Sharp Action Shots

[connie_wagner]

<p>I'm shooting sports action shots (softball, football, etc.) and they just don't seem to be coming out crip and clear. I use both a Canon 50D and 40D. I shoot using sports mode for daylight games and shoot shutter priority for night games. The lens I use is Canon EF 70-200 2.8L lens on continuous shoot and evaluative metering and Al servo mode. My friend shot with a Nikon (not sure model) with me this weekend and some of her shots are much sharper. Should I turn off my stabilization for shooting sports? I also use all 9 points for focusing - should I change to 1 point? This past tournament I shot with the monopod, but i still don't see much different with or without the monopod. Please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks -- signed "Frustrated sports photographer"<br>

sample photo attached</p><div></div>

[ed_v.]

<p>Hi Connie, it looks like your shutter speed in the photo you posted (1/1250) should be fast enough to freeze most action. The aperture is set for f/2.8 which could be tricky since the depth of field will be shallow. It's difficult to tell from the photo since it's reduced in size, but it seems that part of the pitcher's mound is more in focus than the pitcher. Could be one of the nine points landed where you least expected and that's what became the point of focus. Using the center focus point only as you mentioned would help in this regard. Also, if it's bright enough I like to stop down to f/3.2 to increase depth of field slightly in case I don't focus exactly where I want. I set the mode dial for Av and let the camera pick the shutter speed. Mind you, I only shoot as a hobby so there may be others with better suggestions...</p>

 

[victorwei]

<p>"My friend shot with a Nikon (not sure model) with me this weekend and some of her shots are much sharper." My suggestion is to switch to a Nikon - just kidding as I'm a Nikonian myself.</p>

<p>Seriously, I agree with Ed on stopping down to 3.2 or even 5.6 which will give you a deeper field of focus. I also suggest that in doing so, you can also experiment with a higher ISO like 400 allowing you to stop down more with a higher shutter speed.</p>

[phule]

<p>Perhaps your friend has their in-camera sharpening set much higher than yours? </p>

[ejchem101]

<p>Connie,</p>

<p>When I read your question, I thought I would look at your example and see a motion-blurred, miss-focused etc type of problem.</p>

<p>At the size that it is posted, i think it looks plenty sharp. Now, if you are seeing something as unsharp by pixel peeping, then I would say don't worry about it. To answer a couple of other questions, I would turn off IS due to the fact that IS is there to reduce camera shake. If you are using a shutter speed to stop motion, then camera shake shouldn't be an issue. While a monopod might take some weight off of your arms, in full daylight I don't even see the need for it to be honest.</p>

<p>The only suggestion that I would have is to try and identify the problem of the unsharpness... is it depth of field due to using 2.8? or is it slight motion blur?</p>

<p>I would personally use higher shutter speeds for softball / baseball. Don't be afraid of using ISO 400 or 800 even in daylight so that you can stop down and use higher shutter speeds.</p>

<p>At 1/250th of a second I'm sure your IS is helping... on a 50D and 70-200 @ 200mm you are talking about a 320mm lens, which means you should be 1/400th or higher just to stop your camera shake blur. Bump your shutter up to 1/800 or 1/1000 and compare... dont be afraid of experimenting, its one of the amazing things of digital, free experimentation! </p>

<p>This one was shot at F4 1/800th @ ISO 100 on a canon 20D + 70-200 F4<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10923410-lg.jpg" alt="" width="1026" height="600" /></p>

[pjmeade]

<p>I think your shot looks quite reasonable, with just a little more sharpening it would look pretty much spot on. However, it's my experience that more than one AF spot is not great and anything other than aperture-priority (and control of iso-) can give poorer results than you would hope for. <br />I don't get to see any softball in the UK, but I do shoot a great deal of sport and our nearest equivalent is cricket.<br />To get a reasonable result I would always want to shoot with centre point AF at around 1/1000 using aperture-priority set to f4 to 5.6. This may mean pushing iso very high, I've shot polo tournaments at up to iso-1200. For a subject that's moving towards me I'll use AI Servo and for somone that's static it's one shot, all very much as you would expect.<br>

