2 questions?

Leilameat

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1. How do you take good sports phototgraphy? What are the keys? I'm having trouble with the focus.

2. How loud is IS supposed to be? On my Canon 28-135, it's pretty loud. I can hear it working, and the noise comes up in the videos– it's quite annoying.
 
1. How do you take good sports phototgraphy? What are the keys? I'm having trouble with the focus.
Use continuous focus, and the center focal point. Experience increases the number if in-focus shots. Use Aperture priority, let the ISO float, but you have to keep a very close eye on the shutter speed. Antisipation of the action is another key to focused shots.

2. How loud is IS supposed to be? On my Canon 28-135, it's pretty loud. I can hear it working, and the noise comes up in the videos– it's quite annoying.
Unless you are shooting in a stadium that vibrates a fair amount, IS should be turned off. You should be using a high enough shutter speed to negate it's need.

Edit: I forgot to add, faces and expressions are the holy grail of sport shooters.
 
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How do you take good sports phototgraphy? What are the keys?
I've shot very little sports...but it's something I'd like to do.
Timing is key. A shot that shows the elements of the sport, is much more effective than a shot that doesn't. For example, if you are shooting soccer (football, outside of north america), a shot showing players and the ball, is likely going to be better than a shot without the ball.

Also, a shot that can portray emotion makes it better. For example, if you can see a player's face, it's likely a better shot that if you can only see the back of them.

It can really help if you understand the sport, so that you know what the critical moments are and when & where the action will take place.

Sports is one of the more challenging things to shoot, especially for your equipment. That is why pro sports shooters, use some of the most expensive equipment. Long lenses with large max apertures and cameras that advanced autofocus and fast shooting rates.

The best way to improve will be to practice. Remember that is really wasn't all that long ago that pro sports shooters were using film and not using their cameras like machine guns. It only takes one exposure to get the 'perfect' shot...it's just a matter of getting it right.

2. How loud is IS supposed to be? On my Canon 28-135, it's pretty loud. I can hear it working, and the noise comes up in the videos– it's quite annoying.
Yes, IS does make a sound...a soft whurr...and it makes a click sound when it starts & stops.
 
1. How do you take good sports phototgraphy? What are the keys? I'm having trouble with the focus.


Practice, practice, practice, and in case I forgot to mention it....practice. Having an understanding of the sport your shooting is important. Emotion in players faces make great photo's. Some sports are relatively easy like baseball where the speed of the game is pretty even pace unlike hockey where everything moves extreemly fast. To start off I would say try practicing with youth sports. Watch for a bit so you can get an uderstanding of it and you'll be able to anticipate how the action flows. Which type of sports were you thinking about ? Some sports, the location your shooting from will be important. If your shooting football, try to stay ahead of the flow of the play unless your focusing on the defense.
 
Ok, I wonder if my IS is broken? It works, but it keeps making a clicky noise, my old computer makes the same noise...

Gotcha, thanks for the tips! I'm shooting youth sports, yesterday I did soccer, and got some pretty expressive shots. It's just so hard! And I keep missing good moments, like when the teacher got hit in the head. XD
 
One thing that hasnt been mentioned is try shooting with both eyes open.

Took me a few minutes to get the hang of it, but it works really well, when your shooting at a long focal length you cant really see a play deveolping all that well, field of view is very narrow, but with both eyes open I can see most of the action/scene with my left and follow the player/action with my right keeping my active focus point on the player/action and get a higher ratio of keepers.

Takes some practice, this is a technique I discovered by accident (but I am sure others must use it), although my eyesight is "perfect" I have developed issues with my eyes when looking through the viewfinder and closing the other eye, after a while my other eye has issues focussing for 5-10 minutes, so I kind of tried it to avoid that issue and the side effect is I was able to follow fast moving action a lot better.

I also try to avoid using the center focus point, I switch between the other focus points on the fly to help with composition and reduce heavy cropping post.
 
That's a good tip! The eye one and focus point one. So I should use the one above the center focal point, then? :)
 
it's all about practice.. i do mostly nature and wildlife now but i did alot of sports in the past... KNOW YOUR SPORT i did tons of martial arts photography and i got the great shots because i understood when the big dramatic kicks would occur..
watch the players at practice, they will do all the same moves at practice that they do in the game and you will start to recognize patterns and be ready for them

Mike Leggero

http://www.michaelleggero.com
 
One thing that hasnt been mentioned is try shooting with both eyes open.

Took me a few minutes to get the hang of it, but it works really well, when your shooting at a long focal length you cant really see a play deveolping all that well, field of view is very narrow, but with both eyes open I can see most of the action/scene with my left and follow the player/action with my right keeping my active focus point on the player/action and get a higher ratio of keepers.

Takes some practice, this is a technique I discovered by accident (but I am sure others must use it), although my eyesight is "perfect" I have developed issues with my eyes when looking through the viewfinder and closing the other eye, after a while my other eye has issues focussing for 5-10 minutes, so I kind of tried it to avoid that issue and the side effect is I was able to follow fast moving action a lot better.

I also try to avoid using the center focus point, I switch between the other focus points on the fly to help with composition and reduce heavy cropping post.

This is a great idea. Not only for being able to anticipate the shot, but for your own safety. Last month at my son's soccer tournament, he asked me if he could try my camera to get a picture. I had just handed it to him and he was looking through the viewfinder when a soccer ball got kicked out of bounds and hit the camera head on. Thankfully, other than a little bruising he was ok. Two eyes open may have helped. I'll certainly be trying this the next time we are close to the action.
 
Many people are left eye dominant and using the right eye at the viewfinder is uncomfortable.

But the both eyes open technique is used by a lot of pro sports shooters, because as RobNZ mentions, after a bit of practice, it lets you follow the action while also framing in the viewfinder.

I shoot fat (extra room in the viewfinder) so I can accommodate different aspect ratio prints, so cropping is pretty much an every keeper deal.
 

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