I want to capture flying people, please help me!

[ali_bleckinger]

Hey all,

 

I recently started taking pictures for my all star cheerleading team's

website. I shoot with a Canon Rebel XT and I have the lense that came with

it. I have been looking into the 50mm f/1.4 and I'm wondering if anyone has

insight on that particular lense. I shoot in high school gyms, indoor venues

at Disney (think ESPN cheerleading if you've ever seen it) and our gymnastics

gym in which we can only turn on half of the lights. So low light is sometimes

an issue, and I often catch the "moment" I was looking for, but it's a fuzzy

mess.

 

Please help!

 

Thanks,

 

Ali<div></div>

[shoppix]

Ask if sometimes they can turn up the lights so you can photograph or get better photos. Usually the lens that comes with a camera - the kit lens - is a decent general purpose lens. But, not for low light situations where you can't use flash and need 'high' shutter speeds. Virtually all indooor sports!

what settings are you using??? Manual, 1/320+, ISO 1250-1600, f2.8 - 1.8, continuous AF, Burst shooting mode.???

The 50 1.4 will give you more light but the DOF maybe too short to use as your primary. Also, too short to get nice tight close ups of 1-2 or maybe 3 performers. An 85 1.8 is good and a 70-200 f2.8 is a great zoom, expensive though. but if you are going to offer to sell these images, then maybe the price can be justified. Next will be two camera bodies with different lenses - short one and a long one!

Good luck.

[mark u]

You have got one idea exactly right - you are going to need a fast lens (or two), and that means looking at prime lenses, because zooms are too slow (f/2.8 at best). Steve raises a number of good points, but I suspect he is erring on the long side for focal lengths for most of your venues - especially if you are trying to show the whole troupe as in the sample image you provide. You might want to check the focal lengths you have been shooting at to help you pick the right primes. The list to consider is Sigma: 20mm f/1.8, 24mm f/1.8, 28mm f/1.8, 30mm f/1.4; Canon: 24mm f/1.4L, 28mm f/1.8, 35mm f/2, 35mm f/1.4L, 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 (only for closer up). Some of these are very expensive, but listed for completeness.

 

One advantage of the wider lenses is that even used wide open you will get acceptable depth of field if you are careful about choosing your focus distance. For example, with the 20mm at f/1.8 focussed at 12m depth of field should extend from around 6m to the back of the hall. The trick is to pre-focus on a target at the right distance, and then switch the lens to manual focus. The (horizontal) field of view will be slightly wider than the distance to the subject. If you need to go wider still, then you'll have to borrow or rent a 5D body, or resort to a flash setup (several flashes - probably at least 4 at the corners of the floor - mounted high up with a radio slave trigger) to allow you to use a slower wider lens.

 

Shooting technique otherwise is going to be similar to basketball. Set a custom white balance, use 1600 ISO with the lens (almost) wide open, and adjust the shutter speed to give the correct exposure (either metering off a mid tone target like the gym floor, or checking using the histogram) - it will be the fastest your camera and lens can manage in the light.

 

If variable lighting is part of the show, then you may need to adjust exposure between more brightly lit and darker parts of the display - try to have a rehearsal with the lighting people to learn your exposures.

 

There can be advantage to shooting in RAW for this kind of work - it gives more scope to handle image noise, and any white balance or exposure problems (some lights cycle in brightness and colour output at double the mains frequency, and this will show up using fast shutter speeds). With a Rebel XT, I would concentrate on timing individual shots to capture the peak action - which will require some practice, but will be much better than what you can achieve by shooting bursts at ~3fps.

 

You may find this calculator is useful for working out angle of view and focus/depth of field options:

 

http://www.eosdoc.com/manuals/?q=jlcalc

 

Remember when you use the calculator for field of view data that you will want adequate width to cover the nearest cheerleaders even though you will focus part way into the group.

[william_landon]

Captured with a Nikkor 105mm f2.5 @ iso 1600 @ 640th second wide open.

[ali_bleckinger]

Yes I was shooting in burst mode, and maybe I'm doing something wrong... but when I'm in manual I generally can't get my camera below an f4. I have the ISO the highest it will go (I think that's 1600 on my camera but it's not at home at the moment) I thought this was due to lighting. That's why the idea of a fixed fstop was rather enticing. No?

 

And while we're on the subject, you guys mentioned another body... which is the best camera for this type of photography in your opinion. I may be in a place in the next year or so to double up and have a primary/secondary at these events... and I wouldn't be opposed to my rebel becoming my secondary if there's a more suitable model out there.

 

I don't plan to sell the images, but we do use them for advertising as well as our website. So the better I get, the better it will look for the professionalism of this business.

 

Thanks again for the help.

 

Ali

[chip_degrace]

I just got NoiseNinja, I am a newbie, but it can work wonders on noisy pics like the one submitted above.

 

buy it.<div></div>

[chip_degrace]

smaller pic<div></div>

[tommyinca]

Canon has a very good (optic quality, focus speed and price) in their EF100/f2, at f2 and with a USM motor for arround $325. I would check that out. I would set it at f2, ISO1600 with center focus point AI Servo and fire away. Shoot raw so you can adjust for those funky gym light (both funky color and intensity).

[willhl]

Basically what you need is to get your shutter speed higher.

I think you understand this concept but just briefly, higher ISO will give you higher shutter speed. Wider apeture (smaller "f" number) will give you higher shutter speed.

That photo you posted up the top was at 1/160 which is probably a bit slow, particularly if you are more zoomed in, however you were only shooting at ISO 400. If you went to ISO 800 the shutter peed would be at 1/320 which is not too bad, go to 1/400 or better where possible.

 

Ok so higher ISO is in camera, easy, don't be afraid to go to ISO 1600, you'll need it in most gyms. Next is the lens, the 50mm f1.4 will allow you to have a much higher shutter speed but will also give a very narrow depth of field. You should also be aware that it is not a wide angle lens, I assume you have the 18-55mm lens so you can check what you exactly what sort of view you will get.

 

So what do you need? Well start by looking at what focal length you take most of your photos so you know if you need a wide angle or telephoto lens, the one up the top is at 18mm. Then you can start looking at specific lenses that could work depending on how low the light is going to be and how much you want to spend.

 

Don't worry about a second body at this stage, get this one working for you before you consider an upgrade because any new body will be subject to similar limitations in the low light. If you are wanting to be more serious then you will probably looking at something like the 40D.

[ali_bleckinger]

Ok, for focal length I sit right in front of a 54foot across and 42foot deep mat to take competiiton pics. At any given time I might want a shot of someone in front of me two feet - or the action that is taking place 40 feet back on the mat. But I also want a wide angle of view b/c when they build their stunts they can take up 42 feet across and I love full group shots... all this with low lighting. So I should go with a wide angle that has a wider aperature... specific suggestions that would fit my canon now?

[shoppix]

Sigma makes a 50-15o f2.8- not really wide nor the close up ability of a 200 0r 300, but might work to allow you to capture wider range of groups - large and small. I don't think there is something to give you what you need by any mfgr. A 17-55 f2.8 (18-55 or whatever mfgr range is) would be right for when the girls are right in front of you to maybe mid mat. But probably not for the ends of the mat. then a tele or tele zoom (70-200 f2.8, 200 f2) to get those longer shots. Hard without 2 bodies. But using the 70-200 2.8 you'll just have figure where to stand in relation to the mat and where the girls are.

Steve

[ali_bleckinger]

Thanks for all the input everyone. This has added nicely to my research of what to add next.

 

Happy shooting!