First timer to DSLR

[armywife09]

Hi my name is April. I am new to photography and just wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions for taking sport pictures at night. I've read a lot on this forum and have learned that ISO helps a lot with the bluring, but the picture looks grainy. I've taken pictures at my husbands softball games and cannot seem to capture clear action shots (i.e. batting and glove movements). Any information or tips would be greatly appreciated.
I have a NIKON D7000 with a AF-S DX 18-105mm lens that came with it. Thanks tto all in advance for your help.

[faeriegodess612]

Put your camera in Auto, Sports, or Program Mode. Shoot something in one of those Modes or all 3 and then study the EXIF data. Find out what the camera selects for you, then imitate it.

If your already shooting in one of these modes,.make sure that your aperture is wide open. The more light thats let in, you should be able to set your shutter speed faster. Which will help with the blur. If you want to freeze the action, you gotta have a fast shutter.

BTW- I'm an army wife too,. where you stationed at?

[Doug Pardee]

Shooting sports indoors or in the dark is among the very most challenging types of photography. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try, but you should expect an extremely high failure rate, and be pleased if you get any successful shots at all. When you see that one great pro photo published in the newspaper, remember that's just one out of probably a thousand or so that the pro took at the game, and that it was taken by a pro. Set your expectations accordingly.

The kit lens is probably not going to do the job for you. It's not fast enough (the minimum f-number is too big) to catch enough light, both for recording the image and for reliably operating the autofocus. Again, you're welcome to try, but if you get any really good night sports shots with that lens, you should celebrate your awesomeness (or immense good luck).

To improve your chances, you'll need a fast lens (low f-number, like f/1.8 or f/2.0). Those usually won't be zoom lenses, so you'll need to pick the focal length that will work for the distance you'll be shooting from.

You'll still want to use the high ISO. Yes, you'll see noise if you pixel-peep the photos. Printed at 4x6 or 5x7, you shouldn't see any noise at all. Even at 8x10 you probably won't see any. If you do, you can use noise-reduction software to mitigate that, but please be gentle and use as little noise reduction as necessary to make the noise invisible at the required print size; absolute noise elimination will certainly result in a soft image. Don't fear the ISO — it's a necessity you'll need to learn to make peace with.

If you're permitted to use flash, and if the action will be within flash range, flash works wonders. Not only does it increase the light, the "millisecond burst" nature of strobe flashes freezes action beautifully.

So, that's the equipment end. Now for technique.

Think about what kind of images you want to capture, and where you want to be positioned to get those. When possible, aim to capture images where the action has reached a minimum (a basketball player at the top of his jump for a slam dunk, for example). Then put yourself at the desired position, prefocus your lens to the distance at which you think the desired photo subject will occur — hopefully a well-lit spot — and switch to manual focus to keep the lens from refocusing which would slow your camera's reactions and possibly result in misfocus. Set your camera to "burst mode" capture, and wait. When the action approaches your target point, rip off a series of shots in burst mode. With luck, at least one shot will be in focus and with a minimum of motion blur.

[armywife09]

Originally Posted by faeriegodess612

Put your camera in Auto, Sports, or Program Mode. Shoot something in one of those Modes or all 3 and then study the EXIF data. Find out what the camera selects for you, then imitate it.

If your already shooting in one of these modes,.make sure that your aperture is wide open. The more light thats let in, you should be able to set your shutter speed faster. Which will help with the blur. If you want to freeze the action, you gotta have a fast shutter.

BTW- I'm an army wife too,. where you stationed at?

Thank you very much! I will definitly have to look at the settings for the sports mode. We're currently in Arizona, but will be PCSing to the D.C. are mid July. I wanted to learn action/sport photography before we get there so I can take pictures of the riffle twirling ceremonies he will be in. I know I won't be proficient any time soon, but wanted to get a start on it.

[armywife09]

Oh believe me I know I'm starting with an extremely difficult begining. I did manage to get some awesome action shots when the sun was up, but my night shots were crazy. Thank you so much for your suggestions. Nikon Nikkor lenses I've seen are extremely expensive. Are there any 3rd party suggestions you may have? Currently I have the one I've mentioned and the Nikkor AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR Zoom Lens. Judging by what you said this might not be the best one either.

[faeriegodess612]

Originally Posted by armywife09

Thank you very much! I will definitly have to look at the settings for the sports mode. We're currently in Arizona, but will be PCSing to the D.C. are mid July. I wanted to learn action/sport photography before we get there so I can take pictures of the riffle twirling ceremonies he will be in. I know I won't be proficient any time soon, but wanted to get a start on it.

Ah, Fort Hood here. But we dont live on base.

[inkista]

Lens-wise, you probably want to go for a 70-200/2.8. The Tamron/Sigma versions are, iirc, in the $800 neighborhood. If that's too pricey, then you're likely to have to give up telephoto reach (and zoom) for max. aperture. The 85/1.8 is a great portrait lens, and in a pinch can be used for sports like basketball, but for softball, if you're shooting from the stands, that won't be nearly enough.

Basically, it's all about the maximum aperture & iso giving you enough light so you can get the shutter speed up.

You could also invest in some noise-reduction software, and consider "pushing" in post-processing (i.e., deliberately underexpose to get the faster shutter speed, and then brighten the exposure in post). But you are going to end up with more noise that way.