Boise State Track - Blue and Orange Opener

[jvance11]

From Blue and Orange Opener - Boise State Track and Field

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T3
ISO: 3200
Shutter Speed: 1/250
Aperture: f/5.6
Flash Used: False

I'm very new to the world of photography and am still trying to learn as I go. This is a photo that I took at a track meet over the weekend. I did a lot of experimenting with settings as I just moved up to a DSLR. Any critique or advice would be much appreciated.

[ridley19]

Too much distraction in the background for me, and too blue in the picture. I'd try recomposing so the runner is facing you (it might eliminate the background distractions).

[windrider86]

Please be sure to read the rules/guidelines for the critique section and include any information asked for.
For this one, you'll need to include a question on what you may want help with. Thank you in advance for editing your post!

[Doug Sundseth]

You're finding out here why sports photographers, particularly those who shoot indoors, have $2000 lenses and high-end camera bodies.

Indoor sports venues are commonly very dark (for cameras). You need a high ISO and fast glass to get decent photographs. Here, if you could open up to f/2.8, you could probably go to 1/400 second (since the photo is a bit underexposed) while staying at the same ISO, which would both blur the background more and freeze the action better.

And, as noted, your white balance is pretty far off, but that's easy to fix as long as you shot in RAW.

[Hill Country Hack]

What everyone else has said. Plus you can crop and crop some more. Try one with just the runner and the yelling coach. It may get too noisey, but worth a try.

[jvance11]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and pointers. I was a little worried about shooting in this setting with the light (or lack there of). Doug, I'll use the settings that you suggested below, or as close as I can get at least, next week at the next track meet. Thank you again everyone for your feedback!!

[bigben6]

Background is annoying, and no sense of movement. I would try to get more of the track in the field of view and let the viewer see where they either came from, or are going too...