Question about taking the sports shot..

amb3rsil

amb3rsil

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138
Name
Andrew
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Yes
Hi,

I am fairly new to sports photography and having a reasonable crack at it, but have a question. I was shooting a field hockey match on the weekend with a 80-200 2.8 under flood lights which was a bit of nightmare. Bumped the iso to 1600 and was getting reasonable shutter speeds of 1/250. Using a monopod and that was helping but still only got I guess 50 reasonable shots from about 300. Which I thought was not bad, but I would rather get my ratio down a bit, if only to reduce the amount of lugging through Lightroom after the shoot.

I think my question is this - When taking the shots, should I pan and move the camera with the action almost following the action..Or should I fix a point on the pitch and let the action come into the frame and snap? Or is it both?

I'll drop a couple of the best shots I took in a bit but can't help feeling more luck of the draw as I took so many rather than actually any skill you know?Any help would be greatly appreciated and apologies if this sort of question has already been asked before!

Thanks,

A
 
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Camera on continuous focus and follow the action - when it gets close enough and fills the frame shoot in bursts. 50 from 300 is good!
 
Fill the frame is the best bit of advice when under floodlights...you have a 2.8 lens so the only other things you can do is a longer lens and up your body for one that has higher iso capabilities.
 
Hello again,

I remember seeing some of your shots earlier here in the Sports thread as well...
As said, in poor light try to get the action to fill as much of the screen as possible.. so you won't need to crop the shots and stuff.

The way you should approach the shots I think depends on what you want to get. If you are after player shots, then you can just wait for the players to come to the 'right part' of the pitch.
If you want to capture the moments in the game.. well, then IMO it is chasing the game with the camera.

Personally I am not fan of monopods, until the lens gets to 120-300 or 300mm, you get more freedom to move without it. But that is personal preference and I am sure many togs do use a monopod.

From the shots you posted, last one is my favorite.
 
Monopods are helpful even on a 200 at night under low lighting floodlights.. it gives you a slight extra bit of stabalisation.. As for chasing the game.. tut tut googa you know you shouldnt chase the game mate :)
 
Thanks for your help and comments, really appreciated. It was the first time using the monopod to be honest, and can't say that I notice a massive amount of difference other than it was nice to rest the camera and made it easier to carry! I guess it can't hurt however, although it was a bit annoying not being able to get a portrait shot.

Flood lights are a nightmare I have to say, really screwed around with the camera, forced it down to 2.8 in AV and let it do the shutter speed, but kinda thinking now it it would have been better to put into manual and force both shutter. Could maybe play around with some off camera flash, but suspect players would be a bit miffed.

Doing some rugby shots soon, which I think will be a bit easier. With hockey chasing the ball on the ground all the time is quite tricky..Will be nice to be work a little higher.

Thanks again!

A
 
amb3rsil said:
although it was a bit annoying not being able to get a portrait shot.
Click to expand...

haha another one :) your not the first .... Unscrew the knob that tightens the collar onto your camera... then while using the monopod you can twist the body into portrait mode and back again willy nilly :)


amb3rsil said:
Flood lights are a nightmare I have to say, really screwed around with the camera, forced it down to 2.8 in AV
Click to expand...


haaa yeagh should always be manual under floodlights.. not least so bright lights dont fool the semi auto modes :)
 
KIPAX said:
haha another one :) your not the first .... Unscrew the knob that tightens the collar onto your camera... then while using the monopod you can twist the body into portrait mode and back again willy nilly :)
Click to expand...

Hahaha, I wonder what the actual age is when it becomes acceptable to actually read the instruction manual that comes with a new toy rather than just ripping the thing out of the box and playing with it.....Oh to be a kiddie again and getting the betamax to work even before my Dad had the manual opened!

Thanks for the tip however..

noooob monopod me
 
LOL - not sure about Rugby being easier! Here's some I did the other week (freelance for the local paper) - pretty poor light - EXIF is there so you can look at the settings. NO MONOPOD! It would just have slowed me down!

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I used an 80-200mm f2.8 or 300mm f4 - both Nikkon lenses. I was shooting with 3 bodies - no time for lens changes. D3 x 2 and D2Hs with 17-55mm f2.8 for line outs and things.
 
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Nice Andrew..Good shots. (nearly wrote shorts then, that would have been a bit weird!) Notice the quite high ISO's, did you PP the noise after?

A
 
a little PP but no noise reduction - you'll need to get yourself a D3 ;)

Unthinkably high ISOs a few years ago! I put the D3 on auto ISO kept the shutter speed at 1/1000 or higher at the start of the match when the light was better and aperture around f4.
 
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awp said:
a little PP but no noise reduction - you'll need to get yourself a D3 ;)

Unthinkably high ISOs a few years ago! I put the D3 on auto ISO kept the shutter speed at 1/1000 or higher at the start of the match when the light was better and aperture around f4.
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Shutter speeds of 1/1000, they're rugby players - they don't run THAT fast :LOL:
Not that I've ever done rugby... but is it really necessary to have such high shutter speed :shrug:
 
The ball travels that fast - if you want the ball sharp you need to be around 1/1000th - and you certainly haven't time to change speed shot to shot! Also to get good sharp facial expressions you need to be at least 1/500th in my experience.
 
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awp said:
The ball travels that fast - if you want the ball sharp you need to be around 1/1000th - and you certainly haven't time to change speed shot to shot! Also to get good sharp facial expressions you need to be at least 1/500th in my experience.
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OK, as I said, never done rugby myself.
What sort of ISO and aperture do you usually use for you shots?

Just trying to compare it to Ice Hockey where I do OK with shutter speeds of 1/500 to freeze the puck at f3.2ish.
 
I try to keep f2.8 - f4 to keep the backgrounds soft - that helps you get a high shutter speed too - ISO - whatever it takes depending on the light. I put the D3 on Auto ISO and forget about it. Typically anything from 400 - 3200 just depends on the light. For rugby I use 80-200mm and 300mm lenses mostly - on FX - and 17-55 on DX for line outs and really close action.

I've noticed if the shutter speed goes down then you get blurry hands/feet/ball sometimes - so better to play safe - faster the better!
 
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