Shutter Priorty or Aperture Priorty

G

geoffd

Messages
26
Name
geoff
Edit My Images
Yes
I am a beginner for a few months now and struggling trying to get sharper pics at my sons hockey games.I know they wont be perfect because i only have a Canon 450d and a Canon zoom lens of 100mm/300mm and smaller but any improvement would help.Would love a sports lens but have to make do with what i have for now but would like a bit of advice please.Upto now i have been trying shutter priorty,but pics not great and was told last week from a photographer that Aperture prioty would be better.Dont know how i would catch players skating at speed on this setting.Any advice please.:thinking:
 
If you are in aperture priority, set the aperture to its widest for the lens (smallest f number) and the camera will pick the fastest possible shutter speed.

If they aren't fast enough, you'll need to up the ISO setting to accommodate, but that will introduce more noise to the images, so you'll not want to push it much past 1600.
 
geoffd said:
I am a beginner for a few months now and struggling trying to get sharper pics
Click to expand...

changing the mode you shoot in wont make the pics any sharper I am afraid
 
geoffd said:
I am a beginner for a few months now and struggling trying to get sharper pics at my sons hockey games.I know they wont be perfect because i only have a Canon 450d and a Canon zoom lens of 100mm/300mm and smaller but any improvement would help.
Click to expand...

The 100-300 is pretty slow at the long end so you will be struggling for fast shutter speeds which is absolutely essential for getting sharp shots of fast action.

You could use Tv and set the shutter speed to, say, around 1/1000 but you might end up underexposing a lot of shots. Best bet is to use Av, wide open and use the highest ISO setting available on your camera to get the best shutter speeds. Use a tripod or monopod to minimise camera shake.

Cheers
 
I've been through this scenario over the last year but taking photos of horses jumping. Basically the camera itself should be fine for taking pics of outdoor sports in reasonable light. However, you are going to struggle with that lens...I eventually ended up with a Canon F2.8 70-200mm, an expensive option but worth it to me to get the large aperture necessary so I could use a high shutter speed. I also started shooting in manual mode as I found that this gave me more control, but took me a while to get used to it.
 
Tell me what effect you think shutter speed and aperture have on the picture. Then I can see what you understand and go from there.

Sent from my iPhone using TP Forums
 
It's not clear if your problem is focus, or shutter speed, or both.

Presumably you're talking ice hockey at an indoor rink with, at best, poor lighting. That is at the heart of your problem. You should be able to get at least something passable if you use Av with the lens f/number at its lowest and the ISO set to 1600. Use the centre focusing point and servo AF. Focus carefully, always keeping the AF square on the target, and accept that your hit rate will be low, so take plenty on continuous shooting mode.

Shooting action sports in low light with a long lens is not easy ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the useful tips,i will try put into action and compare the results.Hopefully i will be able to save enough to get a 200mm f.2 which would prob do the trick but not yet.The games i,m trying to take pics of are inline hockey in low lit arenas or centres.
 
geoffd said:
Thanks for the useful tips,i will try put into action and compare the results.Hopefully i will be able to save enough to get a 200mm f.2 which would prob do the trick but not yet.The games i,m trying to take pics of are inline hockey in low lit arenas or centres.
Click to expand...

I started taking photos of my horses jumping about a year ago....I really struggled when the outdoor season ended in Sept and the indoor jumping season started. I found taking action photos in (comparatively) dimly lit indoor venues tricky with a 400d as I could not push the ISO high enough to get a decent shutter speed, even with a F2.8 lens. I quickly realised that I needed to upgrade my camera and bought a 2nd hand 50d. Now, after a lot of practice, I feel that I am getting acceptable results.

I got a lot of advice from this forum and one tip I found invaluable was not to be tempted to under-expose as this tends to result in more "noise" at high ISO settings. The use of a noise filter programme will be useful such as Noiseware Community Edition (its free) to refine your photos.

Take Hoppyuk's advice and see where that gets you...... don't be afraid to ask more questions or seek more advice from this forum...
 
I suspect you should be aiming for shutter speeds of (ideally) at least 1/500, but with a slow max aperture on your lens that may not be easy to achieve. You may have to push the ISO pretty high, possibly beyond the limits of the camera. If you're maxed out on ISO and maxed out on aperture then you will not have any scope to improve shutter speeds. There may simply not be enough light for your gear.

What I would say is that noise is easier to deal with and preferable to blur, so keep raising the ISO until you can get shutter speeds that make the blur/shake acceptable. If the resulting files are noisy then hit them with some NR.

Find one of your photos that is well exposed without any editing and let us know what the focal length, shutter speed, aperture and ISO were for the shot. By all means post a photo (unedited and with EXIF intact) if you like, but from the exposure data given it should be possible to give more specific advice.

BTW, regarding the choice between Av and Tv, I agree it doesn't matter. You want the fastest speed possible (within sensible reason) so if selecting Tv mode you may as well go for 1/1000. In practice you will find that the aperture will remain wide open throughout the game. If you have "safety shift" enabled (I assume your camera has it) then the camera will lower the shutter speed as necessary in order to give you a correct exposure, but your aperture will remain wide open at all times. If you choose to shoot in Av mode then you will need to set the aperture wide open, in order to get the fastest shutter speed possible. At the end of the day the choice of mode between the two won't make a scrap of difference. The aperture will be wide open at all times and the shutter speed will be as fast as possible given the limits of the aperture and ISO selected.

Of course, if you are shooting in Av or Tv mode then you need to be mindful that the bright ice does not throw your exposures off, or that very different team colours (e.g. black vs white) have a similar impact. Personally I'd almost certainly shoot with manual exposure, locking my exposure to avoid these complications.
 
Last edited:
My experience of ice hockey (at Milton Keyes, apparently one of the better lit rinks) was 1/320sec at f/4, ISO 6400! Surprisingly got some half decent results, but the light was really poo and the hit rate low.

Ignore my advice above about using Av. It will give you the best shutter speed, but is too unreliable in that situation when the background is likely to change from light to dark a lot and throw the meter. Take Tim's advice and whack up the ISO to max, lowest lens f/number, adjust the shutter speed until you get a good exposure level and then lock everything in manual. I don't think you will get anywhere near 1/500sec or 1/1000sec so just accept that your success rate will be low and rattle off plenty of shots.

On good thing about the ice is that the light gets bounced back up into people's faces and it spreads the light quite evenly over the rink so exposures shouldn't vary much.
 
As a thought and I'm no expert but can you get closer to the action and maybe use a prime lens such as a 50mm 1.8 to get better low light shots. There pretty cheap at under £100 and can take tack sharp images that you could then crop down if needed...
 
Hi

First check if the focus mode is in One shot or AI servo.It should in AI servo mode for moving objects.Also change it to continuous shooting mode.

thanks.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top