Sports Photography

Seems like we all have different shooting styles. Im a big fan of sports mode mostly because I take rapid shots, but I will be trying other modes come baseball season.
Curious, what does "rapid shots' mean and what does it have to do with using sports mode?

I assume multiple frames. I usually do shutter priority or aperture priority and adjust the ISO as needed.
 
What mode I use when shooting sports (primarily motorsports) depends on the conditions. IF the light is not going to change (i.e. no clouds and I intend to face the same direction all the time) I'll use manual after metering on something neutral. If it's any kind of cloudy or I may be shooting in different directions (which is about 90% of the time) then I use shutter priority.
Ever try manual with auto ISO? I shoot motocross and I also have the same cloud issues as you. Auto ISO seems to work nicely in this situation as it still allows me to control the DOF (f/stop) shutter speed.
 
What mode I use when shooting sports (primarily motorsports) depends on the conditions. IF the light is not going to change (i.e. no clouds and I intend to face the same direction all the time) I'll use manual after metering on something neutral. If it's any kind of cloudy or I may be shooting in different directions (which is about 90% of the time) then I use shutter priority.
Ever try manual with auto ISO? I shoot motocross and I also have the same cloud issues as you. Auto ISO seems to work nicely in this situation as it still allows me to control the DOF (f/stop) shutter speed.
A

Auto ISO is nice but I cant enable it in manual mode and its inconsistent when shooting multiple frames like a sequence because the clouds could move someone could walk into the background ect and the ISO could change by 1-500 (stops?) and when photoshoping all the frames together you can see the change in the ISO. If you taking a single frame Auto ISO would probably not be a bad idea at all.
 
Ever try manual with auto ISO? I shoot motocross and I also have the same cloud issues as you. Auto ISO seems to work nicely in this situation as it still allows me to control the DOF (f/stop) shutter speed.
No, I never have. In fact I've never used auto ISO for anything. Might be worth trying sometime though.

I never worry a great deal about aperture when shooting motorsports since I'm usually using a rather slow shutter speed anyway. Even at moderate ISO I normally have more than enough aperture.
 
Wow... we all vary so much on how we shoot sports and action.

Here's how I go about it... If the light is going to be unchanging I establish a manual exposure and I will make quick adjustments to that as I shoot depending on if the light is on the subject or if they are backlit. I keep my white balance at one setting, so all the shots have the same WB and any corrections I make in post work carry over in opening images up by using the "previous" button in ACR.

If the lighting is changing, like in spring time around here where I can shoot in bright sunshine to very dark rainy clouds within minutes, I will shoot in AV mode because I want to control my DOF, so I set my ISO to make sure I get high enough shutter speeds to stop the action. I then use a quick flip of the dial to use exposure compensation as needed for individual shots.

My focusing is usually set on AI Servo so it wil track movement and I am set to a single center focus point which if the light is good I may occasionally move it to one of the points off center for different compositions.

Although my camera can fire off a series of 12fps I rarely use that unless I am going to use the series of shots for a specific purpose or accidently lay on the shutter button too long getting two or three shots, but the first one is my shot I am looking for 95% of the time that happens.
 
SCraig said:
What mode I use when shooting sports (primarily motorsports) depends on the conditions. IF the light is not going to change (i.e. no clouds and I intend to face the same direction all the time) I'll use manual after metering on something neutral. If it's any kind of cloudy or I may be shooting in different directions (which is about 90% of the time) then I use shutter priority.

Looks like I will be learning some new techniques.
 
The "sports mode" is just a generic setting for the camera and more of a crutch than a mode. Pick something like shutter speed and learn how the different settings are effecting your shots. Then advance to manual and learn to manage those things on your own. Put the camera in burst mode on drive for continuous shots. There is no other magic happening in your camera other than auto settings in a mode like sports. Just a suggestion. I'm learning this way as well
 
DBA said:
Curious, what does "rapid shots' mean and what does it have to do with using sports mode?

Continuos shots
Not sure on the exact technical details but I'd think that continuous shooting would be worse in Sport Mode as it has to reevaluate every shot, unlike manual mode.

I also started in Sport Mode until I got frustrated with the results. I then briefly used Shutter Priority mode until I finally stuck with primarily manual mode. I'd suggest trying Shutter Priority with single point focus and AF-C (servo on Canon) focus mode.
 
DBA said:
Not sure on the exact technical details but I'd think that continuous shooting would be worse in Sport Mode as it has to reevaluate every shot, unlike manual mode.

I also started in Sport Mode until I got frustrated with the results. I then briefly used Shutter Priority mode until I finally stuck with primarily manual mode. I'd suggest trying Shutter Priority with single point focus and AF-C (servo on Canon) focus mode.

Alright, thanks for the advice.
 
Step 1:
Shoot a sporting event

Step 2:
edit the photos

Step 3:
ask for c&c or help and post them here. Good bad or indifferent, you will learn something

look forward to seeing some photos

Step one: Learn the sport, look at good sports photos.
Step two: Show up to the event and find your best spots to shoot from.
Step three: Get your light levels, shutter speed and f stop sorted out.
Step four: Shoot the warm ups, look at the backgrounds, find a clean one.
Step five: Start shooting the event.
Step six: Hope that everything is going your way(it doesn't always)
Step seven: look at the images on your computer
Step eight: delete everything that isn't sharp
Step nine: be happy with what you end up with
Step ten: Learn from the mistakes.
 
For sports. manual everything, AI servo, depending on the sport, I usually use a single focus point on the chest of the player. Think before you shoot, having a camera that is capable of 8-12fps doesn't mean that it is necessary to use it, try 2-3 frames at a time. It's all about seeing what you are shooting, a lot of people think they see, but they don't really, they point a camera and shoot, and the images end up looking like it.
 
imagemaker46 said:
Step one: Learn the sport, look at good sports photos.
Step two: Show up to the event and find your best spots to shoot from.
Step three: Get your light levels, shutter speed and f stop sorted out.
Step four: Shoot the warm ups, look at the backgrounds, find a clean one.
Step five: Start shooting the event.
Step six: Hope that everything is going your way(it doesn't always)
Step seven: look at the images on your computer
Step eight: delete everything that isn't sharp
Step nine: be happy with what you end up with
Step ten: Learn from the mistakes.

I'll do that. Thanks do much
 
imagemaker46 said:
Step one: Learn the sport, look at good sports photos.
Step two: Show up to the event and find your best spots to shoot from.
Step three: Get your light levels, shutter speed and f stop sorted out.
Step four: Shoot the warm ups, look at the backgrounds, find a clean one.
Step five: Start shooting the event.
Step six: Hope that everything is going your way(it doesn't always)
Step seven: look at the images on your computer
Step eight: delete everything that isn't sharp
Step nine: be happy with what you end up with
Step ten: Learn from the mistakes.

I'll do that. Thanks do much

You're welcome. Sports is one of the hardest fields in photography to do well, consistently. It does take time and practice, but it's like everything else, the more you do it, the better you should get at it.
 

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