C&C: First time photographing football

trican

I went along to a local football game today to see what its like to photograph football or indeed sports in general. Huge respect for sports photographers after it! I found it damn tough, and that was even before the flood lights came on. I really struggled getting good dynamic compositions and I think my camera struggled with autofocus. Camera is a Nikon D90 (with a less than stellar 4.5 fps and not the fastest autofocus) and I used my Nikon 70-200 f2.8. I'd love to hear any feedback you might have, I definitely fancy doing it again, but hopefully I'll do it better the next time (i.e. like actually capturing the goals properly!)


1.



2. yes pretty wonky horizon, couldn't straighten it anymore without cutting the guys head off


3. The first goal ... shot from the wrong end of the pitch


4.


5. 6400 ISO is not pretty on a Nikon D90!!!


6. More high ISO


7.

pixbyjohn

Not bad at all for your first attempt. Practice makes perfect.

Paulw

#4 is your best image.

The last one is the worst, mainly because it shows the players backs. You always want their faces, and facial expressions.

A good attempt for your first try. It just takes a lot of practice. Keep at it.

CianRyan

I like the first one myself, it captures the moment quite well.

trican

thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

Any recommendations for shots around the goals - i.e. is it better to just have a tight crop of the player about to shoot - as I was trying include the player taking the shot, the keeper and the goal itself and I couldn't seem to get it to look right. i.e.

twowheelsonly

There's nothing wrong with those shots but now you know why sports togs can take hundreds of photos and only use a couple!! They only use their best ones :-)

Football can be tough. The main thing is to keep the speed up enough to freeze the ball and hand/foot movements. Sometimes these work too though - just not often enough.
I've taken to using Auto ISO and find that I have a higher keeper rate. Some can be a little grainy but that can be ok too. Even where there's decent floodlights the light is still never great for evening games.
Goalmouth shots are a tricky one. Get the keeper/striker/ball in one perfect shot and you're on a winner. It's rare to get that perfect shot though so I'd tend to concentrate on either the keeper or the striker.
I also find that shooting from the sideline or end-line near the corner flag is about the best position.
As advised practice makes perfect (Sometimes!!)

Look for some different ones too - This is one of my own favourite recent ones

[IMG][/img] Ringmahon V Everton Junior Cup Final 2012 506 - 1 [Desktop Resolution] by Twowheelsonly, on Flickr

trican

thanks for the suggestions twowheelsonly. I tried a number of positions around the pitch, i generally found being on the "end line" (for the want of a better word) around the edge of the penalty area worked best and I generally crouched down low.

Good suggestion regarding the auto ISO - I think I'll try that the next time. The other thing I was unsure about was the best mode of autofocus. Obviously it was set to continuous, but I wasn't clear whether to use single spot, dynamic or 3d tracking. I mostly used the single central spot (its the only cross type focus point on the D90) and cropped afterwards to get rid of the very central composition. What do others use?

Paulw

Auto-ISO can be a nightmare, depending on your camera. Try setting your ISO as high as you are comfortable with.

Set single centre point only focus point and use AFS-C mode for tracking.

Shoot first, crop later.

trican

thanks for the advice Paulw!

twowheelsonly

Paulw wrote: »

Auto-ISO can be a nightmare, depending on your camera. Try setting your ISO as high as you are comfortable with.

Set single centre point only focus point and use AFS-C mode for tracking.

Shoot first, crop later.

I use a Nikon D300 and find the Auto-ISO the best solution most of the time. It's never really given me a problem although I was afraid to use it for a long time. The trouble that I found with a 'set' ISO was that even the best of lights were giving me very erratic results as the lights tend to be patchy - i.e. different parts of a pitch can be miles apart as regards light.

You really have to experiment to find out what works best for you and your given set-up.

First thing to do when you get home is to dump all the out of focus ones, followed by the ones that don't have faces (Usually - but a very odd few can work) and weed out the ones showing movement.

That should get you down from 500 to 400

As PaulW says - Shoot first, crop later. Great advice.

Paulw

twowheelsonly wrote: »

I use a Nikon D300 and find the Auto-ISO the best solution most of the time. It's never really given me a problem although I was afraid to use it for a long time. The trouble that I found with a 'set' ISO was that even the best of lights were giving me very erratic results as the lights tend to be patchy - i.e. different parts of a pitch can be miles apart as regards light.
.

Auto-ISO can work but it can also be a problem. It really depends on how you shoot.

I prefer to set my ISO, and then adjust the shutter speed.

I've shot in plenty of places where light is patchy, at best. I think Tolka Park is the worst yet. There are pools of light. Outside those, you might as well forget it. So, I just wait for action to happen in a pool of light. Anything else I don't bother with.

I've shot ISO 4000, 1/250sec and f/2.8 to get a shot, but why bother? Just shoot what you can.

Yeah, I know, shooting for the papers mean you only really need 5-6 images from a whole game, so it's not the same as having to cover it for a team or such.

Get what you can. Clean, sharp, clear images, with faces and the ball (usually) is what is required.

nucker

To avoid photos that are not horizontally straight, buy a tripod, making sure that the tripod head is level

Paulw

nucker wrote: »

To avoid photos that are not horizontally straight, buy a tripod, making sure that the tripod head is level

I don't know a single sports photographer who uses a tripod. In many cases, they are useless and dangerous. If a player runs in to you, a tripod could seriously injure them, while a monopod (or just handheld) makes it easier for you to move.

A monopod is useful, but won't help keep your horizons straight.

Dude111

Very nice,strong colours!!


Thanks for sharing them