need help at the football

[quad b]

Hey everyone, I've got some problems.
Let me just talk about my problems with these photos though (sorry not funny). I went to the A-league (new football league in Australia), and took my 70-300mm lense, so I could get some of the action on the pitch. BUT I was dissappointed when I saw that at maximum aperture, I was still getting motion in the shots.

I thought that the huge stadium lights would give me enough light to stop the action. Why can't I achieve the results I want??

Also, how should I shoot for next time (sunday)?? I thought maybe I could just shoot them underexposed and then lighten them up in photoshop.

Obviously there must be a solution because so many photograph the same type of thing. I'm pretty convinced it's got to do with the lense being used. Am I right?

here's some of the results.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

I have to admit though, I don't mind a couple of these photos.
thanks for any help.

 

[Arch]

you could increase your iso...... doing this makes your sensor more sensative to light, so you can increase your shutter speed. Try not to max out the iso, as you will get more noise.... but its worth doing if there really isnt enough light to work with.

Other than that you'd have to get a faster lens, which cost quite a bit..... or if your close enough use a flash gun....

 

[cecilc]

... 70-300mm lense, ...

I thought that the huge stadium lights would give me enough light to stop the action. Why can't I achieve the results I want??

OK ...

I'm guessing that your 70-300 lens has a max aperture of 5.6 ... kinda sloooooow for shooting fast-moving sports under stadium lighting (even though that lighting may SEEM to be good lighting).

Meter that scene in camera and see what it's telling you ..... but first, bump your ISO all the way up (there's no point in leaving it at 400 or 800 worrying about "noise" - with that lens you MUST jack it up to 1600); set your aperture at 5.6; and set your shutter speed to 1/400 (all this done in manual mode, too, by the way).

Now, take a reading and see what your camera is telling you. If the exposure needle is not right in the middle (indicating a "proper" exposure) then you need to make adjustments .... more than likely, that needle is going to be waaaay down below the middle - indicating a serious underexposure. But that's to be expected with that 5.6 lens and not enough light. But the "proper" exposure (which is what you've posted) winds up with too slow a shutter speed to freeze action .... hence all the blur. And, with a slow shutter speed, actual camera shake may also cause some of that blurring.

Recommendations:
1) Try to get at least an f2.8 lens ... that will give you some more leeway and a couple of stops in exposure.
2) Shoot more "static" shots - in your shots, you'll notice that the people that aren't moving aren't blurred. Get more of those shots ...
3) Learn to pan ... at least, PART of your image has a chance of being sharply focused.
4) As was suggested, you might try a flash and see if that helps.

Best of luck on Sunday ....

 

[fightheheathens]

if you have one, bring a mono pod. at 300mm, (unless you have anti shake stuff) you need to use at least 1/300th shutter speeds. A mono pod can help alot with that.

 

[quad b]

thanks for everyone's help. i'll give it all a go on sunday. thanks again