Depending on where I'm shooting, I'll use either hand-held or a tripod, but hat's only because I may need to change to a second camera and it's not that easy to let go of a monopod in an instant.<br>

Moving subject: - iso-400, 1/6400, f5.6<br>

<a title="Tom by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/5777528044_5b7118859c_z.jpg" alt="Tom" width="426" height="640" /></a><br>

Static Subject: - iso-640, 1/1600, f4<br>

<a title="Tom by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjmeade/5776988069/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2187/5776988069_7013b0242f_z.jpg" alt="Tom" width="426" height="640" /></a></p>

[viewthroughmylens]

<p>It's time to get OUT of the pre-set sports mode, it doesn't let you do much.. and also shutter priority at night. Use only the center-point focus when shooting most sports or the lens/camera can start hunting a bunch if stuff moves around the subject.<br>

In Av mode you could have gone up to ISO 320 or so and got a shutter speed that's great for baseball/softball given the light we see.. then because it is back lit, you need to use a bit of exposure compensation at +1/3 or +2/3 to expose the front of the pitcher. Av is especially helpful when the light is constantly going from sunny to cloudy if you don't have time to keep changing settings besides ISO.</p>

[randallfarhy]

<p>Connie, I think you're dealing with two issues here- poor focus and a slight under exposure.<br>

The focus issue should be handled with he use of single point AF. If this doesn't work, and you are consistently getting an area IN FRONT of the subject in focus, then it is most likely an issue known as front focus, and will require your lens and camera to be calibrated by Canon.</p>

<p> (I don't believe the 50D allows the user to compensate). If this proves to be the case, you can also use manual focus, which is something I will often revert to in certain situations.</p>

<p>Also, as others have noted-<br>

Get out of camera preset modes, go either TV or AV if you are not comfortable in full manual.<br>

A lot of people prefer AV, but for action this could be problematic as it will selectively choose a shutter speed, and it could choose one too slow for the action at hand if you aren't on top of changing the ISO for prevailing light.<br>

TV will give you more control over that issue, as long as you have a high enough ISO chosen for the range of changing light. (IE if you're effectively shooting wide open at 2.8 in the brighter light, then you need to bump the ISO higher to give the camera the room to select 2.8 when the light drops due to passing clouds etc.) When using full manual, just keep mental notes on ballpark exposures for both conditions (taking into account compensations for what the meter is actually reading) and flip back and forth as needed.</p>

<p>The underexposure in this case appears to be a result of the camera's meter reading a white uniform and translating it to 18% grey. Again, something the photographer must be aware, and in control of. As David Harwig noted, a +compensation here would've rendered a more properly exposed subject and brighter background, which could then be "pulled in" or corrected for in post processing. (The exposure of this image is still within usable range with post processing techniques, but many favor correcting for slight over exposures vs under exposure).</p>

<p>I consider 1/320 shutter speed to be the minimum shutter for stopping some types of action, and almost always prefer higher. Stabilisation will help you under a S/S of 1/1000, it won't stop the subject from blurring but it will assist with camera induced movement issues.</p>

<p>Most of all, keep shooting, identify what you consider to be issues and target techniques that address those issues!</p>

[William Michael]

<p>I suggest to you to get out of the “Sports Mode”: you need <strong><em>more control of the exposure parameters</em></strong>.</p>

<p>I also think you also need to learn how to best <strong><em>sharpen your images in Post Production.</em></strong></p>

<p>I would not use 9 point AF and anyway I think the camera automatically selects the AF point when you are in “Sports Mode” – another reason not to use it.<br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>1/1250s is not sufficiently fast, for THAT shot</em></strong>. A senior female pitcher likely releases the ball at 80 to 100kph. At the top-swing maybe 30kph arm movement and maybe a faster counter-balancing downswing from the mitt hand. The mitt hand looks blurred to my eye. I would be using ≤1/4000s for a pitcher during the pitching movement, if I could.</p>

