Beginner Beginner - photography - golf course / golfer image capture

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Hi guys,

Just a quick bit of advice if you don't mind - being a keen amateur golfer myself, I play in a few team events for my golf club - this weekend the team are heading out for a match that I am unable to participate in, so I'm going along to take a few snaps of the day. If successful I'll be doing the same again for a England Golf event in September hosted at my own golf club. It is rather a prestigious event, and I'd like to learn enough with my current equipment to gain the most out of it where possible.

I have a cheapo SLR (Nikon D50) with a couple of lenses:

AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8D
AF Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6G
and the standard AF Nikkor 18mm-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G

I also have a Hoya CIR Polarizing filter.

Obviously I can simply aim, point and shoot on auto etc, but I'm wondering if anyone has got any advice on whether the polarizing filter would be a good shout (is that meant for sunny days mainly?), if it is a bright colorful day should I be doing much with the F-stops on the camera?

I inherited most of the kit above, I'm fairly new to this and having a hunt online for advice, but thought I'd ask here as well.

Thanks
 
Depends very much on what you're after. For shots of the course, the polariser will probably help to intensify the colours but if you want to catch a player mid-swing, the polariser will be a hindrance since it'll make the shutter speed slower. Some courses don't encourage cameras - speak to the course manager.

As for settings, for course shots, I would use A mode and select an f stop of f/8 or f/11 to get plenty of depth of field without introducing too many of the problems associated with very small apertures. For the player shots, I wouldn't try shooting anyone while they're actually playing unless they're aware of it and happy with it going on. It's not easy catching the actual ball strike anyway! Better to try for a shot at the end of the follow through as the player's still got the club over his/her shoulder and is looking up the course. Generally, an aperture one or 2 stops down from wide open will be the sweet spot and will be sharpest while still allowing a reasonably high shutter speed. As a general rule, try to keep the shutter speed at 1/the focal length you're using x 1.5, so if you're using the 50mm, go for 1/75th second or faster. You may be able to hand hold a slower shutter speed or be unable to keep the camera steady at that but it's a reasonable starting point for experiments!
 
No to the polarizing filter - you want to keep the speed up and a polarise will cost you at least a stop maybe more

I'm not a sports photographer so i can't give golf specific advice, but in general i'd put the camera in AV and set a wide aperture (probably about f4-f5.6) which will give a reasonably shallow depth of field to separate the subject from the messy backgrounds and allow for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action (you may also have to turn the iso up if the light is poor) - if you decide to use the auto mode instead select sports mode (the little picture of a bloke running on most cameras)

Shoot in burst mode so that you get a good selection of shots

Lens wise i'd be inclined to use the 18-55 as you won't have a lot of freedom of movement to change the framing if you use the prime

If the golfers are wearing white be careful of your exposure - its easy to burn out whites in bright sunlight.

controversially i'd say shoot jpeg - Raw is better from a tweakability point of view, but the D50 won't manage many bursts in raw before you get a buffer full freeze out

For more detailed answers you might want to ask in talk sports (bottom of the photosharing section) just make sure you say you are a beginner in your thread title
 
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