First time shooting soccer | C&C welcome

[MichaelHenson]

So, a friend of my wife's wanted some action shots of her daughter playing soccer and I've been working to spread my photographic wings and try out all the various aspects/venues of photography to see what resonates. So, today was my first chance to do ANY sports photography...it was cold, incredibly windy, and I was entirely unprepared for the weather conditions. Anyway...onto the photos.

Here are some of my favorites:
BrittanySoccer-9 by mhenson1104, on Flickr
BrittanySoccer-8 by mhenson1104, on Flickr
BrittanySoccer-3 by mhenson1104, on Flickr
BrittanySoccer-11 by mhenson1104, on Flickr

These were shot in shutter priority with my D5200/Tamron 70-200, 2.8.

My critiques/feedback.
-Difficult to get the action sometimes and these are cropped to the max so, if they are printed big I'm sure we'll run into IQ issues.
-Focusing seems to be an ongoing struggle for me. I'll think I'm on but when I take the time to check the screen or look at them on the computer I'll notice I've "just" missed it. I played around with the different focusing mode options and honestly don't know that I've figured out which one I'm happy with. 3D tracking seemed to be helpful but I had trouble focusing specifically on the player I wanted in this mode...the more straightforward focusing modes left me with missed focus from time to time. This is definitely an area that I'm going to have to get better at.
-Colors may be off here? I used the "Cloudy" WB option in-camera and ended up using the gray jerseys to set WB in Lightroom and the resulting colors passed the wife and the mom test (I'm red/green colorblind so I don't completely trust myself when it comes to shade shifts, etc.) but it seems that my upload to Flickr resulted in some color shifts that aren't quite what I had in computer.

What else am I missing? I know there are some backgrounds that aren't ideal but I'll be able to better anticipate these things the more I shoot the sport and learn to adjust my position in relation to the action. Also, a teleconverter might become helpful too since I now have a faster lens that will be able to help compensate for the loss of light...

Any other thoughts, tips, insights? Thanks a TON in advance!

 

[The_Traveler]

It's a constant struggle to isolate the players and keep the speed up.
In these situations, because you were shooting at a relatively low iso, your aperture was forced to the max. which means shallower depth of field and not the best quality.
Look at the full frame, see if there was sharp focus anywhere.
Make certain you are getting good focus.

Using DOFmaster.com, you can see that at f4 and short distances your depth of field was so low that the entire player might not be in focus

I would suggest that, if you can, shoot in shutter preferred with a minimum aperture of 5.6 and let the iso self-adjust or shoot at a higher iso so the aperture will be smaller and thus more depth of field.

About WB. Next time shoot a grey card (or a piece of white paper, rather than depending on an unknown grey of a uniform (which is probably off)
This looked like a flat dull day, not the best time, not the worst.

In regards the shots, unless there is really something interesting happen, make the ball/player interaction the center of interest.
Try to catch dynamism in the shots,
This isn't easy, take a lot of shots.
You will catch on.

In this shot, the paler faces of those girls in the background draw attention, so darken the periphery and make the player with the ball the center of attention.
Color looked odd to me, maybe too yellow and a bit unsaturated.

 

[MichaelHenson]

It's a constant struggle to isolate the players and keep the speed up.
In these situations, because you were shooting at a relatively low iso, your aperture was forced to the max. which means shallower depth of field and not the best quality.
Look at the full frame, see if there was sharp focus anywhere.
Make certain you are getting good focus.

View attachment 89022


Using DOFmaster.com, you can see that at f4 and short distances your depth of field was so low that the entire player might not be in focus

View attachment 89021

I would suggest that, if you can, shoot in shutter preferred with a minimum aperture of 5.6 and let the iso self-adjust or shoot at a higher iso so the aperture will be smaller and thus more depth of field.

About WB. Next time shoot a grey card (or a piece of white paper, rather than depending on an unknown grey of a uniform (which is probably off)
This looked like a flat dull day, not the best time, not the worst.

In regards the shots, unless there is really something interesting happen, make the ball/player interaction the center of interest.
Try to catch dynamism in the shots,
This isn't easy, take a lot of shots.
You will catch on.

In this shot, the paler faces of those girls in the background draw attention, so darken the periphery and make the player with the ball the center of attention.
Color looked odd to me, maybe too yellow and a bit unsaturated.

View attachment 89024

Great feedback. Thanks a ton for your detailed response!

I'll definitely keep this in mind for next time. My thinking was to keep my ISO as low as possible to avoid the inevitable noise as it becomes fairly apparent pretty readily and I knew that I would have to end up cropping quite a bit in order to get the "closeness" I want. Next time, I'll focus more on my shutter speed/aperture and let ISO do its thing and see what we come up with. I'll also start carrying a grey card around with me to help avoid the white balance issues that I tend to run up against.

Regarding the dynamism of shots, this is what I attempted to do. Kept the interactions with the ball the center of attention as much as possible and cropped out as much of the non-essential distractions as possible.

