High School Football - 9/28

Rob4bama · Oct 1, 2012

Still not very happy with my football pictures.

1. I can never get the white balance right.
2. My pictures just don't seem sharp. I've tried increasing the aperture but I can't seem to get enough light.
3. I picked up a teleconverter to get a little further down field, but that brought up the aperture problem.
4. Everyone's face is shadowed. I can't seem to get those intense faces.

Oh well. Here are a few pics. Any comments / criticisms are welcome.

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MLeeK · Oct 2, 2012

I came looking for these after your post about the lens...
The white balance isn't your fault. It is the cycling lights on the field. Even if you did a custom white balance and had it perfect this would happen. AND some of the images will not only be funky colored there will be some much brighter and some much darker even if you use full manual and the settings don't change. Some fields will be better, some fields will be a nightmare. It's the same case inside a gym.

What camera are you using? The TC will not only reduce your light, but it will also have an affect on your sharpness, so if that is part of what you have been using while you are feeling things aren't as sharp as they should be-it could be some of the cause.

What are you doing for post processing on these? Are you shooting in jpeg or raw? I shoot only in raw because of the cycling lights. I can't stand not to fix it. However, I shoot full manual so overall I can apply the same preset to every image from the game.

Faces will be shadowed in general. They are hidden within the helmet. You will need to bring them out in post.

So, having said all of that, your shots are good. YOur post processing is lacking.

mhenry71 · Oct 2, 2012

Those look really good to me. I have a 300mm and I'm thinking about getting an extender to get in closer as well. What kind of camera do you use? Those are way closer than I can even get with my 300mm from the stands.

imagemaker46 · Oct 2, 2012

They really do all look a little soft, it is very likely the converter. There is some good action and a few that I wouldn't have kept. Apart from the colours and softness they aren't really too bad.