High school football & D200

<p>I bought a Nikon 300 2.8 VR lens recently and going to shoot some high school football with a monopod of course.<br>

Can anyone give me some settings you have used on the D200 that you like to use when shooting football games?</p>

<p>Daytime, or night games under lights?</p>

<p>great question Daniel and perfect timing. I happen to be in the same boat as you at the moment. I was invited out to shoot a friends son playing HS football. This will be in the evening, JV league. I believe this game will be at 5:30p, still good light out. Any tips for setup will help (also shooting a D200 or D90).</p>

<p>I suggest using only the center AF point on the D200 as it is the only one that is cross type - it will focus faster and more accurately than the other AF points. Track your main subject with the center point to insure accurate AF.</p>

<p>Shoot RAW as stadium lighting can greatly affect white balance and vary exposure from picture to picture especially at shutter speeds above 1/200. </p>

<p>Set your ISO, shutter speed and aperture as desired. If the exposure is not right (too dark or too light), vary the settings as needed. There are several recent threads on shooting with slower shutter speeds - I suggest you read through them.</p>

<p>Matt: the games are usually at night 7 PM or so.. But some of them are at 9AM for the freshman team. I have some images I'm gonna put up when i reduce the size for posting here. Elliot thanks for the hlp. Much appreciated.</p>

<p>thanks guys. Some from last nights game with my D200 80-200 2.8D (straight from camera, no processing)</p><div></div>

<p>another</p><div></div>

<p>It really does depend on the lighting in the stadium. I live in northern Virginia and we have several new high schools that have excellent lighting (for high schools). I can get away with 1/400 second at f/4, ISO 1600, most of the time. I'm a big fan of getting close and isolating your subject. I also look to stand in front of a light pole around the 30 yard line (it really works). The end zone corners are death valley with only moon light to help you on a good night. If you can't get any closer, crop tighter.<br>

<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e-iShlWdc7k/Ssdu7Ix5_FI/AAAAAAAAAl4/KtR8EqLoNZw/s800/WbdgvsFP_0137.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="542" /></p>

<p>It really does depend on the lighting in the stadium. I live in northern Virginia and we have several new high schools that have excellent lighting (for high schools). I can get away with 1/400 second at f/4, ISO 1600, most of the time. I'm a big fan of getting close and isolating your subject. I also look to stand in front of a light pole around the 30 yard line (it really works). The end zone corners are death valley with only moon light to help you on a good night. If you can't get any closer, crop tighter.<br>

<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e-iShlWdc7k/Ssdu7Ix5_FI/AAAAAAAAAl4/KtR8EqLoNZw/s800/WbdgvsFP_0137.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="542" /></p>