<p>DoF – let’s assume the head chest and number “7” is the plane of sharp focus. If that is a full frame crop and she is about 5’10’ tall then the DoF (at F/2.8) is about 3½ft . . . 3½’ is an awfully slim DoF, <strong><em>maybe you should consider F/4?</em></strong></p>

<p>ISO100? As you had a lot of ISO to spare, pumping the <strong><em>ISO to maybe 800</em></strong>, would allows for a faster shutter and more DoF safety.</p>

<p>Essentially the softball pitcher’s body (at that shot) is “stationary” (i.e. not running toward you) - so I am not sure that “AI Servo” is assisting that much <em>for that shot</em>, but as you are covering a softball game in all its aspects, <strong><em>“AI Servo” would be suitable generally, and I would use centre point AF, yes.</em></strong><br />There is a theory the for a stationary object if shot with continuous shooting and AI Servo mode – there will be images slightly OoF as the AI “hunts” for what it wants as a moving target – I am not sure, I HAVE witnessed exactly these results from a test shoot with 40D mounted on a tripod and a series of three shots fired: images 2 and 3 were <em>slightly</em> OoF. I have never run that test exhaustively, myself. Anyway F/4 or F/5.6 would cover that small OoF error I expect.</p>

<p>I don’t think the image is under-exposed, as the shooting spec - F/2.8 @ 1/1250s @ ISO100 – is ⅓stop overexposure when related to an F/11 Rule: for Top Lit Hard Sunlight. So I expect little, if any underexposure: But yes, the Face is in relative shadow, from the Helmet.</p>

<p>IS turned “ON” should not affect the image, whilst using a monopod.</p>

<p>Continuous Shooting is a matter of personal choice. I rarely use it. That is neither good nor bad – I just don’t like it that much as it throws my timing: the rhythm of the event and or my prediction of the play, I shoot mainly Swimming and Field Hockey, some Gymnastics. Softball Pitching is <em>rhythmic</em> so I would have used use single shot for that particular image.</p>

<p>Evaluative metering – well you need to select some metering mode if you are using any of the Automatic Modes, so Evaluative is “OK” for Field Sports in sunlight.<br />But, taking the image you posted as a sample, if there are no shadows across the whole field and the play was always in Direct Sun overhead (“midday sun”) then F/11 @ 1/ISO @ ISO is good to go for the whole field of play<br />If you set Evaluative metering and an automatic mode you run the risk of your camera’s meter being confused by a very a DARK background on a wide shot, for example.</p>

<p>So if “direct overhead sun” describes your shooting scenario for the whole playing filed I would have set something like:<br /><strong><em>F/4 @ 1/6400s @ ISO800 and I would have left it there.</em></strong></p>

<p>(Note the shooting specs used for P Mead’s “Bowler”, which is shot in similar conditions to your pitcher – though the sun in Peter’s shot a bit post-midday, I expect.)</p>

<p>WW</p>

[connie_wagner]

<p>Everyone thank you so much. ALL of your suggestions are very helpful and appreciated. I have tried shooting AV & TV (for night football games) but am still trying to get the right combination. This softball tournament involved 24 teams and it kept me running between 4 fields so I guess I "cheated" with going with the sports mode instead of experimenting with other settings. I have my own web site (www.cmwactionphotography.net) and have been shooting alot of high school and youth sports the past 3 years but the more I'm getting into it the more I'm not happy with what my results are so I'm constantly reading and trying to learn better techniques. Thanks for all the comments and I will try all of them at next competition. Thank you!</p>

[danielttaubimages]

<p>When I photograph sport, meanly I use old style photography. I started in film photography. Tip, Baseball, Softball ... Questions ... what is the more important part of the game? ... Pitcher ... Catcher ... Hitter , Running bases, Question, is a fixed distance?, answer ... yes ... so ... pre focus manually and shoot, the field is a different story. I use auto focus, but I don't let the camera control the shot, I am in control of the camera and the shot. Try manually focus, pre focus and use preview button for depth of field, try F5.6 and up, don't go over 400 ISO, shutter speed is important, experiment, that's the goody of digital, instant review.</p>

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