Tonbridge Angels vs Merstham 22/11/16 - Ryman Premier

[wezza13]

Hi all,

Been shooting a lot of the Angels games lately, with 99% of them being a 3pm kick-off.

Went over to Longmead on Tuesday evening to photograph the game.

However, with it being a floodlit evening kick-off, I really couldn't get a low-ish ISO so was wondering if you guys had any tips that you would kindly share please?

I use a Nikon D500 with a Tamron 70-200 2.8 VC handheld.

I was setting, in manual mode, the SS to 1/500 or 1/640 with auto-iso turned on and using apertures between 2.8 and 3.5. The ISO was really high though which resulted in a lot of noise.

I understand that in order to keep my SS at what was needed to freeze the action, I needed to use a high-ISO at that time of the evening.

Most of it I shot at 2.8 with matrix metering.

The D500 is a beast for focusing but I did have a D810 before this body so was probably spoilt for low-light stuff!

I've posted a few examples, whilst not being good shots, you can get an idea of what they came out like.

They've been PP'd in LR with +50 sharpening and around +36 NR.

1. 1/500 f2.8 ISO 9000




2. 1/500 f2.8 ISO 7200



3. 1/640 f3.5 ISO 14400



4. 1/640 f3.2 ISO 12800




5. 1/640 f3.5 ISO 14400




Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Wez

 

[wezza13]

Just been reading up on different processing techniques and because I shoot in RAW (and always have done), I'm going to try setting the camera profile to camera vivid and shoot jpeg at the next game to see how that works out.

I've seen that these super high ISO's are a regular occurrence with lower league floodlit games and can be NR'd out.

Just didn't want to lose too much detail with the NR.

Open to tips

 

[SteveSc]

I'm no sports photographer, I opened this as Angels are my local team, but thought I would comment as it's a shame no one else has.

They look pretty good to me, although you can see noise on for the conditions I think they have come out well. What are you wanting to use them for? Unless you are looking to print them large somewhere I would think they are probably as good as you can expect.

I am slightly confused though as the first one and the last one appear to be the same picture with difference ISO details.

Other than processing I'm not really sure what you could improve much, I only have a D80 so can't compare what a full frame system would achieve but I wouldn't have thought it would be significantly better in these conditions.

Just out of interest, do you need to get permission to shoot the games at Angels or can you just turn up with your gear and they are fine with it?

 

[wezza13]

I'm no sports photographer, I opened this as Angels are my local team, but thought I would comment as it's a shame no one else has.

They look pretty good to me, although you can see noise on for the conditions I think they have come out well. What are you wanting to use them for? Unless you are looking to print them large somewhere I would think they are probably as good as you can expect.

I am slightly confused though as the first one and the last one appear to be the same picture with difference ISO details.

Other than processing I'm not really sure what you could improve much, I only have a D80 so can't compare what a full frame system would achieve but I wouldn't have thought it would be significantly better in these conditions.

Just out of interest, do you need to get permission to shoot the games at Angels or can you just turn up with your gear and they are fine with it?

Hi Steve, thank you for taking the time to comment. They're used in the local paper (Courier), match programme and the website. So never really going to get printed large or anything. I just thought that going that high with the ISO was unusual, maybe 3200, but not into the 10's of thousands!

Well done for spotting the duplicate pic - I meant it as a test....honest! (Will change it now to the pic it should've been)

I got permission as I'm friends with the club photographer and he introduced me to the club secretary and chairman, etc.

Do you get up to many games?

 

[SteveSc]

Hi Steve, thank you for taking the time to comment. They're used in the local paper (Courier), match programme and the website. So never really going to get printed large or anything. I just thought that going that high with the ISO was unusual, maybe 3200, but not into the 10's of thousands!?

I have to say I'm slightly jealous of the quality at such high ISO, my D80 doesn't handle anything over about 800 ISO and would just be a big blurry mess at these sort of ISO's!

We have only just started going down to the games, started with the recent FA cup game against Dartford and have been to two or three games since. My boy is only 9 at the moment so the evening games are a bit too late for him but as long as he stays keen we will probably try and make most the Saturday home games.

