it's football season again (yay!) and i'd really love to get some good action shots of my oldest out on the field. i have a nikon D90, an 18-200 zoom lens, and a 50mm prime lens. in the past i haven't gotten many good shots. i'm not sure if it's my settings, my lens, or my lack of ability (pretty sure that last one hit it on the nose, but i'm working on it!) (:
so. any suggestions? i have a birthday coming up, so it's possible that i can wrangle a new lens out of that situation, so any ideas on what would be best? also, what about settings? with my current lens or a new one, what do i need to be shooting at? i know it's tricky to be in a low-light situation (like night games) and also capture action, so HELP! (:
i just want to add that i'm amazed at how this 365 community is so willing to help each other. i know i've certainly benefitted from people helping me, as well as learning from advice given to others! thank you all so much!!
good discussion topic! I am all ears. Want to take action shots, too but at a loss on how to do it. Have a very hard time in low light doing anything. thanks for putting this out there Brett.
I have no idea on dslr's as I only have a 15x zoom point and shoot...but have had luck in ""S" mode. I don't recall the exact settings though...get back to you on that lol.
I often photograph football (Or "soccer" to you) and "American" Football and do the following with my Canon 450D (Or Rebel as I think it's known outside of Europe):
Ramp the ISO up to 800 or 1600
Set the F-Stop to as low as my lens will allow me (IE 4.5 for my telephoto) - The iso and F-stop will determine how crisp your photo will be as you can set a faster shutter speed. (See my second example for a photo with a slower shutter speed)
Set the 'Drive mode' to 'Continous Shooting'
Set the AF mode for to 'AI Servo
My understanding would be wide open F-stop on your lens is important, since a flash can't help you much. I expect you may be mostly fighting with your 18-200 zoom lens. Many of the zoom lenses have a variabl F-stop. So your F-Stop at 18mm is likely lower than when you are zoomed in at 200. Zoomed in you may be closing up your lens and therefore increasing your shutter speed. Increase the ISO to try and compensate.
Some telephotos do have a fixed F-Stop throughout, but check your lens to see if there is a F-Stop range printed on it. If a new lens is possible and you want to get in close, you may want to consider adding a prime telephoto with a low F-stop. Or a zoom with fixed F-Stop. I read in a book that sports photography is the most expensive type of photography to do.
The 18-200 ranges from f3.5 to f5.6 (I have one myself). Shooting at f5.6 for sports is just... well, not going to work out so well (I've done it...) if you want something that isn't all blurry.
I have a 80-200mm f/2.8 lens that I use for sports photography and other low light situations (works great for weddings, and also portraits). The Nikkor version runs about $1100. Seems expensive, but it's honestly very reasonable for being 2.8 throughout the focal range. I have no problems getting sharp pictures, even without VR.
I do continuous mode where when you hold down the shutter it'll just keep taking pictures, and also continuous focus (but not all the time, it depends). I do not go higher than iso 1600, and just stick to f2.8 unless I'm out in bright sunlight.
That's exactly the type of lens I was thinking of and it's the next must get lens for my wife and I. There's also a 180mm F2.8 prime that would get the job done. It’s a little less expensive, but wouldn't be nearly as versatile. Though it would be half the weight and that may be a good thing in the 4th quarter. =)
It weighs about 5 pounds. Then my D300 weighs about 4-5 pounds with the battery grip, so yep, it gets very heavy! The lens feels weird on my D80 without a grip to counterbalance it, but it is a lighter combination.
I've never used a monopod with it because I'm one of those unprepared people that tend to leave stuff at home. But it is something I really need to remember to do. I'm sure you can pick one up rather cheap.
I've never tried wildlife photography with it, but I'm sure it would do quite well, to answer your other question. It works well on people, so I'm sure other animals would work just as well :D. And the nice thing is with the crop factor, it is really 300mm on it's long end.
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I often photograph football (Or "soccer" to you) and "American" Football and do the following with my Canon 450D (Or Rebel as I think it's known outside of Europe):
Ramp the ISO up to 800 or 1600
Set the F-Stop to as low as my lens will allow me (IE 4.5 for my telephoto) - The iso and F-stop will determine how crisp your photo will be as you can set a faster shutter speed. (See my second example for a photo with a slower shutter speed)
Set the 'Drive mode' to 'Continous Shooting'
Set the AF mode for to 'AI Servo
Point and shoot!
Have fun!
Some telephotos do have a fixed F-Stop throughout, but check your lens to see if there is a F-Stop range printed on it. If a new lens is possible and you want to get in close, you may want to consider adding a prime telephoto with a low F-stop. Or a zoom with fixed F-Stop. I read in a book that sports photography is the most expensive type of photography to do.
I have a 80-200mm f/2.8 lens that I use for sports photography and other low light situations (works great for weddings, and also portraits). The Nikkor version runs about $1100. Seems expensive, but it's honestly very reasonable for being 2.8 throughout the focal range. I have no problems getting sharp pictures, even without VR.
I do continuous mode where when you hold down the shutter it'll just keep taking pictures, and also continuous focus (but not all the time, it depends). I do not go higher than iso 1600, and just stick to f2.8 unless I'm out in bright sunlight.
I shot all of these with my 80-200 lens, and it was very low lighting (they do not feel the need to have good lighting at outdoor rodeos, apparently) http://gurovphotography.com/HMGPhotos/Rodeo/PRCA0909/12883081_YopHH#930331884_9pJwn
And it's just not a low light lens! I did all these in bright sunlight, and was in the f11-22 range http://gurovphotography.com/HMGPhotos/Autocross-Rallycross/SCCA-Rally-Cross-Nationals/13444136_hbWWi#980683277_ewQXM
And a wedding example: http://gurovphotography.com/HMGPhotos/Wed/Eric-Jenna/jennaeric2/982973943_vgygM-M.jpg
Great versatile lens... very much worth my money in my mind, even though it was a hard purchase to undertake!
heidi and david--i think the 80-200 is the way to go! i guess i'm going to have to amp up the arm workouts though... (:
I've never used a monopod with it because I'm one of those unprepared people that tend to leave stuff at home. But it is something I really need to remember to do. I'm sure you can pick one up rather cheap.
I've never tried wildlife photography with it, but I'm sure it would do quite well, to answer your other question. It works well on people, so I'm sure other animals would work just as well :D. And the nice thing is with the crop factor, it is really 300mm on it's long end.