First Time Shooting Night Football, Comments Please

[alonzo76ok]

Hello everyone,
Here is my first attempt at shooting a night high school football game I used a Canon 20D and shot with a 550EX Flash at 1/4 power and a Canon 70-200 L IS Lens Non IS. Comments and Tips Please.

[dmwierz]

Alonzo,

Welcome to the challenge of night football. Your action captured is good. Nice tight shot on the first one, and good "pose" on the second. You could probably lose the opposing players on the second shot, or at least the far left one, since they're OOF anyway.

The shots look a little soft, though. I tried to save them and extract the EXIF data but you must have "saved for web" 'cuz there was no EXIF. What shutter speeds are you using? Is the first shot a crop of a larger image?

Dennis
http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/sports_shots

[alonzo76ok]

First shot is cropped just a little.
Shoot at ISO 800 f2.8, 1/400 sec.

[davidmigl]

#1 - Love the tightness and expression. Good job on capturing some fast-fleeting action.

#2 - Again, another nice shot. Way to get the entire player in. I say keep the opposing players - the subject is grimacing and looking at them, providing a context for the picture. It could go either way, though.

[cbock]

both are really nice shots. wonderful for night football!

[alonzo76ok]

Thanks, I'm going to try it again this friday night. We have a chance for rain this friday so that will add another element I need to overcome. I'll post my photos on Saturday morning. Thanks for the comments.

[sugarzebra]

Great job Alonzo....the classic pose in the second shot is excellent.