Soccer/Baseball question

[drmac]

My son plays soccer and baseball and I routinely take pictures during the game. I have a situation that I need some help with....

I like shooting at 2.8 to get a good DOF and put the focus on the action; however, I have found some shots that the picture I actually liked came from cropping a different point in the frame. (I missed the focused action, but a look on a different players face was priceless). Luckily, in this case I happened to be shooting (accidently) at a higher f-stop and was able to crop the pic.

My concern is that if I shoot at 2.8 routinely, would players near the action (but not the center of the action) be out of focus? (When I say near I mean within 15 feet)

I appreciate your help!

[cpo13]

This should help http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html

[drmac]

Ummmm... I looked at the link (thanks for the help!) and maybe I need to look at the book on basic photography (found at the bottom of the page) first.... I don't quite understand the information....

I will try to learn more......


Again, thanks for the input!

[VladDracule]

Your DOF depends on your lens and the focal length the picture is taken at. at f/2.8 15 feet would be quite OOF. 2.8 will useually be enough just for the action your focusing on any maybe 3 feet away

[cpo13]

The DOF table will allow you to work out what will be in focus depending on the lens, focal length and how far away you are. Put in the focal length of the lens you are using, then select the camera you use, and the table will tell you how much you will have in focus depending on the distance to the action that you are focused on. For example, with a 200mm lens on a 1.6 crop camera (40D), focusing on action 50 ft away will give you about a 2 ft in focus window, (49' near to 51 ft far in the table).

[drmac]

Got it! Great explination!

So, if I am shooting something 30 yards away (at the max) I would have about 10 feet -- correct?

I seems like that becuase the action is fast paced and I am not certain where the action is going to happen one minute to the next that I would do better to set my ISO and use shutter priority mode.... Correct?

[cpo13]

So, if I am shooting something 30 yards away (at the max) I would have about 10 feet -- correct?

Pretty close. Another page on that site has a specific calculator so you can work it out exactly - http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
Fill in 40D/200mm/f2.8/100ft and you get 8.15ft DOF.

I seems like that becuase the action is fast paced and I am not certain where the action is going to happen one minute to the next that I would do better to set my ISO and use shutter priority mode.... Correct?

If you were trying to keep a minimum shutter speed while keeping maximum DOF to give you a chance to get other players sharp then yes, however that's not what most people are looking for in sports shooting. Normally you would be looking for minimum DOF to isolate the main subject while keeping the shutter speed high enough to freeze the action. Av or manual is best for this, as explained by Dennis here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5129927#post5129927

[drmac]

Thank you for your help and time.... I will read the post...

[VladDracule]

yup, i prefere manual mode granted my exposure isnt always perfect because the lighting changing depending on where on the pitch the action is, thats useually easially fixed in PP. if using AV set your iso so you can have a shutter anywhere from 500-1000. at the low end youll get some blur on the ball and fingertips useually around 750 is safe. i tend to hover around 1200-1250 because i shoot girls mostly (soccer) and like to have even their hair frozen so you can see it flying. or course you can adjust that to the age, older players require higher shutter speeds to freeze the action younger can use a slower etc.

[danaitch]

As much as your 'accidental' shots might be priceless, you need to learn from them rather than trying to 'get lucky' again by increasing your depth of field or catering for future 'flukes'..

If you can analyse your shot and think "What just happened?" and "Why is player 'x' reacting in that way?" it'll allow you the opportunity to anticipate it happening again and come on here and say "Look what I just shot!". Sports photography CAN be about luck, but when you know what you're anticipating, and you plan to shoot that exact moment... and catch it, it's the most rewarding thing you can imagine.

It sounds like you've caught some great stuff but next time, do it on purpose and show us all up! :D

[bobbyz]

THis might be interesting to the OP.

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9876296-39.html