HS football.

[ronlane]

Just a couple from Friday night highschool action.

1) Over the shoulder catch for a TD. Canon 1D mk IV, 70-200mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 200mm, 1/1000, ISO 12800.



2) This one was cool. As I knelt down to get a good prospective of this play, one of the Coaches turns to me and says, "look out, coming your way." (Note: the kid forgot to squeeze the ball and dropped it). Canon 1D mk IV, 70-200mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 155mm, 1/1000, ISO 12800.

 

[Jeff15]

Very good action shots....

 

[ronlane]

Thanks Jeff.

 

[tirediron]

Nice timing on #2!!!!

 

[ac12]

I got one similar, where the receiver did not get the ball.
Boy the coach was POed at the receiver. Something about his glove, and ripped it off the kids hands.

 

[ronlane]

Nice timing on #2!!!!

Thank you.

I got one similar, where the receiver did not get the ball.
Boy the coach was POed at the receiver. Something about his glove, and ripped it off the kids hands.

Yeah, after this play, I turned to thank the coach and said to him, "he needed to squeeze that one." The coach shook his head in agreement and had a disgusted look on his face.

 

[ac12]

Ron,
I would like to get your advice on exposure.
My HS field has uneven lighting. Only 2 light poles on each side of the field. So the 10-15 yards from the goal line is about -1 EV from the center of the field, and the corners are -2 EV from the center.
The problem situation is, the TD runs are many times down the sideline into the -2 EV corners. And I am shooting across width of the field.

My standard setup is full manual or Center Weight.
The CW setup is AF=single point, 1 high from center. This forces the camera to meter the field, rather than the black/dark background, which would overexpose the players.
This generally works, except for when they do that TD run down the sideline into the dark corner. The meter reads the bright field between me and the player, and underexposes the player by about 2 stops. The compounding problem is shooting flat across the field, I can't meter the field in the corners very well. I end up metering the field well away from the player, in the brighter part of the field.

The only thing that I can think of is to shoot full manual and ride the shutter speed with my thumb to give me more exposure into the corner.
I can't ride the ISO (I think) as that requires me to also use my shutter finger, which is busy on the shutter release. Has to be thumb only.

Any thoughts on what I might try.

Thanks.

 

[Fujidave]

Well taken shots, liking #2 the most very well timed.

 

[Scoody]

High School football is a huge money maker for me. The school I cover did not make the playoffs so last night was the last game of the season. I get a lot of great shots because I know this team inside and out. I attend their practices. Talk to the kids. I am as familiar with their tendencies and playbook as any of the coaches. It helps with my shots because I do not have to chase the play for a shot, I wait for the shot to come to me. What actually sells the most for me are not so much the action shots but the shots before or after the play. The celebration of a big pass play or saving tackle. One of my best ones was of a kid, a cornerback who had been burned badly on a previous play for a TD. He had been getting some safety help after that but on this particular play the halfback lined up in the slot and then went in motion, taking the safety with him. The kid who got burned found himself one on one with the reciever who burned him. I got a shot right before the snap of the ball, it was pretty much a close up. You could see the fear in his eyes. The kid got smoked for a touchdown again on that play. The receiver (who actually went to state in the high hurdles) was way too fast for him.

A couple of years ago I got a Texas sports journalism award for a shot of a player coming off the field for the last time of his high school career and reaching out to his family in the stands. It was quite an emotional shot and the photo told quite a story.

 

[ac12]

High School football is a huge money maker for me.

I wish it could be for me, to help pay for gear.
But in my position as the external yearbook photo advisor, I cannot charge/make money off the pictures of the students.
So what does not go into the yearbook gets given to the AD and coaches.

I agree about the after play shots. I've been getting much more of that this year, capturing the emotions of a score/goal.
Last year I was too clinical and just shooting the game.

 

[Scoody]

I wish it could be for me, to help pay for gear.
But in my position as the external yearbook photo advisor, I cannot charge/make money off the pictures of the students.
So what does not go into the yearbook gets given to the AD and coaches.

I got into this through the boosters and shooting the team and individual photos at the beginning of the year. They got me a sideline pass for the first year. I got press credentials the next year so I didn't have to go through them. I shoot five games a week, 7th and 8th grade, freshmen, JV and Varsity. Make about $300 a game off of the non-varsity games, $500 off of the Varsity games.

