred out. He's using a 80-200mm. For it to "look more professional" with a shallow DOF, he would have to be much closer to the object, or have a much longer lens. If the subject is in the center of the field, there is 80 ft behind him that is still slightly in focus @ 200mm f/2.8.

Use your f/2.8!!! Seperate the subject from the background. The focus point should be the players and not the sideline. A shallow dof will make your images look more professional.

Even @ 2.8, the subject isn't that close for the sidelines to be blurred out. He's using a 80-200mm. For it to "look more professional" with a shallow DOF, he would have to be much closer to the object, or have a much longer lens. If the subject is in the center of the field, there is 80 ft behind him that is still slightly in focus @ 200mm f/2.8.

True.. but it should still be more 'blurred out' then the photos posted. I shoot from the sidelines with a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8... at mid field (80 feet) you'll have a ~5.5ft in focus... things out at 160ft should be nice and blurry.

If you look at the Exif details of image #3 you'll see it was shot at f/6.3... he/she has a decent lens... use it!

(side note... Image #3 was also shot with a shutter of 1/800 & ISO 400.. you should be able to bump that D700 to a higher ISO and get a faster shutter.. i would stay as high above 1/1000 as possible to keep things sharp).

 

[TheLost]

I also saw on ebay that 300 2.8 af-i lenses are going for ~$1500 to $2000. Is the auto focus on these fast enough for sports? I might be able to get one if we sell off some of our old glass.

The older af-i lenses aren't know for their speed... The 300 f/4 AF-S might be better choice in the same price range.

The problem with a fixed focus lens is that you'll loose flexibility. Most of the people you'll see walking around with a 400mm (maybe a 300mm) at football games will have a 2nd body hanging around their neck with a 70-200mm attached.

Shooting sports isn't cheap

 

[jmandell]

I also saw on ebay that 300 2.8 af-i lenses are going for ~$1500 to $2000. Is the auto focus on these fast enough for sports? I might be able to get one if we sell off some of our old glass.

The older af-i lenses aren't know for their speed... The 300 f/4 AF-S might be better choice in the same price range.

The problem with a fixed focus lens is that you'll loose flexibility. Most of the people you'll see walking around with a 400mm (maybe a 300mm) at football games will have a 2nd body hanging around their neck with a 70-200mm attached.

Shooting sports isn't cheap

I also have D90 I can throw another lens on but I wasn't that happy with it's ISO performance. It had a lot of noise and getting good results with lightroom noise reduction was difficult sometimes, hence the D700