Track and Field Question

[erica_cooper]

<p>Hi all, <br>

I'm shooting a track and field event tonight / tomorrow morning, indoor. I'm new to sports photography and photography in general, for the most part. I've shot a basketball game before, so that taught me a little bit about super poor lighting conditions, but I was hoping that you tried and true photographers could give me any hints you think might be helpful in getting the best shots (might I add for the school paper) at this track meet. <br>

I'll hopefully be able to get pretty close in to all the events, and I have an 18-200 f/5.6 (@200) that I'll probably mostly be using, although for some things I might be able to switch to my 50mm f/1.4 if I'm doing a single event (like stand by the long jump for a while and get some shots wide open.) Oh and this is on a Nikon D90. <br>

So my question for you all is do you have any advice on which shots are best to take, how best to focus, etc., just any tips you've come up with over the years of shooting track or sports more generally, would be really really great! <br>

I'm anxious about shooting this and don't want to miss all the greatest shots! <br>

Thanks,</p>

<p>Erica</p>

[farski]

<p>Erica, unless you are shooting in one of the few really high (read: well lit) field houses, f/5.6 would really going to be pushing even the high ISO of the D90 from my indoor track experience. There's obviously not much you can do about lighting, other than get a little creative with slower shutter speeds (like some nice panning shots like (which I know was outside but I took it at 1/50 so something similar should be achievable inside)) or using a flash when it will be affective. I would try and stick with the 50 and do some cropping later, and the bigger aperture will also give you the DOF you need to help mitigate the really ugly, complicated, busy backgrounds inside these tracks.<br>

As far as some general points, as much as I like track and field (and fyi I LOVE track and field) I find a large majority of "action" shots to be generally boring. Even photos of very fast races really don't "look" fast, and photos of slower races look, well, even slower. Some of it may have to do with the fact that usually when you see T+F galleries, it's like 100 photos in a row of very similar shots, where the photog didn't move and inch or try anything creative. That being said, you obviously need to take race shots, I guess I'm just trying to say mix it up a bit. Move around, especially during races that are more than one lap it's great to have shots of the same athletes from different angles. Also, you should really strive to capture the movement of the race, in terms of when someone's making a move to the lead, when the pace quickens near the end, etc. A lot of times athletes will really change their body movement or show of emotion when they are speeding up, or when they are getting passed. Maybe the look down, or scrunch up their face, but those are the moments of the race that you want to _start_ recording, and then get a few frames of what occurs after that. <br>

Also, though, lot of great shots come from before and after the races. People looking very focused, doing their last second warmup jumps, or looking really happy or really disappointed after the race, those are the frames that will really tell the story of the meet, more-so than the actual race photos themselves.<br>

In terms of focusing, when you're using the f/5.6 the D90 will probably be a little too slow to get tack-sharp focusing especially when runners are coming towards the camera (should be ok when they're moving across the frame). So you should either prefocus and use the AF-Lock or just switch the manual. Sub-varsity, trial heats, etc are really good opportunities to figure out your focusing so you'll have them for the "important" races.<br>

Unlike most sports where the action itself is enough to create very good photos and having some extra talent gets you up to great photos, T+F really requires a lot of effort just to get good shots. There is a lot of action and emotion in there though, so don't be afraid to try something new to find it. Good luck!</p>

[christianaires]

<p>Hello Erica.</p>

<p>Hopefully this isn't a paying gig and you are doing it to learn photography on your own.</p>

<p>5.6 will probably come out looking pretty dark unless the place is extremely well lit.<br>

But.. doesn't mean it can't be done.. You just might have to do some creative editing afterwards.</p>

<p>When i shoot at the ring ( i like to be far from it and not ring side, personal thing)<br>

So I shoot from 200-300mm 1/160 f5-f5.6 iso 1600 for the sitting shots.<br>

and 70-150 1/200 iso 1600 f4.5 for the action parts<br>

And i take a very artistic approach to the shoot</p>

<p>The place is decently lit. But still a bit dark.<br>

So in lightroom i bump up the exposure a bit and desaturate the colors.</p>

<p>heres one example.<br>

http://1x.com/photos/member/14511/21820/<br>

that one was 70mm 1/160 f4.5 iso1600</p>

<p>The lens i use is the 70-300 vr<br>

camera Nikon d70 (old beast)</p>

<p>If you can use your 50 1.4 youll have much better luck. depending how close you can be to the action.</p>

<p>And while you are there try all the different settings.<br>

That was what i did my first day shooting at the ring.<br>

1600 1/200 5.6<br>

then dropping it down more and more and more.<br>

Going home and looking at what turned out.<br>

Then remembering the lighting and settings and using those again.</p>

<p>And if you can use a flash you would be better off.<br>

I prefer not to, again personal preference.</p>

<p>Good luck. I hope that helped you in anyway.</p>