Sport Photography

[table1349]

Tacticdesigns, I was not recommending she buy the expensive, but renting is certainly an option. Also, don't mean to burst your bubble but it seems you're giving advice on something you don't seem to know so well yourself. The shots you posted of the stock cars are god-awful and I would only ever post the as an example of how not to shoot sports. Also, I'm pretty sure an AFL field is wider than 150mm

OP - I'm confused now as to what sport you are talking about - did you AFL as in Aussie rules footy (what I had initially assumed)? Or American Football? Aussie rules with its large oval fields gives greater working distances than a square field. I think the best advice is to do as gryphonslair said and forget about peak action shots, slow the shutter speed down a bit and focus on smaller details.

I am going with the Australian Football League since the AFL no longer exists here in the US and it is the off season for the NFL of which the AFC (former AfL) is a part. There are no American Football League games at this point and training camp is many months away, thank God. I am still busy with basketball, volleyball and indoor track and am preparing for spring baseball and track and field. I don't need any Football right now.

 

[Stumbles87]

Thanks so much everyone!

I am talking about Australian Football League. I live in Alice Sprins which is a VERY small town and footy players from down south are coming here to play.

They want to use the photos for the local paper as well as for the website.

I agree with the glass I have is horrible for this situation which is what scares me! Its a great opportunity but I also dont want that ruined because the end product isnt any good. I was looking at renting the 28-200 2.8 but its just too far out of my price range to rent (im not being paid for the job) and the only one in my price range is the 70-300mm but thats not really going to be much better!

I have an external flash but that is going to do nothing for me with the field that big. The lights are fairly bright at the oval so I think that will help me slightly. Im not sure I am going to need full on action shots I think its more for the community event.

 

[KmH]

It really helps if you put your location in your profile since the internet is international.

Most TPF members are in the USA.

 

[Tony S]

I am overwhelmed that I have just been asked to take some photos for an AFL game in my home town! (im not being paid for the job)

Don't take the job, you do not have the right gear or experience to do it properly. It's a case of other businesses looking to get photos wiothout paying fair compensation, both the team and the paper. Bet the local paper doesn't give away much ad space for free and the team won't let you hang an ad sign in the stadium for nothing.

... but then we know you are still going to do it anyways, the lure of sideline access for the MWAC is too hard to pass up.

 

[tacticdesigns]

Tacticdesigns, ... The shots you posted of the stock cars are god-awful and I would only ever post them as an example of how not to shoot sports.

No argument there. They are definitely not my favourite. [Which is probably why I had forgotten about them.]

These are examples of when good enough is, well . . . good enough. These are pictures for my daughters to have in their scrap books when they grow up and they want to remember growing up. I'm not going to spend $7,200 on a lens for that. <grin> [I'd like to <grin>, but I'm not. $1,500 probably. My daughter just has to make up her mind what sport she wants to stick with. <grin>] But I will try to maximize whatever equipment I do have.

And that day, I decided to take my old Pentax K100d out to play with to the local fall fair. I know its a slow camera and I don't have ideal lenses for it. But . . . trying to take pictures with less than ideal equipment is kinda a game / entertainment for me. It's like, how well do I know this camera that I'm holding, and what type of tricks can I play to squeeze an image out of a difficult situation. I know its kinda strange. But hey, its cheap, and its legal. And I most often end up learning something . . . <grin>

If I were serious about it, I might have left the stands and asked if I could be closer to the pit. But my priority that day was to spend it with my family, including my 2 daughters. To share the day with them. These shots are to give to my daughters when they have forgotten that day . . .

And also I did state above . . . "And I haven't tried to shoot sports outdoors at night."

To be honest, I didn't know the OP had the possibility of having these pictures published. I don't recall reading that in the thread above any of my previous posts. I thought it was just snap shots. In which case, I'd say just go try it. Reading that the OP had a Nikon D3000 and a 50-200 lens, it didn't immediately come to mind that they were taking pictures for a newspaper.

Sorry OP. I didn't know that you were possibly getting these pictures published.

 

[sportsphotographer]

Hi -
...tripods/monopods (do you own one?) would help, there are snobs who say "real" photographers never use tripods on the field.. let them.

My addition to the good advice of stayig low is to keep it as stead as possible, shoot in A-priority (not manual, never sports mode). If you have a remote shutter, use it. if not, just be careful. do not bother trying to follow action. Sit where you know the action will come, and sit like a spider with your ISO high, your WB set with TEMPERATURE (more control) and please follow following our peer's advice of shooting low and other good advice. until the shot comes to you. Once you get your shot(s) for the paper, pack away the tripod/monopod and just get out there and take blurry pics.. for YOU. practice panning, practice framing, and even if you come home with junk from running around trying to shoot action, you've improved for next time.

...know what the closest recommended distance for your lens is - and do not shoot until you're about as close to it as you'll get.

Here is a quick tutorial on K (temp) for wb regulation: http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/colour/colour-temperature.html

There are also cheap aps for android/iphone that will help you with your settings. it's NOT going to give you the perfect accuracy of a $2000 meter, but when you don't know where to start, it's great. Meter once for light, meter twice for home team jersey contrast, measure thrice for away team.

Good luck.

PS - be confident.