Thanks again!

 

[EIngerson]

Your exif says you shot in auto. Your camera made all the decisions for you.


Nothing against Shutter Priority, but I shoot sports in Aperture Priority. I like to control the depth of field. Make sure you are shooting in AF-C. (I'm a canon guy so I think that's the same as AI Servo) I like to use back-button focus so I can track the subject and "click" when I see the action points.

If it's a sunny day, I shoot at ISO 100. A cloudy day like you have there, I would go to 400. Last nights football game I shot under the lights at 16000. It all depends on what gets your shutter speed up. I like to be upwards of 1/500 shooting sports.

Whether you shoot in Aperture or shutter priorities, get a good grasp on how ISO works. Lots of people get too wrapped up with worrying about noise. A sharp photo is still sharp even if there's noise present. I see you have LR-5. It has pretty good noise reduction capability.

If you are shooting in JPEG you limit your color handling in post. I recommend RAW to allow you to the best color control. Shooting in RAW you can just leave your white balance in auto and not have to worry about it again.

Have fun, I hope to see more of your work.

 

[The_Traveler]

I took a few soccer shots at my grandson's game with sort of same conditions and these were the ones I liked.
If I had to pick out a reason why, it is that there is always something just about to happen and the action and eyes are focused on the ball. (except for the last of course which is more a Dad-Son kind of shot.)
My grandson has the ball in the first and is the goalie in the second two.
These were shot with Olympus OMD 5 and Panasonic 35-100 2.8 shooting at 5 frames/second.
Obviously I threw away a lot of shots.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Your exif says you shot in auto. Your camera made all the decisions for you.

Nothing against Shutter Priority, but I shoot sports in Aperture Priority. I like to control the depth of field. Make sure you are shooting in AF-C. (I'm a canon guy so I think that's the same as AI Servo) I like to use back-button focus so I can track the subject and "click" when I see the action points.

If it's a sunny day, I shoot at ISO 100. A cloudy day like you have there, I would go to 400. Last nights football game I shot under the lights at 16000. It all depends on what gets your shutter speed up. I like to be upwards of 1/500 shooting sports.

Whether you shoot in Aperture or shutter priorities, get a good grasp on how ISO works. Lots of people get too wrapped up with worrying about noise. A sharp photo is still sharp even if there's noise present. I see you have LR-5. It has pretty good noise reduction capability.

If you are shooting in JPEG you limit your color handling in post. I recommend RAW to allow you to the best color control. Shooting in RAW you can just leave your white balance in auto and not have to worry about it again.

Have fun, I hope to see more of your work.

I shot in Shutter Priority (you can see it in the EXIF that Lew posted)...

Hmmm. Gotta say, I didn't even consider shooting in Aperture Priority because I wanted to be sure to have shutter speed where I wanted it-ish. I have the focus mode in Continuous but my big ol' hands and the relatively small D5200 don't cooperate with back button focus in a scenario where I'm going to be moving the camera a lot...That being said, I might give it a go next time I shoot sports because you're the second person I've heard mention using BBF for sports so it's worth the experiment for sure!

I do get wrapped up in the noise factor...I'll work on getting over that.

I shoot everything in RAW, whether I need to or not.

It was fun and challenging and I promise...I'll be posting more. Thanks a ton for the feedback and suggestions I am definitely going to keep them in mind!

 

[MichaelHenson]

I took a few soccer shots at my grandson's game with sort of same conditions and these were the ones I liked.
If I had to pick out a reason why, it is that there is always something just about to happen and the action and eyes are focused on the ball. (except for the last of course which is more a Dad-Son kind of shot.)
My grandson has the ball in the first and is the goalie in the second two.
These were shot with Olympus OMD 5 and Panasonic 35-100 2.8 shooting at 5 frames/second.
Obviously I threw away a lot of shots.

Very cool, they look great (as expected when you post something...)

Man! That #7 Velasquez looks HUGE compared to the rest of the guys!

Yeah, I threw away a TON of shots. I guess that's the nature of sports as I'm definitely not a "spray 'n pray" shooter...I don't have the patience for it as a rule.

 

[astroNikon]

I shoot soccer in Manual but I set my aperture and my shutter speed. I don't want those changing unless I want a specific type of shot - So Aperture or Shutter priority don't work for me. Then I let AUTO ISO control it after that and set a MAX. I set these up at the game depending upon the conditions. ==> It's whatever works best for you.

I also shoot from the ends and not the sides of the field as you get more action shots of the players coming towards you.

Focusing I tend to switch between Dynamic 9 and Single.

 

[MichaelHenson]

I shoot soccer in Manual but I set my aperture and my shutter speed. I don't want those changing unless I want a specific type of shot - So Aperture or Shutter priority don't work for me. Then I let AUTO ISO control it after that and set a MAX. I set these up at the game depending upon the conditions. ==> It's whatever works best for you.

