Sports C&C

[matt.garnett]

Here are some of my more recent sports photos, please let me know what you think!

 

[COLTSFANATIC1]

All of thre photos seem very noisey, Are they crops? What Iso did you use? otherwise great shots

 

[matt.garnett]

Yes for the most parts they are crops, from my T2i. They're probably all 64000 ISO, with the exception of the 2nd to last one.

 

[MLeeK]

They seem REALLY noisy. You are shooting with a camera that shouldn't be too bad even if you max out the ISO. You need to do a little noise removal, but they shouldn't be that bad even SOOC if you are exposing correctly for high ISO's.

 

[matt.garnett]

The bad thing is I have run all of the pictures through Topaz Noise remover... And how would you expose correctly for high ISOs? I'm shooting 1/640th, f/2.8, 64,000 ISO and RAW.

 

[kylehess10]

64000 ISO? or 6400?

 

[matt.garnett]

My apologizes for the extra zero. 6,400 ISO

 

[kylehess10]

ahhh okay. I was thinking these images don't look as grainy as they should be at 64,000 ISO. Nice job though! Night games in any sport are a challenge; and you did great. #3 is my favorite

 

[Overread17 5]

*Thread moved to Photojournalism and Sports Gallery*

Please remember that Beyond the Basics is not a critique based subsection .

 

[MLeeK]

Bump up and shoot at 12800 and then reduce in post processing. Your shutter CAN drop to about 1/400 with football. I have shot as low as 1/250 for football, but not with the greatest results and it's not something I am likely to repeat. I generally try to stick at 1/500 to 1/640 but some high school fields force the drop to 1/400. Especially in the end zones.

 

[imagemaker46]

The action is there, but they look like the were over-sharpened. I realize that shooting at night is tough, but you should have been able to get away with 3200, or even at 1600, depending on the lens speed. This looks like it was fairly well lit field, just from the shadows and high lights.

 

[matt.garnett]

MLeeK- My Canon T2i can't shoot that high, and if it could I would be very afraid to venture down that road. What would you use to reduce the noise in post processing? I've been using Topaz denoiser, and it seems to do a good job up until a point and then the blacks start to turn purpleish. Also, I'm shooting with a fast lens (2.8 70-200mm or 300mm prime) so it's not as if these are being shot with the kit lens or something. I don't like (almost) any motion blur in my sports photographs, so I always stay right around 1/640 mark, but sometimes I'll dip down to the 1/500 and I don't like it. I couldn't imagine shooting at 1/400. When light permits, I'll even go for 1/800. But are these about the best pictures I can get out of this camera? Is there any post processing or on camera tricks to reduce noise? Shooting at a shutter under 1/500 is absolutely out of the question, so that pretty much means I can't take my ISO down any more.

 

[MLeeK]

Yes, your camera can shoot to 12800 It's H2 in your expanded ISO. And your sensor can handle it. Try it out.
When you expose for high ISO's you want to slightly overexpose-to the point JUST BEFORE you'd have something blow out that you can't accept. Then reduce in post processing and raise the blacks level.
I have shot with a T2i at 12800. It works and if it's done properly it is MUCH less noisy than these are.

 

[matt.garnett]

So overexpose, and then in lightroom drag my blacks slider over?

 

[MLeeK]

Not just your black slider. You will need to adjust your blacks level AND reduce exposure to the proper exposure. You can't just overexpose to the max or anything like that...