Pop Warner Questions/Tips?

[mrerico]

Hey fellow POTN members!

I was asked by a friend of mine, who coaches pop warner, to come out and take pictures for next years season. Now before I gave him an answer I told him I would let him know a little before new year's just so I can make a good decision. My question for POTN is what should I expect while taking pictures of pop warner football? I have never shot football before and don't know if my equipment is capable. I am sure it is but it could be a real stretch. I own a Canon 1D classic, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8 NON IS. Although I do not have a monopod I plan on buying one if I do decide to take pictures for pop warner.

To make it easier I will just number questions so POTN can help me with ease :P

1) Will my equipment be enough?
2) Where are some key positions other photog's usually seek out?
3) Is flash equipment allowed for night games? Do refs, players, etc get mad when the photographer uses strobes?
4) Do you guys have any tips/advise for me?





Thanks POTN, hope to hear from you guys/gals soon!



-Eric

[clarence]

Yes, if those are your hockey and paintball pics on flickr, then you can certainly handle Pop Warner.

1) Yes. The 70-200/2.8 will be ideal.
2) Low.
3) Whole new world. Ask locally about using flash. Aren't most Pop Warner games during the day?
4) AI Servo focus. Separate focus and shutter button if you can. Zoom tight, crop tighter. Try to get eyes. Try to get ball. Try to get conflict. Keep shutter speeds ~1/500" or faster. Sacrifice ISO if necessary... noise removal is easier/better than motion blur. Kneel/sit/lay on the ground. Wide open aperture to bokeh out the distracting backgrounds and get fastest shutter speeds.

[Mark]

1) for footy I always have found my 70-200 too short even with a 1.4x....
I would go 300 f4 and 1.4, or just go with a 300 2.8 and 1.4x and 2x if you have the cash :D
2)For footy, I just generally try to get the bounce down, and then just general play anywhere....
3) a footy field is way way to big to use flash, unless you have some super super strobes, and lots of them :D
4) AI servo, Back button focus, frame tightly as possible, get the faces and ball as much as possible, wide open in Av or M, keep the shutter speed high, but feel free to drop it down if you want to do something fancy (blur the foot/ball slightly when kicking etc..) generally between 500-1000 is good, just adjust the ISO so it falls in that range, don't want it too high, because then you are wasting ISO... (IE, 1/600 at iso 800 is better than 1/2400 at ISO 3200...)

[wyofizz]

The 70-200 will be fine. A 1.4X comes in handy but isn't necessary.
I don't know the exact dimensions but the field doesn't appear to be as wide as a jr high or HS football field. The action is always a lot closer.

Dave

[Mark]

I just read that and thought something along the lines of "what are you thinking" Then I realised that the OP is in the USA, and must be refering to NFL, not AFL.... D'OH :) Disregard my previous post, wrong sport :)

[chris270]

I shot for the local pop warner team here all summer with the canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM and a 1.4 TC. It was more then enough if you stayed a little ahead of the offense. You can check out the galleries by clicking on the pic.

http://www.rochesterccphotography.com/photos/390305064_E2oBE-M-2.jpg (http://www.rochesterccphotography.com/Sports/577988)

[AB8ND]

Your 70-200 f/2.8 should be fine, you just need to wait for action to come close to you. You won't get nice tight shots in the middle of the field, a 300mm would be great, but in that respect a flash won't carry that far either. I won't worry about IS or even a monopod, remember it is more about the players that are moving fast not so much you moving the camera. You should be fine using a flash, but that can depend on the officials, coaches and even the parents think, some don't care others might think you are interfering. There was thread on POTN, where a flash was mounted under the camera on a monopod connected with the canon cable. Back in the film days my fellow newspaper stringers and staff shooters used to figure football was f/2.8 at 1/250 pushing TriX to ASA(I'm old) 1600.
I'd go for it, you will probably have a ball shooting and learn some new tricks along the way

jack

[MJPhotos24]

1) Will my equipment be enough?
It will limit you as you'll have to wait for the action to come to you. However, many NFL shooters use the 70-200 for football. It's on my second body, when I use it. Take a look at this story about Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller. As you can see he's trying to capture the entire scene, not something you'll have at pop warner and many parents will want isolated shots of there kids.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news_story.html?id=1719

2) Where are some key positions other photog's usually seek out?
It depends what you're shooting - are you going after defensive shots or offensive. So it's either behind or in front of the action. Once they get closer to the end zone you can shoot from behind the goal line so the action is coming at you. One thing you may notice if they do it in this league is the coaches on the fields for the younger guys, so you need to watch your backgrounds.

3) Is flash equipment allowed for night games? Do refs, players, etc get mad when the photographer uses strobes?
Strobes and flash are two different things...sometimes coaches/officials will not allow the use of flash, however, that doesn't happen much in football as it's not distracting for them. Does happen in other sports like volleyball and basketball where they don't want direct flash.

4) Do you guys have any tips/advise for me?
Don't get run over by the future Dallas Clark.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2114

[mrerico]

MJPhotos24 - Thanks for the helpful advice and links. Very interesting.

AB8ND - No monopod? Why not? So many people tell me to get one for sports. And most of the time I find it necessary for some occasions.

chris270 - Did the 1.4 teleconverter slow down the autofocus at all for you? Or is that only with the 2x teleconverter?

wyofizz - I do plan on checking out the fields before I give my answer to committing a full season of shooting.

pendulum15 - Holy cow man! Haha I am not extremely wealthy I can't afford something like a 300mm f/2.8. But...how do you think the 100-400mm lense would do? It wouldn't be too much of a light hog would it? Or should I just stick with looking towards prime lenses for image quality?




Thanks again POTN for all your answers/tips. It's really appreciated.

[chris270]

chris270 - Did the 1.4 teleconverter slow down the autofocus at all for you? Or is that only with the 2x teleconverter?


I heard the 2x may make the af work a little harder, but the 1.4 didn't make a difference in the af to me.

[wyofizz]

Ref: 1.4X focus speed.
My 1.4X on the MK2N & MK3 is great.
I found it a little sluggish on the 40D with the 70-200 IS 2.8 however.

Dave

[G7-EOS]

End zone positioning allows for more opportunities for players moving toward the camera, but depending on the age/skill level, they may not be spending much time near those end zones.

This was the first year I shot sophmore football from the sidelines. I used the 70-200 non-IS and was pleased with the reach for the most part. I stayed ahead of the action by 10-20 yards so that I was in postion for approaching play. I did use the 1.4x for our one day game and was happy with that also. All the other games started with sunlight but ended in the dark. The monopod makes a noticeable difference if shooting night games.

[AB8ND]

I feel way to restricted with a monopod, with a 200mm I just don't think they help that much. Plus, if a play comes close and I need to bug out I don't want to be dragging a big stick that a player could run into and get hurt.


AB8ND - No monopod? Why not? So many people tell me to get one for sports. And most of the time I find it necessary for some occasions.

jack

[eigga]

Required focal length and field access are tied together pretty close. I have never had issue getting the run of the sidelines at this age level. I just talk to the umpire before the game. With the acess you have your equipment is fine to get great images.

I would suggest getting the 300 f/4 if you were going to add a lens. I have found the 1.4 to slow down focus beyond what I find acceptable for everything except the 300 2.8.

Most pro sports togs use a monopod for football, of course most of them have a 300, 400 or 500 lens and handhold the 70-200. If you want it get it, its really an easy tool to use.