 

[kylehess10]

I've been shooting sports for a few years now and from what I've seen in my own work, I was not satisfied one bit until I got my first f/2.8 lens & a camera with good quality at high-ISO levels. I've tried every type of lens from the kit lenses to cheap off-brand and I never got good results. Even an off-brand f/2.8 lens can work well for you (i.e. the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8)

 

[sportsphotographer]

How did the shoot go...did you use any advice gleaned here?

 

[MLeeK]

In short? No. I am sorry.
For football under good lights I am shooting at ISO 6400 with an aperture of f/3.5 at best. At the longest end of the zoom. More often than not I am shooting at ISO 12800 f/2.8.
SOMETIMES you can push your shutter speed down as low as 1/250, but not often. You NEED to be at about 1/500 or better to get clean sports images without any blurry moving parts. Faster for non blurry passing hands and running feet.
And flash? Isn't going to stop motion for you. It's just too far away. It MAY help to illuminate the players if you have a GOOD speedlight.
That camera isn't equipped to handle ISO 6400 let alone 12800 and you don't even have f/2.8 or 3.5 as an option at the longest end of the zoom. Go to the field. Shoot and see what your outcome is. You can probably get the interaction shots on the sideline, but you are going to have a hell of a time with the game itself.
Use the noise removal in ACR/LR. It can save a LOT. Don't choose to remain lower in ISO to avoid it because that will certainly ruin any chance of having a salvageable shot. If you bump exposure up it makes the noise MUCH MUCH worse than if you expose properly or just over and reduce in post processing.
Shoot in raw so you have the best possible data.
Beg borrow or steal a lens and or camera to use? Rent?

 

[Tony S]

Although I discouraged the OP about shooting this, don't rule out using flash. It does work at night and with higher ISO you will get more reach from it.

30 yards upfield and across the field shot with flash... had I aimed the flash and lens into the opposite grand stands it would have easily lit that up also.

 

[imagemaker46]

Oh, yeah.

I had completely forgotten about these shots I posted to my Flickr account.

Zoom | Flickr - Photo Sharing!Smash | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


This was a pretty bad lighting condition at 9pm (according to the exif). And . . . it actually is sports in that it is a race of cars, sort of . . . <grin>

This was taken at our local fall fair.

I was up in the bleachers. So probably about a football field away (the long way).

This was taken with my Pentax K100d (which only goes to ISO3200), a manual focus Pentax-A 70-210mm f4 lens, and my Vivitar 285HV.

This was my set-up.

ISO 3200
Camera set to manual exposure
Aperture set to f4 (maximum for the lens)
Shutter set to 1/125sec (Pretty standard shutter speed for flash use to sync to. And I knew that with it being so dark, there wasn't going to be any ambient light contributing to the picture anyway. And in fact, if I remember correctly, when I took shots and the flash unit wasn't charged up yet and didn't fire, the pictures just turned out straight black.)
This is probably zoomed 200mm. Manually focused because its a manual focus only lens.
Vivitar Flash unit probably set up to max, and zoomed out all the way with diffuser removed.

You can tell I'm using flash because the reflective material on the emergency crew is all lit up.

But the flash was able to freeze motion, but definitely over powered the shot. But again. With that equipement, that was all that I could think of to actually capture the event.

But this is a pretty extreme situation.

I would have forgotten about these photos as well.......

 

[imagemaker46]

Hi -
...tripods/monopods (do you own one?) would help, there are snobs who say "real" photographers never use tripods on the field.. let them.

My addition to the good advice of stayig low is to keep it as stead as possible, shoot in A-priority (not manual, never sports mode). If you have a remote shutter, use it. if not, just be careful. do not bother trying to follow action. Sit where you know the action will come, and sit like a spider with your ISO high, your WB set with TEMPERATURE (more control) and please follow following our peer's advice of shooting low and other good advice. until the shot comes to you. Once you get your shot(s) for the paper, pack away the tripod/monopod and just get out there and take blurry pics.. for YOU. practice panning, practice framing, and even if you come home with junk from running around trying to shoot action, you've improved for next time.

...know what the closest recommended distance for your lens is - and do not shoot until you're about as close to it as you'll get.

Here is a quick tutorial on K (temp) for wb regulation: Colour Temperature Chart

There are also cheap aps for android/iphone that will help you with your settings. it's NOT going to give you the perfect accuracy of a $2000 meter, but when you don't know where to start, it's great. Meter once for light, meter twice for home team jersey contrast, measure thrice for away team.

Good luck.

PS - be confident.

Alot of venues don't allow tripods anywhere near the sidelines, monopods only. It's not a snob issue, it's a safety issue, and in tight spaces they take up too much room and are hard to pick up and run with if the situation comes your way.

 

[imagemaker46]

Just do what you can with what you have from where you are. Don't knock yourself out overthinking, or adding the "If I only had a lens" There is always more going on than action, look around, especially the players benches. If you have field access and can get close to the players then use that. Some of the advice given has been great, some as been good, and alot of it sounds like it has comes from those that have never shot sports at all, let alone sports at night. I could post some great football shot on film from the 60's 70's, and the best stuff isn't all about the action, it's about using the avaliable light and working with it.

As a photographer that has been hired to shoot, it should take only a few minutes of walking onto a field to figure out the exposure, if you can't, then take your best guess and learn from the mistakes.

 

[sportsphotographer]

...I'm still waiting to hear how it went hope she got at least a couple of good shots.

 

[imagemaker46]

...I'm still waiting to hear how it went hope she got at least a couple of good shots.

I hope so as well. It's never easy going into an unknown situation, especially when you have self doubts that you can do the job.