Blurry Pics

Sharon,

I know I take a lot of pics but I do take pics of the whole team. there is a team Facebook page that I use to save all the pics too. That way all the parents and the girls can see the pics that turned out good. The girls really like seeing them. I know some parents have saved the pics and then got them printed out for frames also. So just not taking pics of my kid. Anything taking pics helps me with is my sanity well my daughter is sometimes what stands between a win and a lose.
I have tried the sidelines but I usually dont get good pics because everything is a side view. This is why I went to taking pics form the end of the field. I get the girls facing me. I try to keep the camera steady but I know I dont always do a good job of it. I do not have the camera with me but I am sure the shutter speed is either 1/500 or 1/1000 setting.

Thanks

Take less shots but of better quality. 1300 is way too many for one hour. A lot of cameras do not refocus when using burst mode so the as the players move your shot is locked in on another focus point.
 
The pics are cropped. Some r only shot woth the 70 lens not really zoomed out. Like I said I am a full soccer field away from my daughter so I need to work on zooming out to 300 and focusing better. I usually dont have a lot of time to react. I will work on it

Thanks.

This is a major problem. You cant "react" to the shot. You have to anticipate the action and where things are headed and basically wait for them to hit the perfect spot.
 
The pics are cropped. Some r only shot woth the 70 lens not really zoomed out. Like I said I am a full soccer field away from my daughter so I need to work on zooming out to 300 and focusing better. I usually dont have a lot of time to react. I will work on it

Thanks.

This is a major problem. You cant "react" to the shot. You have to anticipate the action and where things are headed and basically wait for them to hit the perfect spot.

I wish I could anticipate the action but 12 yr old girls are very unpredictable. I try to anticipate the action sometimes but it never seems to work.
 
I shoot some kids soccer and I spend my time walking from end to end, hoping to catch good action.

You have a crop frame camera so at 300 mm you are close to 500. That 's a long lens (but also not so sharp)
1200 pictures in an hour is just huge; 20 a minute for an hour.
I would bet you just aren't getting focused when the shot is taken; is the camera set to allow exposure when not focused?

I am sorry I am not sure what you mean by " set to allow exposure when not focused"
 
Hi, ropeman. Thanks you for posting some pictures. Unfortunately, the EXIF does not contain the exposure data. Will you please post the EXIF for one or more of these shots, please? Include the lens, ISO, shutter, and aperture.

BTW: do you have any filters attached, such as a UV filter?

The pic are too big to post. they are over 2 mb in size. The lens I use is 70 to 300 canon. The iso is large setting. I do not remember the shutter or aperture setting. I changed them through out the tourney which was over 2 days.
 
I shoot some kids soccer and I spend my time walking from end to end, hoping to catch good action.

You have a crop frame camera so at 300 mm you are close to 500. That 's a long lens (but also not so sharp)
1200 pictures in an hour is just huge; 20 a minute for an hour.
I would bet you just aren't getting focused when the shot is taken; is the camera set to allow exposure when not focused?

I am sorry I am not sure what you mean by " set to allow exposure when not focused"

On my D700, I can set the camera to release the shutter even when the focus is not locked on.
 
Consider buying the Canon 70-200 f4L. About $550 used. You could then sell your 70-300 to recoup a bit of that cost.
 
Consider buying the Canon 70-200 f4L. About $550 used. You could then sell your 70-300 to recoup a bit of that cost.

What about the zoom distance? Like I said I am pretty far from my daughter now and next yr I will be even farther. Will the 200 zoom be enough?
 
Hi, ropeman. Thanks you for posting some pictures. Unfortunately, the EXIF does not contain the exposure data. Will you please post the EXIF for one or more of these shots, please? Include the lens, ISO, shutter, and aperture.

BTW: do you have any filters attached, such as a UV filter?

The pic are too big to post. they are over 2 mb in size. The lens I use is 70 to 300 canon. The iso is large setting. I do not remember the shutter or aperture setting. I changed them through out the tourney which was over 2 days.

I was not asking for you to post a larger size photograph, what I was asking for is the intact EXIF, or at least your shutter speed, the ISO, and the aperture, at least, and if you could, the entire EXIF, which has more information in it. The reason I was asking for that is so we could evaluate the photograph in terms of the actual settings used. The method you used to post the pictures has stripped most of the data from the individual pictures.

If you can't post photographs while leaving the EXIF intact, at least you can look at it on your own computer, and post the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture with each photograph.

Second part: do you have any filters attached, such as a UV filter?
 
Consider buying the Canon 70-200 f4L. About $550 used. You could then sell your 70-300 to recoup a bit of that cost.

What about the zoom distance? Like I said I am pretty far from my daughter now and next yr I will be even farther. Will the 200 zoom be enough?

You might have to find another vantage point from which to photograph the keeper. Where do the pros position themselves at a full-size soccer match?
 
This might give some ideas on vantage points etc. - at the bottom of the article is a link to the photographer's Sportsshooter member page and his website. GOOOOOOOAL! A new team debuts in Seattle
 
What about the zoom distance? Like I said I am pretty far from my daughter now and next yr I will be even farther. Will the 200 zoom be enough?
^
You might have to find another vantage point from which to photograph the keeper. Where do the pros position themselves at a full-size soccer match?
The 70-200 f4L is a top quality lens and the the best option for a tight budget. To get a quality lens with more reach expect to pay significantly more. The 400 f5.6 will run you $1300.00 and it's a slower lens. Fast long glass gets very pricey.

Something to consider, I have a friend that bought some pretty nice gear (mostly used) to shoot his kid's events. After they graduated he got rid of it all to go with a Sony NEX system. He really didn't have much difficulty selling this nice gear at a competitive price. Of course he didn't quite get back what he originally paid, but the way he looked at it, the price difference was simply the cost of renting what he needed for the few years he shot his kids. A good spend.
 
The pic are too big to post. they are over 2 mb in size. The lens I use is 70 to 300 canon. The iso is large setting. I do not remember the shutter or aperture setting. I changed them through out the tourney which was over 2 days.

Earlier in this thread, you indicated the pictures were cropped down. In your post quoted here, it's down to a 2mb file. Assuming you started with a JPG of approximately 5-8mb, that's a MAJOR cropping! When cropped that much, unless subject and camera motion have been completely stopped with a sufficiently fast shutter speed ==AND== the focus is absolutely dead perfect, the result will be blurred. Shooting in AI Servo mode is also an absolute requirement. Add to that, the EF 70-300 isn't reputed to be among the sharpest of the non-L lenses in Canons' lens catalog.

As suggested above, you may want to invest in the Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6L lens for improved sharpness.

Edit: Could the focus point selected by the camera be on a subject (another player) that was physically closer to you than the desired subjects which are likely outside of the DOF? That might be the explanation for why some of the pictures are blurry. Understanding how your camera decides which of multiple focus points to use is critical. It's usually the one that's the closest 'lockable' focus point. If you haven't already done so, change your camera settings to use only the center focus point. That would solve the 'wrong subject focus' problem.
 
Last edited:

Most reactions

Back
Top