Confused about night time football??

[mike_clark5]

Im new here and a novice to photography at best. That being said let me tell

everyone what I am shooting with. Nikon D50 Body / Nikkor AFD 80-200 D f/2.8 ED

IF Lens...hand held ..Ive read hundreds of responses to the "night football"

photographry quagmire (low light-more speed-depth of field-camera shake) and I

must say at this point I am terribly confused about where to start (or reset)??

I have shot 4 night games this season with limited success to say the least.

Ive tried setting my camera to "A" aperature priority - 2.8 but almost every

other shot is blurry. Ive tried "S" shutter priority and set it at 1/500 and

lower only to get shots that are too dark...my ISO has been constant at

800......please help?? I am shooting another nighttime semifinal game friday

and need some quality stuff.. should I invest in a monopod for the game and for

the upcoming basketball season??

[wilsontsoi]

For non-flash Friday night prep game, first of all, set your custom white balance to match that of the stadium light. Set manual exposure, keep aperture at f2.8, start off at 1/400 sec. shutter speed (1/500 would be ideal, lowest you'll want to go is 1/320 which may result in some motion blur, but let in more light) and then adjust your ISO which you may very well need to be at higher than 800. With these settings, see if you're getting enough exposure by checking your in-camera meter, review LCD image, and/or histogram.

 

Lastly, with the 80-200 f2.8, a monopod is not really needed as the camera & lens combo is light enough to not burden you physically and the shutter speed you'll want to shoot at to stop motion will be fast enough so that blur from shaky hands won't be an issue.<div></div>

[darrendrevik]

I agree with the last comment with one exception and one addition.

 

I think a monopod is a MUST when shooting in low light football situations. Anything that eliminates camera shake is a plus -- even if you can pump your shutter speed to 1/320 or 1/500.

 

My one other addition is to pump your ASA/ISO as high as your camera will allow. Go to 3200 if you can (On the Canon series, you have do to it via the special functions menu). Sacrifice a little noise and a little grain to get the shutter speed you need to catch the action.

[daverhaas]

I would suggest changing to Auto ISO and Shutter preferred setting like Wilson suggested.

 

A monopod will stabilize the camera and eliminate camera shake, but it won't help stop the motion of the players, nor will it increase the ISO.

 

Nikon (D200 at least) you can trick the ISO by setting to Hi-1 from the standard ISO setting menu. Not sure if the D50 has that trick or not. As far as I know, there is not a way on the Nikons to get High-ISO on the auto ISO Mode.

 

Dave.

[rds801]

One thing about setting a CWB...sometimes the lights will pulse and it that case it doesn't

matter becuase some of your images will have color issues.

[dangoldman]

For highschool shooting, i regulary get away with less than 1/200 with an F4 lens +flash. pump the iso as noted before. Practice, practice, and shoot many frames... Make sure your technique is good, if you mash the shutter button down you'll shake the whole camera etc. Also, make sure your autofocus is set to servo and make sure you give it adequite time to lock onto your subject before hitting the button. And dont hold the button down, by the third frame, he will be out of the range of focus when you started the burst.

 

Use the histogram on the LCD to make sure you have a good shutter speed ISO combo (always shoot as wide open as possible on the aperture at night) and that enough light is getting into your sensor.

[shanegerardi]

I use aperature priority at night with the ISO pumped up to HIgh 1 or High 2 (if available) if

I can pan the field and get meter readings for a shutter speed of no less than 1/500th all

the way across the field. (there is nothing worse than catching a shot but losing it to

improper lighting at a "dead spot" on the field. I work as a freelancer for a bunch of

newspapers so I also run into a lot of badly lit football stadiums.

 

For a night game with questionable light be ready to use your flash. If you have an

SB-800, what I do in these situations is set my camera to manual and shoot 1/250th or

1/500th with the flash set to RPT at 100 htz at 1/8 power. (if you do use your flash make

sure you set your cameras WB to flash). (If you have an SB-600 then set in to manual at

1/8 power and do the same, but you wont get the same performance.) In either case

forget about shooting anything beyond midfield if you are on the sideline.. using flash

basically cuts the field in half lengthwise

 

This setting (on the SB-800) will use the extra battery available for that flash to get a few

extra rapid shutter releases back to back. Shooting at 3 FPS (I think that's what the D-50

shoots at) will not drain the flash batteries nearly as quickly as some other cameras so you

should be able to get 3 to 5 shots off in a sequence before the flash starts to lose power.

