Help! How do I shoot in this arena?

DaveTheTank · May 9, 2013

It's so damn RED

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...06835448.93915.100001178186771&type=1&theater

My seat will be high up there.

I am using Nikon D800e with new 80-400mm auto lens, 24-70mm auto lens and a 14-24 wide-angle.

Can anyone tell me what kind of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture would be perfect for this kind of surrounding?

Thanks!

DaveTheTank

ronlane · May 9, 2013

I don't think I can help other than to say that when the stands are packed with fans, there may not be as much red there.

DaveTheTank · May 9, 2013

lol so true! well I am new to this, as you probably see.

ronlane said:
I don't think I can help other than to say that when the stands are packed with fans, there may not be as much red there.

vintagesnaps · May 9, 2013

This is a new one. I was thinking that too, if the stands fill up it may not be so - red. I've done sports but not with anything like this background. Actually I'm thinking if participants are wearing blue or green, black and white, I wonder if you might get some nice contrast (they may show up well against the red surroundings). Of course if someone's wearing red they might blend into the background!

I can't think of anything I've done like this, I guess go early and take test shots?? but you ought to end up with some nice colorful photos if nothing else.

Big Mike · May 9, 2013

Welcome aboard.

Can anyone tell me what kind of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture would be perfect for this kind of surrounding?

That will depend on the ambient light that you have in the building and what your goals are for the photos. We can't just give you setting that will work.

jwbryson1 · May 9, 2013

DaveTheTank said:
I am new to this, as you probably see.

DaveTheTank said:
I am using Nikon D800e with new 80-400mm auto lens, 24-70mm auto lens and a 14-24 wide-angle.

:raisedbrow: Are you ****ting me?

DaveTheTank · May 9, 2013

jwbryson1 said:
DaveTheTank said:

I am new to this, as you probably see.

Click to expand...

DaveTheTank said:

I am using Nikon D800e with new 80-400mm auto lens, 24-70mm auto lens and a 14-24 wide-angle.

Click to expand...

:raisedbrow: Are you ****ting me?

my bad, didn't know street-smartness adopted here.

Designer · May 9, 2013

DaveTheTank; As to the camera settings, you need to do that in real time.

As for the RED, I'll tell you what I would do: Just go with it. Make everything more red than it actually is. When you get your files home, throw a light red filter over everything.

That's what I would do, but if you are doing this to portray the sport in as neutral a light as possible, then you wouldn't do that.

weepete · May 9, 2013

It's virtually impossible to tell mate. Usually the ambient light changes a bit as the crowd come in and they turn the general lights on and once again before the athletes come out, at least in the ones I've been in.

Use the spot meter option to meter the lights/darks on the athletes and bear in mind that you may get different exposures for different skin tones. You may need to decide whither to underexpose your subject at the expense of noise, or expose properly for the subject and blow out the highlights. You also need to be prepared to make a decision between a fast shutter speed and a really high ISO. Have an idea how much motion blur you think will be acceptable in your shots and chimp and zoom in on your test shots to find out. Take a grey card and set a custom WB too, as I find it helps when trying to make the above decisions.

What I do is aim for getting my shots in an acceptible range, I'll take quick test shots and chimp like a mofo on them to get them in the range I think is good at the beginning of the game, after a couple of minutes I don't want to be mucking about with settings as it's hard enough getting good sports shots.

DaveTheTank · May 9, 2013

Thanks all. I'll keep those in mind.

I will be using M mode except the WB - I was told it's OK to have WB set to auto.

Too bad my camera can only do 4 fps and my 80-400 is only f4.5-f5.6. These limitations always bug me to try to get another more expensive equipments. $$$$$$

kathyt · May 9, 2013

jwbryson1 said:
DaveTheTank said:

I am new to this, as you probably see.

Click to expand...

DaveTheTank said:

I am using Nikon D800e with new 80-400mm auto lens, 24-70mm auto lens and a 14-24 wide-angle.

Click to expand...

:raisedbrow: Are you ****ting me?

Jdubs, put back on your nice hat. Show your softer side. :heart:

TCampbell · May 9, 2013

You may have to boost saturation when post processing the images to make sure that red doesn't wash out. ;-)

On a more serious note... usually 'auto' is the lousiest setting. It's the "I don't know what white balance to use and I hope the camera can figure it out" setting. It tends to give the least consistent result. You can do white-balance in post processing if you can find something that you're convinced is a true neutral white or gray. I actually care a collapsible gray card for just such an emergency.

Shutter speeds of 1/500th will generally 'freeze' action in sports (unless things are _really_ moving. True speed is less important than apparently angular motion relative to the point of view of the camera.) Sometimes 1/250th is all you need.

You can _probably_ get away with shooting a D800 at ISO 6400 and not really notice much noise, but I'd leave that to the D800 owners to confirm. You may not need to go that high, but I'm concerned because your 80-400 is probably f/5.6 by 300mm (it's possibly f/5.6 by 200mm). That's two stops slower (one quarter as much light) as compared to an f/2.8 lens. If this is a one-time deal you could always rent a lens.

DaveTheTank · May 9, 2013

TCampbell said:
You may have to boost saturation when post processing the images to make sure that red doesn't wash out. ;-)

On a more serious note... usually 'auto' is the lousiest setting. It's the "I don't know what white balance to use and I hope the camera can figure it out" setting. It tends to give the least consistent result. You can do white-balance in post processing if you can find something that you're convinced is a true neutral white or gray. I actually care a collapsible gray card for just such an emergency.

Shutter speeds of 1/500th will generally 'freeze' action in sports (unless things are _really_ moving. True speed is less important than apparently angular motion relative to the point of view of the camera.) Sometimes 1/250th is all you need.

You can _probably_ get away with shooting a D800 at ISO 6400 and not really notice much noise, but I'd leave that to the D800 owners to confirm. You may not need to go that high, but I'm concerned because your 80-400 is probably f/5.6 by 300mm (it's possibly f/5.6 by 200mm). That's two stops slower (one quarter as much light) as compared to an f/2.8 lens. If this is a one-time deal you could always rent a lens.

Dang it! Too late to rent, I am off to Paris tomorrow.
But yes I got good pictures when setting ISO at 6400 during a local tennis event, while learning to shoot.

By the way, here is what I shot with D800e and 24-70 lens while I was trying different ISOs and apertures, at iso 6400, 70mm, f/20, 1/1600.

How are these pictures?