Sports shots......advice neeeeeded

03/15/2005 12:06:35 AM · #1

Local community paper asked if I'm interested in doing some sports shots....of course I said yes!! First challenge is at the rugby this wkend. LOL What I know about rugby you could fit on a pinhead!!!!!

I do know a whole bunch of kiwis run round and kick a ball, tackle each other and try to get up to one end of the field, the rest of them try to stop em!! Where would be the best place to get good shots, would appreciate (need) advice. I'm happy taking motor sport shots........but rugby!!

Am heading out to work now, back online later
thanks
sue

gwphoto

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

03/15/2005 12:09:20 AM · #2

Get a long lens, 300mm at least, and a monopod, or start doing some pushups so you can hold that lens to your face for a few hours. lol

03/15/2005 12:12:23 AM · #3

Got a 90-300 USM and have gotten fairly used to holding it for lengthy periods.....just usually do rally type events like this....not rugby. No tripod as yet....will have awesome muscles soon!

03/15/2005 12:17:19 AM · #4

oh man...rugby is a TOUGH sport to shoot...I mean really tough too. They're ALL over the field really fast, and the ball is always amongst a HUGE crowd.

On the good side, there are opportunities -- such as when they do the jump ball -- shoot a few of them, you're just about guaranteed to get a keeper. There's also no really good place to be as the action moves so fast from one side to the other.

The field is pretty big, so don't even bother trying to shoot action at the other end of the field with their backs toward you -- wait for the action to head in your direction and start firing.

Don't just go for the action shots -- facial expressions can be big winners too.

--

As far as shooting, I'd say use aperture mode on the largest setting -- you want the fastest shutter speed that the available light can give you.

--

Good luck -- I'm interested to see the results. Good 4x4 shots btw.

Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Zoom Lens for Sony Alpha

03/15/2005 12:22:08 AM · #5

oh yeah one more thing I thought of. As far as placement, like I said, there's not really one place that's guaranteed more action than the other. Obviously, down by the goal, you'll get action coming your way...but for sideline shots, when you pick a spot, think about what's on the opposite side of the field. If there's something super distracting, I'd say bad placement -- you know?

kiwinick

Sony DSLR-A550

03/15/2005 12:45:21 AM · #6

Give Peter Bush a ring, Hes the Doyen of Rugby photography

Message edited by author 2005-03-15 00:48:15.

PhilipDyer

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon PowerShot Pro 90 IS

03/15/2005 12:50:12 AM · #7

When i shoot sports, I tend to stay in TV mode at the speed that I need to capture the action (1/250-1/800), adjusting the ISO if necessary.

Also, you might want to bring some sort of little stool or small folding stepladder for those jump balls that deapee mentioned. Action stops for just a moment while they throw the ball in from the sidelines, and those shots look really good taken straight down the line from above if you have enough time to stand on something and shoot downward. Good luck with the shoot!

coolhar

03/15/2005 12:52:04 AM · #8

Originally posted by deapee:

As far as shooting, I'd say use aperture mode on the largest setting -- you want the fastest shutter speed that the available light can give you. ... Good 4x4 shots btw.

I don't know rugby but have shot a fair amount of sports. So much depends on the light. Is it daytime, or under the lights? If you have enough light, I'd say use shutter priority and set you shutter speed to at least 200 or 250 to "stop the action".

deapee, what do you mean by a "4x4 shot" ?

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

03/15/2005 01:01:28 AM · #9

Here are some tips that will help you out:

You need to be on the sidelines if possible. Get the newspaper to give you whatever credentials you need to get there.

If you are shooting in the daylight, shoot at iso 200 or 400 to keep your shutter speeds up. 1/500" is very nice. If you are getting 1/1000 speeds, back down to iso 100 or 200. Shoot in aperture priority mode at your widest aperture during daylight shooting. You may also choose to use a polarizer as long as you keep your shutter speeds up (1/250" minimum and faster if possible).

Don't worry to much about your own position while you are learning. The backgrounds aren't as critical as you would imagine. Get the action and worry about the finer details later.

Get rosters for BOTH teams. You will need to be able to identify the players in your photos for the newspaper writers.

When you shoot, shoot a burst of at least 3 photos. Your players in the shot may not have numbers visible when you shoot a single and you won't be able to identify them. The shots in the burst may reveal the number of the player.

If you are shooting at night, set your iso to 800 and shoot in manual mode. Set your aperture to the widest available and set your shutter speed to 1/250". Use a 550ex flash (420 will work in some cases). The onboard flash is useless. Dial the flash down to about -2/3 FEC (the rebel will require the hacked firmware to do this unfortunately. If you are using a 550ex, put it in manual mode and dial it down to about 1/16 or 1/32 power. This will allow you to get multiple flashes on a burst. At full power your flash won't fire for each shot in the sequence.