BE SURE TO HAVE A SET OF BATTERIES FOR THE GAME!

 

I dont know the flash sync of the D50 but am used to slower flash sync's on the D100 of

1/125. I have since moved to the D200 and its flash sync is 1/250. One other thing... do

not shoot the game with your flash set to front curtain sync.. the players will be led with a

streak of light reflecting from their uniforms.

 

If you have to use your flash then set your ISO to about 800 and work from there, but I

have been successful using this technique at ISO 400 as well.

 

As far as positioning goes, try to stay ahead of the play on offense.. in the end zone would

be best but with your lenses that really isnt an option until the teams cross the 25-30 yard

line. Since my 80-200 is my favorite lens I like to use it on the sidelines about 20 -30

yards ahead of the play to catch lead blockers and runningbacks, and recievers. Try to take

a few pictures from behind the line of scrimmage to get QB handoffs and general QB

action photos (i.e. passing, scrambling to avoid a sack, and option plays)

 

I also like to stay in the end zone when teams have backed up their opponent too to get

shots of the D-linemen and linebackers breaking through blocks and getting to the

quarterback. This is one of the few times with your lenses getting a sack and having the

tackler, or rushers, face could happen.

 

On kickoffs with your team recieving try to stay on the sideline about even with the first

line of blocker (abouot 10 yards downfield from the kickoff spot) to get the blockers

m,aking their blocks and then the returner will usually come in range shortly to get a nice

running shot.

 

If your team is kicking off try to get down field about 10 yards closer to the kickoff spot

than the returner, or however far you think the kickoff will go. This positioning will allow

you to get pictures of potential tacklers fighting through and around blocks.

 

hope that helps and good luck

[mike_clark5]

ok guys...thanks fro all the help....got a 5pm kick off tomorrow..calling for heavy rain (we wont even get into the problems that causes)..fortunately we will be playing the recently built professional soccer stadium so the lighting will be much much better than high schools....Im gonna start with my camera in "M" mode..set my aperature wide open at 2.8...set the shutter at 1/400..and the ISO at 800..NO FLASH..dont want to distract anybody...and adjust from there...probably the first thing I will have to adjust is the ISO to 1600...Ill let you know how I make out

[terry_quinn1]

Well I am in your club. I got three awesome shots last night, all out of focus.

I was using a tripod and my 420 ex flash.

200mm 2.8 lense, ISO 800

I tried manual at 1/80 last with 2.8.

First I tried TV 1/200 2.8 but the 2.8 kept flashing.

Then I tried AV same, but the 2.8 kept flashing, so I lowered the shutter speed to 1/80.

Frustrating!!

I just think I am bad at focusing and getting the right shot at the same time.

Where can I go to a Focusing class??????????? lol.<div></div>

[terry_quinn1]

Another one, horrible focus, but I tried to fix it in software<div></div>

[terry_quinn1]

This one came out clear.<div></div>

[darrendrevik]

Because both your subjects and backgrounds are blurred, I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest camera movement. If you're not using a monopod, I strongly suggest getting one to help. Also, shoot shutter priority at f2.8 and let the light determine how fast a shutter speed you get. Keep your ISO as high as you can set it on your camera.

[darrendrevik]

Terry, I just think I figured out part of your problem having read some of your other posts. It sounds like you're shooting this with your flash. Try shooting without a flash, again setting your aperature priority to f2.8 and your ISO to 800, 1600 or 3200 (I don't remember how high a Rebel goes).

 

What's happening is when you've got your flash on your shoe, it's automatically lowering your shutter speed down to your flash synch speed -- which is either 1/125 or 1/250 of a second -- both are too slow to freeze action.

 

Take off the flash, kick up your settings, use natural light and see what happens. You should be pleasantly surprised.