Football 2021

[K9Kirk]

Very nice set, keep'em coming!

 

[ac12]

DAY game, nice.

I was told on Wednesday, that the Friday night game was moved to Saturday early afternoon.
A DAY game, and I am at a conference this week-end. ARGH

 

[photoflyer]

Scrimmage #2 for the middle school guys (7th & 8th Grade). As a Dad, I had to be there, so might as well get in a few shots so I can knock the rust off and be ready for the season next week. Besides the lighting is so much better her than it will be in the weeks to come as the sun sets earlier and earlier.

These images remind how much the talking heads on the likes of ESPN really do not understand sport. A good sports photo transcends the level of competition and and captures what sport represents: a reflection of the human spirit. Sure, they won't get ratings televising 8th grade football, but so often they miss the underlying story behind the game focusing way too much on fame and fortune.

Side question. What lens are you using? I have a 70-200 f2.8, 300 f4, and 100-400 f4.5-5.6. I also have the 1.4 and 2.0 TCs but normally avoid using them. But, for sports and wildlife I am debating getting a Mark I version of the 400 f2.8 or 500 f4. The R6 can go plenty high on the ISO and still produce quality images and the AF works up to f16, but the separation one gets with 2.8 versus 5.6, I think, is noticeable and makes an image pop.

 

[ronlane]

DAY game, nice.

I was told on Wednesday, that the Friday night game was moved to Saturday early afternoon.
A DAY game, and I am at a conference this week-end. ARGH

Dang AC, that sucks. I'll get good light for part of the game for about another 3-4 weeks and then it will be under the lights. I have at least 2 games this coming weekend, Friday evening and Saturday at 11:00 so I should get some good stuff.

 

[ronlane]

These images remind how much the talking heads on the likes of ESPN really do not understand sport. A good sports photo transcends the level of competition and and captures what sport represents: a reflection of the human spirit. Sure, they won't get ratings televising 8th grade football, but so often they miss the underlying story behind the game focusing way too much on fame and fortune.

Side question. What lens are you using? I have a 70-200 f2.8, 300 f4, and 100-400 f4.5-5.6. I also have the 1.4 and 2.0 TCs but normally avoid using them. But, for sports and wildlife I am debating getting a Mark I version of the 400 f2.8 or 500 f4. The R6 can go plenty high on the ISO and still produce quality images and the AF works up to f16, but the separation one gets with 2.8 versus 5.6, I think, is noticeable and makes an image pop.

Thanks Photoflyer. I am using a 300mm f/2.8 version I and I have a 70-200mm f/2.8 on my second body. I would love to have a 400mm f/2.8 but those haven't come down to my price point yet. IF you can stay patient enough, you can get some great images even under the lights with the 70-200 but you have to let the action come to you or stay 5-10 yards either side of the line of scrimmage. For day games, that 300 f/4 would be good even with the TC's. Personally, I am not fond of the 100-400 because of the variable aperture on it.

Be sure that you have a good monopod if you get the 300 or 400 f/2.8's. It will save your shoulders a LOT.

 

[jeffashman]

Excellent photos! We live close enough to the high school, that we hear the band on the field every game night. Friday night lights!

 

[photoflyer]

Looking forward to seeing what you get with the R6. I am REALLY wanting to get an R3.

Friday night lights, finally, with the R6 and the 300mm f 4 Mark I. ISO 6400 (I have some at 12.8 that are fine) and 1/800th. Heavy crop. I had the 70-200 2.8 on the 6D Mark II but kept coming back to the R6 because I could see the exposure through the view finder and what the AF was tracking.

You get an R3 and I'll get a Mark I 400 2.8!

 

[jeffashman]

Nice action shot!

 

[ronlane]

First Friday night lights game of the season. Here are a few highlights.

1)

2)

3)

4) This kid has multiple offers from D1 schools to play both football and basketball.

5)

6)

7) This young man has committed to play football at Oregon.

 

[jcdeboever]

Excellent shooting as always Ron

 

[ronlane]

Thanks @jcdeboever.

 

[ac12]

Did our first home and night game this past Fri.
Either the lights are dimmer or the SMOKE in the air dimmed the lights. I had to bump my exposure up about half to a full stop. And I was already on the the edge before, at 1/800, f/4, ISO 6400.
I had "the first game rusties." For some reason, I was having intermittent AF trouble, that I did not have before.
Going to fuss with the kit this weekend and see if I can figure it out.

 

[photoflyer]

Did our first home and night game this past Fri.
Either the lights are dimmer or the SMOKE in the air dimmed the lights. I had to bump my exposure up about half to a full stop. And I was already on the the edge before, at 1/800, f/4, ISO 6400.
I had "the first game rusties." For some reason, I was having intermittent AF trouble, that I did not have before.
Going to fuss with the kit this weekend and see if I can figure it out.

Do you ever under expose intentionally to get a higher shutter speed and/or lower ISO? I do this a lot in dim light (sounds counter intuitive) and then bring the shadows out a bit in the raw file. Also, I use DXO's software and their noise reduction algorithm is amazing. I see little to no reduction in sharpness and the noise is reduced dramatically.

 

[ac12]

Do you ever under expose intentionally to get a higher shutter speed and/or lower ISO? I do this a lot in dim light (sounds counter intuitive) and then bring the shadows out a bit in the raw file. Also, I use DXO's software and their noise reduction algorithm is amazing. I see little to no reduction in sharpness and the noise is reduced dramatically.

In a way.
The end zone is 1 stop dimmer than the center of the field.
The corners of the field are about 2 stops dimmer. And guess where the runners usually go . . . towards the corners.
So, when I shoot in manual mode, yes, I end up underexposing the end zone and corner shots.

I can shoot metered in the center, but I have not figured out a way to shoot metered into the end zone.
The problem is that background is DARK.
- Direct metering ends up overexposing the players, because of the DARK background.
- When I set the AF point up one, and use center weight, that works for the center of the field, but not for the LONG shots. On the LONG shots, because of the flat angle, I am metering off the well lit part of the field, not the dim part.

Unfortunately, I shoot in JPG, not RAW.
I do that simply because of the volume of pics that I shoot. RAW to JPG just adds another step and more time.
Although, I might consider shooting just the night game in RAW.

 

[photoflyer]

Unfortunately, I shoot in JPG, not RAW.
I do that simply because of the volume of pics that I shoot. RAW to JPG just adds another step and more time.
Although, I might consider shooting just the night game in RAW.

I understand. My workflow looks like this:

Download raw files to the computer
Delete shots that are clearly poor
Edit a shot that is representative of the shoot and save the settings as a custom preset
Apply the preset to all images in the shoot - this is a single application that takes five seconds
Review images in the shoot and edit only the best (500 may become 20)

In the last step I crop for composition and may fine tune a few of the settings for that specific shot.

I used to shoot mostly jpg but the amount of data in a raw truly makes a difference. And, the R6 has compressed raw so the files are very manageable. If you can a custom preset to the entire shoot, it really becomes very much like shooting jpg, you're just applying what is applied in camera after the fact and in a manner that is specific to that shoot Also, your starting point allows much more latitude to fine tune a specific image.

If conditions changed during the shoot, starts cloudy and ends sunny, I create two presents.