 

[Photodiva]

Your Nikon D500 has an ISO range of 100-51,200. Now, 3,200 IS high on some cameras, but not on yours. I usually shoot at 10,000 on my 1D at night. At 9000 the pics look fine, at 12800 they are getting a bit noisy. That said, those pics aren't THAT bad. I'd be happy with those with your camera and venue. When I started I had a Canon 20D and struggled with low light. 1/500th and even a bit lower is achieveable if the players are running towards you, but 1/640th is about as low as you 'ought' to go. The pics above are good given the non-league level and therefore lighting. Even on Saturday now its floodlights by half time! Personally, I'd avoid Auto ISO under floodlights. The lighting is consistent if you aim to shoot the action in the best lit parts of the pitch. Just set the camera to the highest usable and see what you get. Adjust as necessary and then stick with that. I use Noiseware to reduce noise in the night pics. Just try and shoot in the best lit parts of the pitch.

 

[wezza13]

Your Nikon D500 has an ISO range of 100-51,200. Now, 3,200 IS high on some cameras, but not on yours. I usually shoot at 10,000 on my 1D at night. At 9000 the pics look fine, at 12800 they are getting a bit noisy. That said, those pics aren't THAT bad. I'd be happy with those with your camera and venue. When I started I had a Canon 20D and struggled with low light. 1/500th and even a bit lower is achievable if the players are running towards you, but 1/640th is about as low as you 'ought' to go. The pics above are good given the non-league level and therefore lighting. Even on Saturday now its floodlights by half time! Personally, I'd avoid Auto ISO under floodlights. The lighting is consistent if you aim to shoot the action in the best lit parts of the pitch. Just set the camera to the highest usable and see what you get. Adjust as necessary and then stick with that. I use Noiseware to reduce noise in the night pics. Just try and shoot in the best lit parts of the pitch.

Thanks, Carol. Appreciate the advice

I will certainly stick to the best-lit parts of the pitch when shooting action. Since, posting this thread, I've read up quite a bit on evening games and come to the conclusion that these could've been a lot worse!

Looking forward to this Saturday. I reckon it'll be dark before the half-time whistle blows!

Good luck with your game this weekend

 

[meaks]

I shoot Principality League Rugby for my local team. Their flood lights are what I would describe as shocking. As the play moves across the pitch you get different lighting as the play moves in and out of where the lights are pointed. I shoot on a 7D MkII and I usually have the ISO at 10,000 and shoot in Aperature Mode at f2.8 (as wide as you can go) and then let the camera give you the fastest shutter speed it can. I ususally get between 1/320 and 1/640
Last week I shot at Cardiff Arms Park where the flood lights are of a far supperior standard and had a consistant light across the pitch and was able to shoot in Manual Mode at ISO 6,400 1/800 @ f2.8
Basic rule I employ for sport now regardless of light is shoot with the lens wide open, use the highest ISO you can get away with and let the camera choose the speed.

 

[wezza13]

I shoot Principality League Rugby for my local team. Their flood lights are what I would describe as shocking. As the play moves across the pitch you get different lighting as the play moves in and out of where the lights are pointed. I shoot on a 7D MkII and I usually have the ISO at 10,000 and shoot in Aperature Mode at f2.8 (as wide as you can go) and then let the camera give you the fastest shutter speed it can. I ususally get between 1/320 and 1/640
Last week I shot at Cardiff Arms Park where the flood lights are of a far supperior standard and had a consistant light across the pitch and was able to shoot in Manual Mode at ISO 6,400 1/800 @ f2.8
Basic rule I employ for sport now regardless of light is shoot with the lens wide open, use the highest ISO you can get away with and let the camera choose the speed.

Thanks for the advice. Shooting wide open though at F2.8, I suppose I'd better AF Fine-tune the lens as the DoF is going to be so shallow?

 

[Photodiva]

It's only apparently shallow when the subject is close to the camera. With most football the players are sufficiently distant so it's not much of a problem. The main issue (at least I've found) is getting the auto focus to lock on to the subject in poor light where there is a lack of contrast. Where Tonbridge play in royal blue shirts it could be a challenge if not well lit. You seem to have it right so far!