Recommendations for sports photography

[bassett1976]

Hello All,

I'm still learning about my camera. This weekend I was working on using the manual mode to take some night time shots. Kind of fun but you have to be patient, not always my greatest attribute.

I did go to an Angel game this week. I got to get closer to the field than normal but some of my shots didn't turn out too well.

http://bassett1976.smugmug.com/gallery/1612772

I know some of the issue was that I was looking into the sun (at least the first half of the pictures) and I got a hazed look in the pictures. The rest of them still came out fuzzy. I had set up the camera (I have a Rebel Digitial) for the sports setting.

Any suggestions???

[Magic1]

A lens hood or polarizer might help cut down the glare.

[bassett1976]

Would the hood help that much? I thought I had the polarizer on during the pictures but I could have had the wrong filter on and that could be part of the problem.

[Magic1]

DaddyB is the real expert here but I think a polarizer should've helped if it was on. I had glare problems with my Nikon 35mm SLR (even with a filter) that I could only get rid of by shading the lens with my hand (didn't have a hood). Light kept sneaking into the lens from directions other than where I was aiming the camera. Perhaps I had a so-so lens (I didn't pay for a so-so lens tho').

[disneydude12]

if your camera has a continous shot mode use that it will take frame by frame pictures and the result will give you a better selection of picture quality

[volcomnator999]

use the M mode...that way you have more control of the camera

[Piglet]

My husband has been a sports photographer for 15 years, in fact he is off shooting a football game right now. I will ask him for some advice when he gets home and try to have him post something tomorrow for you =)

[k_peek_2000]

My guess is your not adjusting the F-stop to the lighting that the Camera's shutter speed is at. Usually the pictures will turn out like that. I have a 50mm Minolta and I started adjusting the f-stop to the lighting (theres a little meter on my camera and when the meter is at the shutter speed symbol that its at on the camera then its perfect).

for example.

If your shutter speed is at basic 1/125 of a second then you dont need as bright of an F-stop

For filming sports and action pictures, you need to adjust the shutter speed to a much faster speed so the image wont blurr (I recommend 1/500th of a second). Then you need a much brighter F-stop so more light can get into the lense.

The pictures will be more balanced and not to bright.

*But the cameras that I use are hand developed and manual focus (old school way, i prefer that), it looks like yours are digital so I am not sure if they run by the same rules.

[Piglet]

Hi this is Piglet's husband. The lens hood would really help; you need to keep any stray light from hitting the lens. Don't use a polarizer in this case. They are for getting rid of glare off of glass or metal or darkening the blue sky and making clouds stand out. Also it makes you lose 2 f/stops of light. This is probably why you had so much blurring. Use as fast of a shutter speed as possible. The way I shoot is I put the camera in M (manual) and take a meter reading off the ground (the dirt would have been the best here), then adust your shutter speed and aperture accordingly. Also try bumping up the ISO to 400 or 800, this will allow you to use faster shutter speeds.

[bassett1976]

Hi this is Piglet's husband. The lens hood would really help; you need to keep any stray light from hitting the lens. Don't use a polarizer in this case. They are for getting rid of glare off of glass or metal or darkening the blue sky and making clouds stand out. Also it makes you lose 2 f/stops of light. This is probably why you had so much blurring. Use as fast of a shutter speed as possible. The way I shoot is I put the camera in M (manual) and take a meter reading off the ground (the dirt would have been the best here), then adust your shutter speed and aperture accordingly. Also try bumping up the ISO to 400 or 800, this will allow you to use faster shutter speeds.

Thank you all for the help! I wish baseball season was just starting again so that I could practice all summer! This information is all really helpful and I will have to print this all out in April!

[k_peek_2000]

ya.....

[DaddyB]

The faster the shutter speed, the better the action shot. I've gotten some incredible shots of baseball and tennis games off wireimage.com showing how well sports photography can be done. Football is a tad easier because the ball doesn't move nearly as slowly.

If you want to get semi-serious about it, buy a good telephoto lens with the lowest f-stop that you can afford. This will allow you to use faster shutter speeds, too. Higher ISO settings help, especially at dusk, but start to add 'noise' into the pictures. "Noise" translates into colored speckles throughout your pictures.

As always, I strongly recommend Photoshop CS2 as the program to use as your digital darkroom. The "Smart Blur" filter in Photoshop can help get rid of noise.

I know a guy who makes some pretty good side money taking pictures at little league games (and football and soccer) and selling them to the parents. He lives in a community where people have a more 'disposable income' level and charges a pretty penny.