 

[ronlane]

Ron,
I would like to get your advice on exposure.
My HS field has uneven lighting. Only 2 light poles on each side of the field. So the 10-15 yards from the goal line is about -1 EV from the center of the field, and the corners are -2 EV from the center.
The problem situation is, the TD runs are many times down the sideline into the -2 EV corners. And I am shooting across width of the field.

My standard setup is full manual or Center Weight.
The CW setup is AF=single point, 1 high from center. This forces the camera to meter the field, rather than the black/dark background, which would overexpose the players.
This generally works, except for when they do that TD run down the sideline into the dark corner. The meter reads the bright field between me and the player, and underexposes the player by about 2 stops. The compounding problem is shooting flat across the field, I can't meter the field in the corners very well. I end up metering the field well away from the player, in the brighter part of the field.

The only thing that I can think of is to shoot full manual and ride the shutter speed with my thumb to give me more exposure into the corner.
I can't ride the ISO (I think) as that requires me to also use my shutter finger, which is busy on the shutter release. Has to be thumb only.

Any thoughts on what I might try.

Thanks.

Sorry about the late reply, I have been out shooting a college game today and am just now getting to look at this site.

You are pretty much doing the same thing I do. You might try using manual with auto ISO so that the camera will adjust with you. I do this on a lot of occasions and use about +1/3 exposure compensation. Unfortunately dark corners are the norm in highschool football.

Don't be tempted to slow down your shutter speed to below 1/800, you want to minimize motion blur as much as possible.

Well taken shots, liking #2 the most very well timed.

Thanks.

 

[ac12]

Ron,
I would like to get your advice on exposure.
My HS field has uneven lighting. Only 2 light poles on each side of the field. So the 10-15 yards from the goal line is about -1 EV from the center of the field, and the corners are -2 EV from the center.
The problem situation is, the TD runs are many times down the sideline into the -2 EV corners. And I am shooting across width of the field.

My standard setup is full manual or Center Weight.
The CW setup is AF=single point, 1 high from center. This forces the camera to meter the field, rather than the black/dark background, which would overexpose the players.
This generally works, except for when they do that TD run down the sideline into the dark corner. The meter reads the bright field between me and the player, and underexposes the player by about 2 stops. The compounding problem is shooting flat across the field, I can't meter the field in the corners very well. I end up metering the field well away from the player, in the brighter part of the field.

The only thing that I can think of is to shoot full manual and ride the shutter speed with my thumb to give me more exposure into the corner.
I can't ride the ISO (I think) as that requires me to also use my shutter finger, which is busy on the shutter release. Has to be thumb only.

Any thoughts on what I might try.

Thanks.

Sorry about the late reply, I have been out shooting a college game today and am just now getting to look at this site.

You are pretty much doing the same thing I do. You might try using manual with auto ISO so that the camera will adjust with you. I do this on a lot of occasions and use about +1/3 exposure compensation. Unfortunately dark corners are the norm in highschool football.

Don't be tempted to slow down your shutter speed to below 1/800, you want to minimize motion blur as much as possible.

Well taken shots, liking #2 the most very well timed.

Thanks.

Dang, on Manual, I'm at 1/500 sec.
The only option left is to figure out how to easily raise the ISO.
More tinkering to do.

 

[ac12]

Dang,
Adjusting EC and ISO are both shutter finger + thumb actions.
So I can't do either on the fly as I am shooting.

All I can think of is, shoot in M, then with my thumb drop the ss to 1/250 (from 1/500). That brings me 1 stop better, and the corner is only -1 stop rather than -2 stops.

 

[ronlane]

Dang,
Adjusting EC and ISO are both shutter finger + thumb actions.
So I can't do either on the fly as I am shooting.

All I can think of is, shoot in M, then with my thumb drop the ss to 1/250 (from 1/500). That brings me 1 stop better, and the corner is only -1 stop rather than -2 stops.

Using auto ISO there is no using your thumb to adjust. Using exposure comp, you can set that before the play and go from there.
1/250 and 1/500 are to slow of shutter speeds for football.