Shooting Outdoor Sports

[Hill Country Hack]

I will be on the sidelines for a Freshman football game which starts at 5:00pm. It will be a bright sunny day. On my first attempt I was shooting at f11 and shutter speed at 250+ with ISO at 400. I was able to stop the action, but the images were distracting because of the deep DOF. I plan on opening up the apeture to 6.3 as to decreased the DOF. I will then be about to speed up the shutter and get my ISO down to 100. I may or may nor use either a UV filter or circular polarizer.

Am I on the right track starting with f6.3 with ISO 100?

[Jonbar18]

Shooting OutdoorSports

....JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM

[3bayjunkie]

oh this is one of my favorite things. I love sports photography. I would suggest setting your aperture wide open. Just out of curiousity why did you select f/11? Try to keep your shutter speed at 1/500 or faster.

I would also suggest photographing some shots from the endzone as you can get some great running shots from strait on.

[RichardTaylor]

Ditch the filters.

I would shoot wide open or possibly down a stop (depends on your lens), minimum ISO to give you the shutter speed you want (1/500?)
Use your histogram, to check you are exposing correctly.

[Hill Country Hack]

Thanks to you both who replied. I will start without filters while checking histograms and adjust if needed.

I started at f11 for more DOF and it was very bright and summy, also I was not sure how fast the focus would fall off while trying to get shots of players chasing the ball carrier. As you can see by the example, the background was too busy and it takes away from the action. Lesson learned.

[RichardTaylor]

I havn't shot football before, however I have shot a lot of fast moving subjects.
You may find it doesn't really matter if your shutter speed goes very high. I would only use the filters as a last resort or if it is dusty or raining etc. They may cause unwanted flare

[SwissJon]

If you're shooting at 100mm at f6.4 and the subject is 10m away, the DoF is 2.5m. and if you shoot at 200mm and the subject is 20m away, the DoF is als 2.5m.. But if they're 10m away, it's 63cm..

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should probably use a shorter lens and shoot them close to you, because that puts more distance between the subject and the background.

You might also try different angles. Get low down and shoot so they have a less cluttered background, or high up, so the background is green..

f/6.5 isn't really very wide.. If you shoot with that lens when they're closer and you have the opportunity to use a shorter focal length, you might be able to open the aperture even more, and get an even shorter DoF.

With sports, it's all about separating the action from the background.. The wider the aperture, the more the separation.

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

You might also try different angles. Get low down and shoot so they have a less cluttered background, or high up, so the background is green..

f/6.5 isn't really very wide.. If you shoot with that lens when they're closer and you have the opportunity to use a shorter focal length, you might be able to open the aperture even more, and get an even shorter DoF.

With sports, it's all about separating the action from the background.. The wider the aperture, the more the separation.

As a sports shooter myself, I've learned a lot from this forum and from Jim B. especially. I do not have a mind that does instant math calculations (Hi Swiss ) so I have found that, at least initially, taking many shots and getting a feel for what combinations work on that day with that light and whatever colors you have may be your best option. I do switch it up a lot as the weather and sun changes. I shot these with my 70-200mm with the EXIF info below: (It was a bright day, shot around 3pm)



Camera

Nikon D7000
Exposure
0.001 sec (1/1600)

Aperture
f/3.5

Focal Length
200 mm

ISO Speed
320

Exposure Bias
0 EV

This one was shot around 1pm, different day but still bright and sunny:




Exposure

0.001 sec (1/1250)

Aperture
f/3.2

Focal Length
200 mm

ISO Speed
400

Exposure Bias
0 EV

I think you need to up your shutter speed, try using a monopod to really help get a sharp focus and then play around with different ISO/Shutter Speed/Aperture combinations to see what is working. Hope this helps! Still a newbie myself

[Hill Country Hack]

Thanks for the input gang. I'll open it up all the way (5.6 with the long lens), try different angles and play around to see what works best. I may even take my shorter lens (4.something) and play with that one too.

Working around these kit lenses makes me think and be more creative in my shot making. One of these days I'll put on my big boy pants and get faster glass.

[Jim Bryant]

You want to use your lowest f-stop and highest shutter speed possible. This allows you to pretty much blur out all that distracting crap in the background so that your eye automatically goes to the focal point of the photo.....the action. Take a look through Sports Illustrated and check out the photographers pictures. Ball in mid-air...the only way you can capture that is by using a high shutter speed.