Kids' football photos please help!

[dezertprincess]

Hello all, I am really hoping some of you more experienced folks can pass along some advice to me. I'm photographing my son's football team this year and posting the photos of them in action on Flickr. I have learned a lot of things from the DPS article on how to improve sports shots but still need more help!

I have found that following the ball gets me the best action shots but I have lots of other forces working against me - I have to shoot in either blazing mid-day sun or at times under the lights on the field at night. I use a point and shoot Canon Powershot SX20IS and mostly used the camera's sports/fast action setting.

Here is a link to the shots I've taken at two scrimmages - the one on the 18th was at sundown and then under lights, the one on the 21st was mid-day.
Flickr set

I did some post-processing in Photoscape (no budget for Photoshop, sadly) but still am not happy with the results. I'd like photos that are a bit brighter and more vivid in color and also sharper and not as grainy. It seems the sharpen filter in Photoscape does make the photos sharper but also grainy and the "bloom" tool makes them brighter but blurry. I don't have the wherewithal (or the time) to take all my shots and do complicated post-processing on them, so the better I can get them at time of shooting, the better off I will be.

Please take a look at the set and let me know what I might be able to do better, either when I'm shooting or during post-processing. Thank you in advance!

[lputman]

During the day, set it to aperture priority and select your widest aperture. Set your ISO to 200 and let the camera pick the shutter speed. See how that works for you.

At night, change it to manual and set the ISO as high as it can go. Adjust your aperture so you can get a shutter speed no lower than 1/400. I don't know

I don't know what Photoscape is, so I can't comment on it. You can trial Lightroom for 30 days and that would make a big difference as far as processing photos go.

It's possible the photos are being over sharpened and that can result in a funky grainy type of thing.

I have to use noise reducing on my night photos. Here's a sample of one I took on Saturday night. ISO 6400, 1/500 @ f2.8, I did tone adjustment and noise reduction in Lightroom.

[dezertprincess]

Thanks Lori, I will try that and see how it goes. This weekend their game is at night at about the time the sun goes down, so I might be able to try both settings in one sitting.

[Jim Bryant]

Here's a review I found on Google. Canon PowerShot SX20 IS Review.

It's not exactly a sports picture taking camera as it only takes a picture 1.1 seconds between bursts. You'll have to anticipate the action and press the shutter before it happens otherwise, you're going to miss the peak action. Good luck!

[wamplers]

The day shots look over sharpened and the night shots have the shutter speed way too slow (1/60). The ISO 800 on your night shots is already starting to get grainy, so not sure how good you'll be able to get with that gear. I typically shoot ISO 3200, 6400, or 12800 depending on the field's lighting to get 1/500 - 1/800 shutter speed, and that's with an f/2.8 lens.

[dezertprincess]

Thanks Jim this camera is all I have to work with. I know it's not super fast but I'm not worried about missing the action shots so much, more about the quality when they come out.

Wamplers - the camera has a special "ISO3200" setting on it so maybe I'll give that a go at least for a couple. This weekend's game will be under the lights so I'll have the chance to try it as well as the other tips given here.

Thanks!

[karen_s]

You will be limited by your equipment for sure but here are a few things I learned last year while shooting some high school games that might help ...

1. There are parts of the field that have more light than other parts. Look for where the Friday night lights overlap and take most of your shots when the action moves into that space.

2. Not all great sports shots are action shots. Shots of huddles, the line before the snap, the players along the sidelines, all make great shots too and don't require the faster shutter speeds.

3. Sometimes the height of action is slower than the middle of action. What I mean is when two players collide, the action can slow (for a nano second so you have to be prepared) compared to when a running back runs free. If you can learn to anticipate the hits, you might get some good shots that way.

4. Shots of players reacting after a play can be quite good too. And they often won't require the faster shutter speeds that are needed to catch someone running with the ball.

5. It seemed to me that underexposure lead to more noise or grain in my shots and I found proper exposure reduced the effects of the noise in the final images.

Good luck!