Don't compose your photos too tightly. Leave some breathing room because you will likely need to crop your images in a non standard shape for newspaper print. Newspapers never print standard shaped photos. My newspaper wants 200dpi images, so this gives me quite a bit of leeway on a crop.

Good luck :)

03/15/2005 05:19:23 AM · #10

Thank you so much for the advice. Saturday is the first game, will post some of the shots and show you how I got on. Guess I'm going to learn bit more about rugby huh!!

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

03/15/2005 08:03:13 AM · #11

Originally posted by coolhar:

If you have enough light, I'd say use shutter priority and set you shutter speed to at least 200 or 250 to "stop the action".

1/200 isn't really quick enough with a 300mm lens on there (480mm equiv. on the rebel). If you're set at 1/200 and the sun pops out, you might be shooting at f9.0 or something -- whereas if you were in aperture mode, at say 5.6 or whatever your lens allows, it might have just jumped up to 1/1000 or whatever instead. I always shoot in Av when I'm doing stuff like that then pay close attention to the shutter speed, adjust the ISO as needed -- just my reasoning behind why...not saying my way's the best way, just explaining why I said Av :-)

Originally posted by coolhar:

deapee, what do you mean by a "4x4 shot" ?

The 4x4 shots comments was about here original post. She put up a link to some shots she did with the 4 wheel drive chapmionships -- was just saying they were good shots.

Ecce_Signum

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

03/15/2005 08:20:52 AM · #12

Youv'e got loads of advice for taking the pics Sue, here are a few phrases that may well save you from looking as if you don't know the sport.

Those 'jumpy shots' are called line outs
Find out if its Union or League, they are very different games (Union is easier to photograph).

I would imagine it would be Rugby Union?? so..
When the players are in a big pile on the floor its called a 'maul'
After a few seconds the maul becomes a 'ruck' and players in the ruck cannot handle the ball.
A scrum is where the forwards for 3 rows and try to push the opponents off the ball.
There is much to learn about the game Sue and it might be worth your while reading up on it a little as I'm sure it would help you work out where the action is going. I can just imagine a shot of yours on the sports pages with the caption ' the reds win another of those jumpy thingies' (j/k)

Bran-O-Rama

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

03/15/2005 08:25:55 AM · #13

Originally posted by Ecce Signum:

I can just imagine a shot of yours on the sports pages with the caption ' the reds win another of those jumpy thingies' (j/k)

Now that sounds like my kind of reporting!

PhilipDyer

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2 R WR

03/15/2005 09:08:03 AM · #14

Originally posted by Bran-O-Rama:

Originally posted by Ecce Signum:
I can just imagine a shot of yours on the sports pages with the caption ' the reds win another of those jumpy thingies' (j/k)

Now that sounds like my kind of reporting!

Wait till she finds out that she'll be taking pictures of hookers. ;-)

aznym

Fujifilm X-T3

03/15/2005 09:21:10 AM · #15

Originally posted by PhilipDyer:

Originally posted by Bran-O-Rama:

Originally posted by Ecce Signum:
I can just imagine a shot of yours on the sports pages with the caption ' the reds win another of those jumpy thingies' (j/k)

Now that sounds like my kind of reporting!

Wait till she finds out that she'll be taking pictures of hookers. ;-)

In the Sin-bin?

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/15/2005 09:40:29 AM · #16

My biggest piece of advice to add to what others have said is to shoot lots and lots of photos. Don't be afraid to fill up whatever memory cards you have available to you. I generally shoot 600+ photos per game in hopes of getting a handful of useable ones. Many of the "keepers" turn out to be ones I didn't think were all that great while I was shooting.

We'll look forward to seeing the results -- good luck!

03/18/2005 01:18:50 AM · #17

OK ....am starting to get kinda nervous now. It's Friday night and the 1st rugby game is tomorrow at 2pm. I've only got the 2 lens's....the kit 18-55 and 90-300 USM. Can't afford more as yet. What do I do if it rains!!!!

Actually, maybe it's not nerves..........more like pure panic!!!!

ebertdj

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8L

03/18/2005 01:26:21 AM · #18

If you were local - I would let you try out a 100-400mm IS L ...
too bad :( I can't quite get there by 2:00 ... LOL

ebertdj@hotmail.com

faidoi

Pentax K10D

03/18/2005 01:28:28 AM · #19

Make sure you pack all batteries and memory cards.

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

03/18/2005 05:28:53 AM · #20

Originally posted by faidoi:

Make sure you pack all batteries and memory cards.

And charge all your batteries, and empty all your memory cards!

-Terry

Message edited by author 2005-03-18 05:29:14.