I need advice on night time sports photograpgy.

[tonanzith]

Ok so I consider myself an intermediate user when it comes to dslr photography and usually manage to take great pictures. But is there anyone who can give me some advice when it comes to taking sports pictures in low light or at night. Specifically I am shooting my nephews night time football pictures and the stadium is well lit but needing my shutter speed high to freeze the action I have been needing to increase the ISO to compensate for the darkness and my pictures come out VERY noisy. By the way I have the f stop all the way down to 4.5 Lightroom tends to help reduce the noise but a lot of them are so noisy to get rid of it all it softens the pictures far too much. What can I change in the settings to achieve better prints? I am shooting with a pentax k-x with a 50-200mm lens and often use a teleconverter (without the teleconverter I still have the same issue) often at shutter speed between 1/250 to 1/500 and ISO 6400 depending on how dark. ANY advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[akeigher]

Ok so I consider myself an intermediate user when it comes to dslr photography and usually manage to take great pictures. But is there anyone who can give me some advice when it comes to taking sports pictures in low light or at night. Specifically I am shooting my nephews night time football pictures and the stadium is well lit but needing my shutter speed high to freeze the action I have been needing to increase the ISO to compensate for the darkness and my pictures come out VERY noisy. By the way I have the f stop all the way down to 4.5 Lightroom tends to help reduce the noise but a lot of them are so noisy to get rid of it all it softens the pictures far too much. What can I change in the settings to achieve better prints? I am shooting with a pentax k-x with a 50-200mm lens and often use a teleconverter (without the teleconverter I still have the same issue) often at shutter speed between 1/250 to 1/500 and ISO 6400 depending on how dark. ANY advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

A few things.

1) I usually shoot my sports at f 2.8 - it allows me to let in more light and freeze the action without having to be at iso 6400.

2) Using a teleconverter drops your f-stop by one or two stops (one stop for a 1.4x and two stops for a 2x) That will dramatically limit the amount of light you have coming into the lens.

3) Try using a monopod - it will allow you to shoot at a slightly slower shutter speed and avoid any shake. You may not think you are shaking, but at 200mm+ we all tend to shake a little.

Hope that helps.

 

[Destin]

Yeah, to shoot high school football you pretty much have to have at least f2.8.

If you can't/don't want to drop a ton of cash on a fast telelphoto lens (they aren't even close to cheap), you can, in a pinch, us a 50mm 1.8 if you have sideline access. Sure, you'll have to wait for the action to come to you but you will get good photos when it does. Thats what I did for a few games before buying my 70-200 2.8.

 

[Sharfy]

Yeah, to shoot high school football you pretty much have to have at least f2.8.

If you can't/don't want to drop a ton of cash on a fast telelphoto lens (they aren't even close to cheap), you can, in a pinch, us a 50mm 1.8 if you have sideline access. Sure, you'll have to wait for the action to come to you but you will get good photos when it does. Thats what I did for a few games before buying my 70-200 2.8.

I have check your page and you really had nice work! :thumbup:

did you take all your sports/action photography with 70-200 2.8?

 

[Destin]

Yeah, to shoot high school football you pretty much have to have at least f2.8.

If you can't/don't want to drop a ton of cash on a fast telelphoto lens (they aren't even close to cheap), you can, in a pinch, us a 50mm 1.8 if you have sideline access. Sure, you'll have to wait for the action to come to you but you will get good photos when it does. Thats what I did for a few games before buying my 70-200 2.8.

I have check your page and you really had nice work! :thumbup:

did you take all your sports/action photography with 70-200 2.8?

Thank you!!

Yes, all my sports photography is done with my sigma 70-200 2.8. Eventually I want to get a 300mm 2.8 for that extra reach for football, but thats WAY out of my budget for now. I love my 70-200 for now, it's great!!

 

[Sharfy]

Yeah, to shoot high school football you pretty much have to have at least f2.8.

If you can't/don't want to drop a ton of cash on a fast telelphoto lens (they aren't even close to cheap), you can, in a pinch, us a 50mm 1.8 if you have sideline access. Sure, you'll have to wait for the action to come to you but you will get good photos when it does. Thats what I did for a few games before buying my 70-200 2.8.

I have check your page and you really had nice work! :thumbup:

did you take all your sports/action photography with 70-200 2.8?

Thank you!!

Yes, all my sports photography is done with my sigma 70-200 2.8. Eventually I want to get a 300mm 2.8 for that extra reach for football, but thats WAY out of my budget for now. I love my 70-200 for now, it's great!!

alright I should consider that lense also or maybe the 300 (if monetary budget will permit me hahaha). Thanks for the answer