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09/14/2010 03:41:13 AM · #1 |
| I am just now trying some sports photography and am a little discourage with my results. I have a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM lens that I am using and I end up with a lot of blurry images. What settings would you recommend on the lens as well as the camera? |
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09/14/2010 05:48:02 AM · #2 |
Hi, Tom! I'll try to give you some general ideas. We could probably give you better ideas if you'd drop a couple of the images into your portfolio; that would make it a lot easier to zero in on what's bugging you. That lens is just about perfect, indoors or out, and your body is fine; hopefully it will just be a matter of simple adjustments and practice. Typically, the biggest culprit is shooting in sport mode, letting the camera control all the settings. The first step towards getting good action photos is to take control of your camera.
For the most part, you really want to freeze the action. What you have to realize is that even though lighting conditions will dictate your camera settings, the action is going to be the same - that means that in addition to learning how to set up your camera, you also need to learn the sport so you can anticipate the action that you are trying to capture. In some situations, you might be able to reach 1/8000 of a second; in others, you might be forced to shoot as low as 1/250 of a second. It takes a LOT of practice to get good action shots with slow shutter speeds.
You have basically three controls on your camera: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It's just a matter of finding the right combination for your shooting conditions. What you're looking for is the highest shutter speed possible; there are a number of ways to achieve this. The easiest is to put your camera into TV mode and set your shutter speed as high as it will go. Then check your aperture. You have a REALLY nice lens and it will open up to F/2.8 and stay there, regardless of where you zoom. If you look through the viewfinder and see the aperture value blinking when you apply pressure to the shutter button, you'll have to raise your ISO until it stops blinking. If you are uncomfortable with the noise at the higher ISO settings, you might have to lower your shutter speed. The key is to make these adjustments incrementally, until you find a high shutter speed at an acceptable ISO; as for the aperture, the more wide open it is (meaning the lower the F-stop), the shorter your depth of field and the more work you'll have to do to zero in and focus on the action.
Quick recap: start in TV mode, start with as high a shutter speed as possible, and adjust your ISO up and your aperture down until you feel comfortable.
Ok, the above is just one way to get started. Another way is to start in AV (or aperture priority) mode. Open your F-stop up to F/2.8 and then adjust your ISO upwards until your shutter speed is as high as you need it to go to stop the action without producing unmanageable amounts of noise.
Here's the hard part: changing conditions. Regardless of being indoors or outdoors, your light quality can be affected by different backgrounds, the number of players in the frame, as well as changing light conditions. Even though indoor lighting is relatively stable, the colors of the bleachers, the number of spectators, the wall colors, the floor color, the uniforms - all these things can affect the amount of light reaching your sensor. The same is true outdoors, except you also can have variable skies and variable backdrops (trees, buildings, fields, bleachers, etc.). You have to stay on top of these things and learn to adjust your camera settings accordingly.
Here are some basic settings that I've gotten with my 'ancient' gear:
Outdoors, basically sunny: 1/8000, F/2.8, ISO 200
Outdoors, variable clouds: 1/4000, F/2.8, ISO 200
Outdoors, slightly overcast: 1/2000, F/2.8, ISO 200
Outdoors, late afternoon sun: 1/1000, F/3.5, ISO 160
Outdoors, evening, stadium lights: 1/500, F/2.8, ISO 800
Indoors, average fluorescent: 1/250, F/2.8, ISO 1600
A Few More Considerations
Image Stabilization (IS). This is REALLY useful indoors or in less-than-optimal lighting conditions. Turn it on when you need it (you will see a difference); turn it off when you don't (no sense wearing out the motor when it's not doing anything for you).
Noise. Noise is a personal thing. You may love it, learn to love it, or just hate it. Older cameras have lots of it at higher ISO, newer cameras have hardly any. If you don't like what you get in camera, there are a number of software programs that do good work reducing noise without making your images look overly processed and artificial.
Practice. Once you get a handle on the settings, the next thing is to practice, practice, practice. You have got to learn the sports you want to shoot inside-out. It's not a matter of throwing money at gear - it's a matter of learning how to make the most of the gear you have. Push yourself until you are getting great shots and understanding exactly what you are missing because of your equipment. Also, you can't just show up and shoot. It will take you longer to master the craft of sports shooting if you just go out and take 1000 random action shots at a game, rather than if you go out and take 200 images on purpose.
Research. Go to a library or bookstore and look through the magazines and newspapers and make note of the types of images they publish. Look at the moments captured. Make note of the things you'd like to capture and then go out and try to replicate what you've found. Don't try to do it all at once, though.
Patience. Sports shooting is not automatic. Most pros can shoot a whole season just to come up with a handful of images that they consider great. Just keep working at it and sooner or later you'll find a groove where you are coming away with more keepers than tossers.
Lastly, there are a number of really good threads here in the forums about shooting sports; here's one of the best sport shooting threads, started by one of the best sports shooters I know.
Message edited by author 2010-09-14 05:57:33. |
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09/14/2010 12:04:23 PM · #3 |
| @ Skip - Wow,...thank you so much for your valuable information. I will start out tonight by going to a practice game and start with your suggestions, by starting with the TV mode. I also like your suggestion with only taking 200 purpose images rather than 1000 just random shots. And yes I am aware that this lens is capable of capturing pristine images,... I have done it. I will post some images of tonight's practice in my portfolio. And also thanks so much for the two forum links you attached. Thanks again....:) |
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09/15/2010 12:08:26 AM · #4 |
Hi Tom,
As the great Skip has said so much, not sure what I can add. He has his method of a starting point in TV mode, I have mine in AV mode when I'm not shooting Manual. I prefer to shoot pretty much wide open all the time and keep an eye on my Shutter speed(that the camera selects based on metering) and I float the ISO up and down to keep the shutter speed up high enough to stop the motion. And that depends on the sport. Both methods end up with the same results, just a different way to get there.
I can't stress enough to KNOW your sport you are shooting, you will learn to anticipate plays based on what has happened on the play before the one currently happening. And as Skip says Practice, Practice, Practice....and that doesn't mean just go out and lay on the shutter button. Many times when I'm Tuning up I won't even actually press the shutter button, but work on lens technique, tracking players, and timing a Faux shutter button press. Shoot tight. I like to shoot with a long prime lens, but you can "pretend" your 70-200 is a prime, lock it at 200 and leave it. I'm of the side that you can never shoot too tight. Sometimes I shoot tight and crop even tighter. I'll add a couple of examples to this response in a few minutes, need to upload them to my portfolio.
Matt
   
Message edited by author 2010-09-15 00:13:09. |
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09/15/2010 01:26:04 AM · #5 |
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10/13/2010 07:26:47 PM · #6 |
I am on my way another shooting tonight. Two High School teams. It'll be fun :)
That's from last week. This photo taken with Nikon D80, with Nikon 70-200 F.28 lens at ISO 3200. Same thing today :)
Message edited by author 2010-10-13 19:26:58. |
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10/14/2010 12:04:45 AM · #7 |
It was a very nice game tonight. Both team played very good :)
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10/14/2010 02:39:48 AM · #8 |
Going for an extra point
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10/14/2010 02:45:43 AM · #9 |
Going somewhere? |
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01/23/2011 09:27:26 PM · #10 |
| First really good advice that has been so hard to find elsewhere! Thankyou |
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