Action Shot Help

[Ballistics]

In lieu of another members football shots, I recently attempted to shoot a game this weekend. I took 797 shots, and I have 0 that are usable. I tried Continuous autofocus, but it would usually have the ball in focus and the receiver out of focus. I shot around 1/250-1/500 and came up with very blurry shots. I tried panning as well with no luck.

Any one have any tips on shooting fast paced sports? It was incredibly bright outside, so the light was not the issue. I blame it on my own ignorance.

 

[Derrel]

It is probably your lens choice: if all you had was the 18-105 and/or the 55-200, it's probably that. Neither of those are very fast. My wife has both, and I've shot both lenses...they just are not that "fast" at acquiring focus. 1/500 is pretty slow for football; an ISO boost might have helped. You say "blurry"; do you mean motion blurred? Camera blur? Or out of focus?

My experience is that the true pro level Nikkor lenses will focus quite rapidly, even on old-tech bodies like the D70 and D1, which are quite "venerable". The 300 f/2.8 AF-S Mark II focuses very fast on the D70. SO does the original 70-200 VR lens. Other pro-level AF-S lenses with fast apertures focus pretty well even on the old D40, which is a pretty low-spec AF system. The last time I shot the 55-200 was in Hawaii, and it got 'confused' a lot more often than a faster-aperture lens, even in bright, tropical lighting conditions. f/5.6 is simply not a very optimum aperture for phase-detection autofocus.

 

[Ballistics]

It is probably your lens choice: if all you had was the 18-105 and/or the 55-200, it's probably that. Neither of those are very fast. My wife has both, and I've shot both lenses...they just are not that "fast" at acquiring focus. 1/500 is pretty slow for football; an ISO boost might have helped. You say "blurry"; do you mean motion blurred? Camera blur? Or out of focus?

For example, the ball would be in the receivers hands, in focus, fairly sharp but the receiver would be blurry.

My experience is that the true pro level Nikkor lenses will focus quite rapidly, even on old-tech bodies like the D70 and D1, which are quite "venerable". The 300 f/2.8 AF-S Mark II focuses very fast on the D70. SO does the original 70-200 VR lens. Other pro-level AF-S lenses with fast apertures focus pretty well even on the old D40, which is a pretty low-spec AF system. The last time I shot the 55-200 was in Hawaii, and it got 'confused' a lot more often than a faster-aperture lens, even in bright, tropical lighting conditions. f/5.6 is simply not a very optimum aperture for phase-detection autofocus.

I'm more than certain the lens is hurting my cause, but I was able to freeze the action sometimes. But it was random. I'm trying to figure out how to do it on my own.

 

[Tony S]

What focus points were you using? Usually you will get the fastest performance using the single center focus point, the tech talk is pretty deep, but it works faster than multiple points. Plus you control what it focuses on.

797 photos in one game, yikes. That sounds like a lot of spray and pray hoping you were getting a shot instead of trying to get one good shot at a time. Work on smooth technique, panning with players and anticipating the action. Watch the action develope through your lens and when that face of the player you are looking for appears then fire a shot off. It's amazing how far things can move in that fraction of a second while you are rattling off frames. That player running a route will be going near or over 10mph, that's about 15 feet per second. Even with a fast frame rate of 10fps you can miss key action, timing is everything.

 

[Ballistics]

What focus points were you using? Usually you will get the fastest performance using the single center focus point, the tech talk is pretty deep, but it works faster than multiple points. Plus you control what it focuses on.

AF-C , multiple point. I never thought of using single point.

797 photos in one game, yikes. That sounds like a lot of spray and pray hoping you were getting a shot instead of trying to get one good shot at a time.

Yeah, that's actually what I was doing, but only because I thought it would be the best way. I've never utilized the continuous frame mode until that day so it was really one long learning experience.

Work on smooth technique, panning with players and anticipating the action.

That was my ultimate problem I think. I followed the ball, not the players.

Watch the action develope through your lens and when that face of the player you are looking for appears then fire a shot off. It's amazing how far things can move in that fraction of a second while you are rattling off frames. That player running a route will be going near or over 10mph, that's about 15 feet per second. Even with a fast frame rate of 10fps you can miss key action, timing is everything.

I always thought that sports photographers used continuous shooting modes. I never thought of them to time their shots. I'll give it another shot this weekend.

 

[Tony S]

Sports photographers do use continous shooting, but they still rely on timing for their intial set up. Many times those shots they get and use are of something that happened after the peak moment they were after, like the reciever catching the ball on his fingertips but then getting blasted by the linebacker. If you stop at the catch, then you miss the other shot because the camera is busy.

Those baseball on the bat shots that we all love to see are more a result of timing the pitch and swing than shooting in continuous mode.

 

[tevo]

9 Point AF-C is what I use for sports, just keep the focus point in the center (Single Point AF on a 9 point grid) (or wherever you choose to position the player) and it should focus there. I tried using the 3D AF once, and I had the same problem as you. Also, make sure you are shooting a "mid width" aperture, I would say 5.6 or 8, that way you have a better chance of getting the player and the ball in focus. Good luck!

 

[Vtec44]

Post a sample picture!

 

[Robin Usagani]

With plenty of light, there is no way you have problem with DOF on sport. Your shutter speed should be a lot higher too.

 

[TheBiles]

You want to try and keep your shutter faster than 1/1000sec to freeze fast-paced sports. Just shoot in aperture priority mode and ensure you are open enough to get the speeds you need or else you may have to adjust your ISO a couple stops. Once your shutter is fast enough it's basically all about anticipation. For example, if the team is in an obvious passing situation, you can either concentrate on following the QB or you can track a receiver the whole time and hope he gets the pass. Shooting football is definitely a challenge, but it's a ton of fun!


--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.

 

[tevo]

I am in the process of getting a job at sportswurlz, a local company that goes to sports events (high school) and photographs them, this thread is very beneficial to me! Bump ^^

 

[TheBiles]

I am in the process of getting a job at sportswurlz, a local company that goes to sports events (high school) and photographs them, this thread is very beneficial to me! Bump ^^

I'd be interested to hear how your experience goes! That seems like it would be a pretty sweet gig.

 

[tevo]

I am in the process of getting a job at sportswurlz, a local company that goes to sports events (high school) and photographs them, this thread is very beneficial to me! Bump ^^

I'd be interested to hear how your experience goes! That seems like it would be a pretty sweet gig.

At 40 dollars per football game (JV and Varsity are separate), and 20 for each other sporting event, w/ at least 2 sets of JV/Varsity each week, I would say so!

 

[gsgary]

I am in the process of getting a job at sportswurlz, a local company that goes to sports events (high school) and photographs them, this thread is very beneficial to me! Bump ^^

I'd be interested to hear how your experience goes! That seems like it would be a pretty sweet gig.

At 40 dollars per football game (JV and Varsity are separate), and 20 for each other sporting event, w/ at least 2 sets of JV/Varsity each week, I would say so!

That sounds like slave labour must be below minimum wage

 

[tevo]

I'd be interested to hear how your experience goes! That seems like it would be a pretty sweet gig.

At 40 dollars per football game (JV and Varsity are separate), and 20 for each other sporting event, w/ at least 2 sets of JV/Varsity each week, I would say so!

That sounds like slave labour must be below minimum wage

Eh, both football games run for about 3 hours total, so its just over minimum. I have no direct need for cashflow, it is a good outlet for photography, and it's experience. Im not complaining ^^