Football at Night Help

[erincarter]

I was out shooting a high school football game tonight that they were playing "under the lights"...and it was rainy.

I'm shooting with a Nikon D7000 and the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.
I didn't stay long because...well it was cold...lol. But here is one shot I took...obviously not a great one. How do I improve on this? I'm looking for some help with how to shoot night games like this in the future.


Shutter 1/100
Aperture F/2.8
Focal Length 70mm
ISO 1600
No Flash

that shot was taken in "sports mode"...I know I probably shouldn't be using that, I'm just nervous about switching to something else. What mode should I be using and what setting would you suggest?
Should I use a flash when shooting stuff like this? I have a couple of SB600's...should I use one of them?

Any help would be great.
Thanks

[TheMoons678]

You could go in S shutter priority mode, choose what shutter speed you want depending on how much motion you want to show. Boost the ISO, that's why you got the D7000.

Make sure you're on AF-C (continuous AF) and you can use 3D autofocus area mode.

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

You could go in S shutter priority mode, choose what shutter speed you want depending on how much motion you want to show. Boost the ISO, that's why you got the D7000.

Make sure you're on AF-C (continuous AF) and you can use 3D autofocus area mode.

I would recommend excactly this.

I would shoot on shutter priority mode and boost the ISO as high as possible to get your shuttter as fast as possible (I have the same camera and the same lens as you do). I usually do not shoot any slower than 1/800 at any fast moving sporting event and often run any grainy pictures through noise reduction software later if necessary (try community noiseware---it's awesome and there is a free edition online).

You could try using a flash but with the refresh rate of most flashes it is impossible to shoot in continuous mode if you are trying to get a sequence of action shots.(pro photogs may have different gear that allows this but I don't).

As for this particular shot, it definitely needs a crop to remove the phantom hand on the right part of the picture and I would suggest a little more headroom next time.

Keep shooting! Night sports is tough and I'm no expert but have had some experience with this.

[erincarter]

ok, thanks...my son is playing tonight under the lights so I will try the shutter priority tonight and see how that goes.

Amy_bb - I posted that shot quickly last night just to get the question up...I definitely would have cropped it better had I taken my time

Thanks for the help

[TheMoons678]

So getting out of sport (auto) mode you will have to control:

ISO
WB (this can be fixed in pp afterwards)
Shutter Speed
(Exposure +/- if necessary)
Metering mode- not sure what would be best. matrix may tend to overexpose a bit but other modes may be difficult with moving subjects. (I'm not experienced with this so maybe ask someone else).

Be sure to read up on the different AF area modes if youre not familiar with using 3D and other modes.

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by erincarter

ok, thanks...my son is playing tonight under the lights so I will try the shutter priority tonight and see how that goes.

Amy_bb - I posted that shot quickly last night just to get the question up...I definitely would have cropped it better had I taken my time

Thanks for the help

Heh Heh! I do that too....post for one critique and then get someone like me telling you to crop something like a phantom hand when, of course, you would have done that.

Good luck with tonight's game! I look forward to seeing your pictures, please post!

[mikoyan]

For this picture, I would crop it (like others suggested). And take it out of sports mode and bump up the ISO. I would either go Shutter priority or Aperature Priority (obviously to the largest setting).

Good luck.

[Jim Bryant]

Take test reading and shot on manuel. Set shutter speed to 250th and fstop at 2.8. ISO in the 800-1000 - 1250 (depending on stadium lighting) range and set flash at about 1/16 to 1/8 output and just make test until you like what you see. Here's one I captured using those settings. Was trying to unload four, but only one was uploaded, however, you get the point. I used a 300mm f2.8 lens to capture those. And yes..........crop in from the RH side to where the ball carrier is. Everything else is wasted space.