Lancashire Cross Country Championships 2008

[whiteflyer]

I'd been looking for something to shoot this weekend, and on a local running club site I saw it was the Lancashire Cross Country Championships 2008.

The site said Ladies at 1.45 and Mens races at 2.00. So as it was only 20 mins from me off I went at 12.30 in plenty of time. It turned out that there were many age group race before the main event with the first start at 11.00 am, so I missed alot of the event.

I was expecting there to be a few dozen runners maybe up to 100. In fact there were nearly a 1000 in total ranging from under 11 to over 60.


Another reason I wanted to shoot some action/sport images is that I am trying to take images where I have to do very little cropping. I want the subject to fill the frame when I take the actual shot. I think I am getting better but still find it very hard to do.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q142/whiteflyer/forum%20images/lancashire-cross-country-championsh.jpg

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q142/whiteflyer/forum%20images/lancashire_country_championships_04.jpg

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q142/whiteflyer/forum%20images/lancashire_country_championships_57.jpg

[DCCD]

Nice shots. Your certainly getting the subject filling the frame and you've got the shutter speed high enough to freeze the action :)

[Iain MacIntosh]

Well , actually the shutter looks low to me. To be honest they're ok but not really sharp enough apart from maybe the first. The faces are slightly out which I would say is the most important thing in taking running photos.

[KIPAX]

slow shutter. I would certainly have gone iso 400 and then upped the shutter. I think all canon manuals say to start at iso 400 for sport don't they?

[whiteflyer]

I think your all correct about the shutter speed, is is too slow.

I was using AI servo for focusing with a single focus point selected, I did try to keep it on the face, but more practice needed. I am beginning to wonder if my lens is a little soft too.

[basegreen]

I'm off to the Cambridgeshire one this afternoon. I've spent a lot of time taking photos of races recently, and managed to sell quite a few via photobox.

I've had best results using my cheapo Tamron 55-200mm at around 150-200mm. Going to try a monopod today, and maybe experiment with a prime lens (bit worried about DoF though..might be a short lived experiment ;))

also had decent success using the dedicated sport mode - it does a pretty good job of everything, if you're after just basic shots of each runner coming through

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/1506524008_faa80623a2.jpg?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2089/2044220654_1e842039fa.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2306/1570019315_6aee7fe474.jpg

[Byrhtnoth]

Well done Whiteflyer :thumbs: I would be pleased with these.

However I notice your using the Canon 30D with the EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM.
I thought using this set-up the pictures should be pin sharp :shrug:
Perhaps like others have said, if you had used a higher ISO 400 with faster shutter speed then the shots would be pin sharp :shrug:

Seem to recall your canoeing shots were nice and sharp.;)

Im intrested in purchasing this lense so would like to see pin sharp images from it.

[basegreen]

Wasn't brilliant, but got a couple of half decent shots. Here's the race winner:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2238/2172401402_8bcc80d903.jpg

[whiteflyer]

That's nice and sharp :thumbs:

I have been going through my images again today and was to hasty to post yesterday, as these are not the best of the bunch, in fact I have deleted the last 3. :lol:

[basegreen]

That's nice and sharp :thumbs:



Cheers. 400D with £60 Tamron 55-200mm, on sports mode into JPEG, lol.

:eek:

[taxi]

So nice photos there all. I know how difficult it can be to these types of images correct.