I also shoot from the ends and not the sides of the field as you get more action shots of the players coming towards you.

Focusing I tend to switch between Dynamic 9 and Single.

I almost went Manual but figured I'd give Shutter priority a go. And, I seriously considered moving to the end of the field but I wasn't sure if that was allowed? Like I said, my first go. Next time, I'm definitely going to do some end o' the field shooting...

 

[The_Traveler]

Man! That #7 Velasquez looks HUGE compared to the rest of the guys!

Yes, doesn't he.
These are traveling teams from each county and some of team managers seem to be a bit less strict about age limits.

In regards noise.
There are several applications for removing noise that work pretty well.
I use Noiseware because I've had it for years but there are lots of others that have good reviews.

 

[EIngerson]

Your exif says you shot in auto. Your camera made all the decisions for you.

Nothing against Shutter Priority, but I shoot sports in Aperture Priority. I like to control the depth of field. Make sure you are shooting in AF-C. (I'm a canon guy so I think that's the same as AI Servo) I like to use back-button focus so I can track the subject and "click" when I see the action points.

If it's a sunny day, I shoot at ISO 100. A cloudy day like you have there, I would go to 400. Last nights football game I shot under the lights at 16000. It all depends on what gets your shutter speed up. I like to be upwards of 1/500 shooting sports.

Whether you shoot in Aperture or shutter priorities, get a good grasp on how ISO works. Lots of people get too wrapped up with worrying about noise. A sharp photo is still sharp even if there's noise present. I see you have LR-5. It has pretty good noise reduction capability.

If you are shooting in JPEG you limit your color handling in post. I recommend RAW to allow you to the best color control. Shooting in RAW you can just leave your white balance in auto and not have to worry about it again.

Have fun, I hope to see more of your work.

I shot in Shutter Priority (you can see it in the EXIF that Lew posted)...

Hmmm. Gotta say, I didn't even consider shooting in Aperture Priority because I wanted to be sure to have shutter speed where I wanted it-ish. I have the focus mode in Continuous but my big ol' hands and the relatively small D5200 don't cooperate with back button focus in a scenario where I'm going to be moving the camera a lot...That being said, I might give it a go next time I shoot sports because you're the second person I've heard mention using BBF for sports so it's worth the experiment for sure!

I do get wrapped up in the noise factor...I'll work on getting over that.

I shoot everything in RAW, whether I need to or not.

It was fun and challenging and I promise...I'll be posting more. Thanks a ton for the feedback and suggestions I am definitely going to keep them in mind!

Must have mis-read on the Exposure mode. Sorry about that. The Flickr exif says auto. I totally get you on the "big hands" issue. lol. That's actually what makes the back button good for me.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Your exif says you shot in auto. Your camera made all the decisions for you.

Nothing against Shutter Priority, but I shoot sports in Aperture Priority. I like to control the depth of field. Make sure you are shooting in AF-C. (I'm a canon guy so I think that's the same as AI Servo) I like to use back-button focus so I can track the subject and "click" when I see the action points.

If it's a sunny day, I shoot at ISO 100. A cloudy day like you have there, I would go to 400. Last nights football game I shot under the lights at 16000. It all depends on what gets your shutter speed up. I like to be upwards of 1/500 shooting sports.

Whether you shoot in Aperture or shutter priorities, get a good grasp on how ISO works. Lots of people get too wrapped up with worrying about noise. A sharp photo is still sharp even if there's noise present. I see you have LR-5. It has pretty good noise reduction capability.

If you are shooting in JPEG you limit your color handling in post. I recommend RAW to allow you to the best color control. Shooting in RAW you can just leave your white balance in auto and not have to worry about it again.

Have fun, I hope to see more of your work.

I shot in Shutter Priority (you can see it in the EXIF that Lew posted)...

Hmmm. Gotta say, I didn't even consider shooting in Aperture Priority because I wanted to be sure to have shutter speed where I wanted it-ish. I have the focus mode in Continuous but my big ol' hands and the relatively small D5200 don't cooperate with back button focus in a scenario where I'm going to be moving the camera a lot...That being said, I might give it a go next time I shoot sports because you're the second person I've heard mention using BBF for sports so it's worth the experiment for sure!

I do get wrapped up in the noise factor...I'll work on getting over that.

I shoot everything in RAW, whether I need to or not.

It was fun and challenging and I promise...I'll be posting more. Thanks a ton for the feedback and suggestions I am definitely going to keep them in mind!

Must have mis-read on the Exposure mode. Sorry about that. The Flickr exif says auto. I totally get you on the "big hands" issue. lol. That's actually what makes the back button good for me.

You didn't mis-read it now that I look at it! Weird. Flickr says Auto...I can't even remember the last time I used Auto...I'm not even sure I've ever used Auto on this camera...Very odd.

I'm definitely going to be trying the BBF. Might need to change the way I hold it or something but I can see how already being in focus would be beneficial for capturing those "decisive moments" in sports.