Taking high school football pictures

Hi, I'm new to digital photography and have just purchased the new

D70. Our local high school is currently in the playoffs and I need

help on what to do. Out of all the pictures I took this past week,

half were clear and the other half were blurred even when the

players were standing still. As I said I am new to photography and

need help. What settings do I need to use on the D70? Does the iso

auto need to be on or off? What is f2.5 and related #'s and where

do I find them on the D70? Under iso auto, what are all of the

measurements for (1/2 , 1/4 , 1/5 , 1/8 , 1/125)and so on and what

does it need to be on? I also purchased an extra lens (tamron 70-

300mm w/additional #'s 1:4-5.6 LD tele-macro(1:2) I know what 70-

300mm is for but don't have a clue on the rest, good or bad? Also,

what focus point should I use for football -AF single, dynamic area,

or closest subject? I apologize for being uneducated but I have to

learn somewhere. Thanks for any help.

Your best bet would be to go to your local library and get some books out on sports photography and How to use a SLR (Single Lens Refex) camera (film camera SLR books o.k. They will tell you what 1/4 1/2 1/8 1/125 are and do, plus a lot of other things that are relevant to both digital and film SLR cameras. You may also find a book there on using Digital single lens reflex cameras. Sit down with your camera handy and start readig.

Billy, Erin is correct,you need to study up and get some practice. Let me give you a short and generic answer to setting up your camera. You will need your instruction manual as well.

 

Set your ISO to 800. Use a manual mode (no automatic exposure functions). Set your shutter speed (1/60,1/125etc.) to the fastest shutter speed your camera is able to use for flash photography. This will probably be about 1/200 but I am not sure on the D70. Check the instruction manual. If you are using the built in flash then stick with the shorter zoom lens I assume you bought with the camera, something like a 24-70 and don't shoot pictures of anything more than about 25 feet away. If you have a separate flash that is compatible with the D70, use it. Put the bigger zoom lens on it and don't shoot anything more than about 100 feet away. Closer will be better. Set your autofocus on the center point. Again, refer to the manual. Your f/stop (lens aperture) is set using the camera body and again, read the manual. Use the largest aperture (smallest number) the lens has. On your Tamron that will be either 4 or 5.6, depends on how far in or out the lens is zoomed. Go to the 70mm setting and put in f/4 and the camera will keep up with it. This is also often referred to as the Av setting. Now go to the game and shoot. Practice is the best way to improve and you can never get too much practice.

 

Rick H.

Practice is good.

 

As the others have noted you MUST learn about shutter speeds. It is unfortunate that in this P&S "automatic" age that folks know little about speeds and apertures and the effects they have on images. Understanding is important for good images and for helping understand when images are less than ideal.

 

Your first step though should be to buy and use a sturdy TRIPOD. Keeping the camera still is your best bet for sharper pictures. ISO 800 is extreme and (no offence) but I'd never use ISO 800 UNLESS it was for action only and I had no other options. But you can stop (or slow) ots of action at a shutter speed of 1/250.

 

What worked last Saturday afternoon will not work for a late afternoon game when the light is lower. Light energy drops dramatically later in the day which requires lower shutter speeds or larger apertures--lower f-stop numbers. Sunny days way different than cloudy days.

 

Some tips below...not read myself for a couple of years...hope is all clear.

http://members.shaw.ca/clives/photoguide2.html

 

Good luck,

 

Clive

Here is a counter-tip: find a monopod for football games. A tripod on the sidelines may endanger yourself or a football player. If you are shooting on the sidelines, you have to be aware of a player heading directly at you ... and be prepared to haul you (and your camera) out of the way.

 

 

 

If you are shooting day-time games, your lens may be OK -- but if night games are upcoming, you need a AF 135mm f2 lens (or a AF 80-200mm f2.8 lens) to get enough light for action shots.

First off, realize that it may be an uphill battle to get the photos you want. Assuming, that is, you're photographing at night. Day games may be different.

 

You'll notice the photographers working the games usually have big lenses, 5"-6" diameter. The larger (ie, "faster") lens lets them shoot at a fast enough shutter speed to avoid too much blur. High school stadiums are usually not real well lit, and lack of good lighting is the major problem.

 

If you don't have the fast lens, you can use slower shutter speeds, but you'll have problems with camera movement and people movement. You can solve the camera movement problem with the tripod, or help it out with a monopod. There's not a fix for the people movement problem, other than taking shots when they aren't moving, which is not too far from pointless.

 

Of course, using the tripod, you can't conveniently follow the action, so if you have a telephoto zoomed in on one area, you'll miss anything that doesn't happen in that area.

 

You can increase effective speed of the sensor. With film cameras, you can go up to 1600 or so with fairly good results. You can go up to 6400 or so with B&W film, with less-than-stellar results. With either film or digital, quality drops off as you increase the speed, so it's not the answer you might wish.

 

My advice is to not worry too much about photographing the game itself right now because it will tend to be an exercise in frustration (and other people will already be photograhing it). But do learn how the camera works, what the f/stops and shutter speeds are, etc. Take shots at the game that mean more to you- your friends, the scoreboard, whatever.

I suppose I should have pointed out I was talking in terms of night time high school football which is all we ever play in the deep south, hurricaines notwithstanding. Most, though not all, venues down here are not well enough lit to use available light without some of the specialty lenses which tend to be pricey. Based on what Billy first said, I susupect he is very new to this. I gave him a formula that will get him some game photos with the equipment he has. Some of the staff guys I've been working with are shooting 300/2.8 and 400/4 lenses and shooting in RAW at ISO 3200. No doubt, better results by far but I don't think this is going to be practical for Billy this season. By the way Billy, set your white balance to the flash setting if you are shooting at night. Once more, check the manual on how to do this.

 

I've been to some of the better lit stadiums this season and was able to shoot a 75-300 zoom at f/5.6, 1/200 at ISO 3200. I was amazed at the results, much less noise than I expected, good detail, most of the action was stopped. In the darker stadiums I went with a 28-135 USM IS wide open, 420EX flash at ISO 800. Tv mode. I was not as happy with the results but we got pictures in the paper. All of this was done with a 10D. At the end of my first full football season with digital I will say I am more impressed with digital at higher ISO's, 1600 and above, than anything I ever got with film in these ranges.

 

Rick H.

Good point Rick. I did not mean to criticize by saying I would not use ISO 800--I would not in daytime. Night time is a different ball game :) Pictures of motion at night are tricky. Compromise is a must.

 

Wrote on my website....( stole it from somewhere) ... "It is better to have a grainy image than a blurry image."

Seems like some of the playoff games have been in daytime, though. As you get farther from home, either everyone's got to take off at noon to drive 300 miles, or else the game'll be on a Saturday.