Anyone shoot tennis

[Otta]

Hi all , I have been asked to shoot some tennis next week . Could you help please . I will be using a 1dmk2 witha 70 - 200 2.8 is lens . Just wondering how would approach the action shots .Would you use centre focus point with auto expand or ......


Thanks
Otta

[fslshooter]

I've never shot tennis but a lot of baseball and many of the shots probably require similar settings. I suggest you use the center focus point, AI Servo AF, and AV mode. You'll probably want to shoot between f/4 and f/2.8 to minimize background clutter then adjust your ISO as necessary to maintain a shutter speed above 1/500 with 1/1000 to 1/2000 optimal. Be sure and check your histogram from time to time to insure that your exposure is correct. Good luck and let us see your results here.

[jamesonvermaat]

you might use some of the side focus so you can have the player on one side of the frame and the racket and ball in the other half. I like to shoot tight, to get some of the facial expressions

[Croasdail]

I have only shot two tournaments... and found that the fence in the background can cause all kinds of headaches - the camera is naturally drawn to focus on it since it is so near the action at times. Single focus point helps. If I can't get a good location inside the fence, pressing you lens right up to the outside fence and shooting through it works really well. Otherwards, the guidelines FSLSHOOTER gives should work just fine. I shot with a 70-200 2.8, which seemed to work just fine. Just remember to shoot in tight when ever possible. Cheers and good shooting.

[DwightMcCann]

I have shot a pot full of women's college tennis (until the girls all became princesses and no picture was good enough to be displayed ... and of course, no thank you for all the effort!) and some with my 1DmII and 70-200mm f2.8 IS. Be sure you have the AF speed set fast (it comes from the factory set to slow). Be ready to reset the AF point frequently, depending on where you will be shooting from and which side of the net your team is on. You will want to have the target player near the edge with plenty of room for the ball in front of her. Get used to shifting the AF point. Get used to shifting the AF point. Unlike the prosumer models, the 1DmII can autofocus that 70-200mm almost instantly and shouldn't have a back focus problem on the fence if you use a single AF point and get used to shifting it (or did I mention that?)

You didn't mention if this was casual players on someone's home court, serious amateurs at the club or some sort of school or professional tournament. Depending on which, you want to try to get on the court. I often sat in one of the players' chairs to shoot since it was always OK to move between games when they came to sit. If you can get on the courts and there are referees/umpires, etc., be sure to introduce yourself and ask for suggestions and to be advised if you disturb anyone. At the college level there is a lot of flexibility in movement. BUT, turn off that cell phone; don't speak to the players while on the court (you are NOT a coach); don't move onto/off of a court during a point. Normally you can't be on the court behind either player back in a corner ... but you might be able to be near there on the court next door if it is not occupied.

The light is MUCH better for tennis at the same time is it better for other photography, when it is not overhead ... the lower the better if you can shoot from the sunny side ... and always shoot from the sunny side if possible ... while great for some field sports to shoot into the sun and expose for the shadows this generally sucks for tennis. Be wary of white uniforms! Be wary of white uniforms! White uniforms will screw up your auto-exposure, so you may want to do test shots and then shoot manual exposure or shutter priority at 1/500th or better ... although if you take care you can shoot aperature priority using a moderately shallow DOF to put the spectators/fence out of focus. I would think ISO 1000 would be fine.

Finally, don't rely on the 8.5 fps to magically capture the perfect instant ... it won't happen! You'd need 25-30 fps to come close to what you want. So, do practice shots and chimp your brains out working out when you need to press the shutter to capture the ball on the strings or just after! I'm not saying not to use the 8.5 fps ... just appreciate that it won't capture that magic moment for you, honest! Oh, and one last thing ... take all your CF cards along and shoot, shoot, shoot and then shoot more! You never know when the defining ball is going to be struck. Don't come home with any room on any card! SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT!

OK, I know that I repeated myself like an idiot above, but these can be hard lessons to learn. I guarantee that getting good shots is a LOT of work ... even with that amazing machine you're shooting with you will absolutely not get Sports Illustrated images without a lot of work, focus, concentration, frustration and planning and practice and luck. I probably shot 50,000 frames of tennis over six years and I may have gotten ten excellent images ... none of which would have gone on the cover of SI. So work hard and don't set your expectations too high. And ask any questions that come to mind.

[Otta]

a BIG thankyou to you all for help , this is very much appreciated.

I have to shoot on Sunday, I will try and post but not too sure if I can as I shoot for high profile private school in the UK .

Many thanks again , it's so nice to get help from you pros .

Roy

[DwightMcCann]

Well, you didn't ask any questions so I'll just have to keep saying things, eh? Try shooting from lots of angles: standing, sitting on a chair and sitting on the court. Sometimes the low (from sitting on the court) angles get really good images. Ask the referees and both coaches what you can do ... if there's a ladder around see if that's OK. Be inventive but respectful of the coaches and officials ... the players just have to go along with what their respective supervisors say is OK.

If there are women players please do not shoot from low angles during the changeover when they are sitting down ... they don't tend to be ladylike. But do get images of the coach chatting them up during these changeovers ... and get close and personal with head and head/shoulder shots ... after all, you're not there to overhear and report to the opponents so they shouldn't be bothered, particularly if you ask specifically about doing so ahead of time.

Consider taking a wide angle and getting in close behind them when they do their 'team cheer' thing. Standing right behind, holding camera overhead on auto-everything and pointed down into the center can get some very appealing images. Also, attend to those on the team, especially in uniform, that are not playing, whether extranumerary or having completed matches ... it's always nice to have some images of cheering teammates and the sort of comraderie and friendships that team sports can bring ... the girls offend wrap arms around and the guys cluster. Oh, and extra shots of the coaches/officials are often very appreciated.

Did you reset the the AF focus speed? No kidding, this is important and is just one of the CFs (I don't have my camera here so I can't tell you which one) and is easy to do.

Oh, I don't know who you are shooting for ... parents, the school, a paper ... but my experience has been that they really do like the ancillary, not-actual-playing pictures, every bit as much as the action shots.

[blinking8s]

shot ncaa tennis last year, no means a pro at it, but i had some alright shots...

first i went for my saftey shots, serves fully extended, another after the follow through with the facial emotion kickin after the action, backhand returns if i was on the correct side made for solid shots. My favorites were the off court though, when swapping signs/talking to coach, cursing after missing up, arguing over stuff...

late afternoon was def my best light, when the sun was high the shadows breeched of their visors and hats over their face for a ton of useless stuff. I like to shoot from off center, sidelines and get in tight for their facial expressions on the follow through.

I took my 70-200 and my 85 with me, both came in handy.

i never came up with anything awesome, but several were good enough to get published so I assume what little i figured out on my own did the trick.

Serves were the hardest, at 5fps it was next to impossible. I had to time it just right, out of an entire season i had about 3 worthy peak peak action shots...lol...and they wern't great

[Kenya]

I'm going out to shoot a college tennis tournament today and really appreciate the tips. I'm a little worried as I will only be able to shoot from 11 AM until a little after 2 PM on what is forecast to be a mostly sunny day. A couple of questions (for future tournaments): (1) Is the ability to change autofocus speed a feature of the 1D series or found on all canon digital cameras. I have a Canon 350D and couldn't find it. (2) Since I will be shooting when the sun is high in the sky, would it make more sense to take most of my photos from positions sitting in a chair or on the court to get facial shots least obscured by shadows.