College Lacrosse Game today

[Subfightersandman]

Here are some pics from a College Lacrosse Today let me know what you think. C&C welcom.
Roshan

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5598.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5630.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_56682.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5670.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5710.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5702.jpg

[ChrisRabior]

You did a pretty good job of getting the players' faces, so for that I give a thumbs up. The exposure looks off for most of them, and they're not as tack sharp as what you'd hope they could be. The first one looks OOF.

Lacrosse is hard to shoot.. usually not the best light, very fast moving subjects, and action that can move from one side of the field to the other in a matter of a second or two.

From your EXIF, I see you were shooting ISO 400 and f/8. If it was me, I'd bump that to f/5.6 and get a faster shutter out of it. I can't speak for the Tamron 75-300 for focus speed, but I'm guessing it's not as fast as you'd like it to be. If you're serious about shooting sports, you'll probably find you want to pick up an f/4 or f/2.8 telephoto lens.

[Subfightersandman]

Thanks for the Reply Chris yeah the lense does not focus to fast which is why some may seem soft, these pics are also compressed alot all of the ones that i posted are very sharp except for the first one on the original file.

The reason i was shooting at f/8 was to stop it down a bit to get sharper images, i usually shoot a around F/4.5 but i wanted to try f/8 today. I will upgrade to a much better zoom when i can afford one in the mean time the tamron will have to do.

Are these pics underexposed? I tried to adjust them to what i thought was good in RAW therapee the histograms looked good, give me some tips on this please.

Thanks Roshan

[Subfightersandman]

a couple more
http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5714.jpg

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll466/subfightersandman/IMG_5670-1.jpg

[Mk1Racer]

I'll be shooting my son's lacrosse games this Spring w/ a 40D / 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM so I'm looking for pointers as well. This will be my first venture into a DSLR, but I shot film for years. That's a tough environment, w/ the late-day, low sun. I'm also inclined to agree w/ you that they're a tad underexposed, and a bit too much contrast in the ones w/ the stands in the background. All in all, looks like you're on the right track.

Oh, and #18 should have been whistled for warding in #1 ;)

[aram535]

Four suggestion:

1. Get down on one knee. Try shooting at a slightly up angle. Makes the players look bigger and get you a nicer background than the bleechers.
2. Assuming you want to take nice game shots, and not trying to cover the game for the school paper -- Take your time, you can get very nice sharp images if you let the play come to you. If you stand anywhere on the field at some point the game will come to you.
3. Make sure the sun is either at your back or at a slight angle to your back. That will give you a little more light to work with. I looks like you moved to a bunch of places even opposite the sun (#1) -- which is pretty much a no-no -- specially with suggestion #1.
4. Shoot more verticals -- it isolates the player. Amazing - if you can get the ball, basket and eye to both be all in focus.

[troybal]

Four suggestion:

1. Get down on one knee. Try shooting at a slightly up angle. Makes the players look bigger and get you a nicer background than the bleechers.
2. Assuming you want to take nice game shots, and not trying to cover the game for the school paper -- Take your time, you can get very nice sharp images if you let the play come to you. If you stand anywhere on the field at some point the game will come to you.
3. Make sure the sun is either at your back or at a slight angle to your back. That will give you a little more light to work with. I looks like you moved to a bunch of places even opposite the sun (#1) -- which is pretty much a no-no -- specially with suggestion #1.
4. Shoot more verticals -- it isolates the player. Amazing - if you can get the ball, basket and eye to both be all in focus.


I am shooting some lacrosse tomorrow, so thanks for the tips. It will be my first time as well.

[Subfightersandman]

thanks for the tips aram535 these will be very helpful for next time, i did realize taking them with the sun to my back usually produced the best pics.

Do u suggest not moving around so much?

[Subfightersandman]

I'll be shooting my son's lacrosse games this Spring w/ a 40D / 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM so I'm looking for pointers as well. This will be my first venture into a DSLR, but I shot film for years. That's a tough environment, w/ the late-day, low sun. I'm also inclined to agree w/ you that they're a tad underexposed, and a bit too much contrast in the ones w/ the stands in the background. All in all, looks like you're on the right track.

Oh, and #18 should have been whistled for warding in #1 ;)


Yeah the ref was behind them so he could not see him, its funny i have several pics of various penalties that the refs did not catch lots of slashing

[aram535]

thanks for the tips aram535 these will be very helpful for next time, i did realize taking them with the sun to my back usually produced the best pics.

Do u suggest not moving around so much?

Well I do move with the offense, so I can catch the best angle of the players facing me -- I usually stand either parallel to the goal on the side line (specially for the men's game) Or about 3-4 feet in from the back line so I include the goal/golie in the frame.

As far as moving more from that spot -- I don't. I like letting the game come to me. I have a 300mm f/2.8 so I can cover about 1/2 of the field without a TC. When I have my second body with me, I usually put a 1.4TC on this and use a 24-105 f/4 or 70-200 f/2.8 (depending on light) on the other body. That gives me pretty good range up and down the field (about three quarters of it anyway).

[aram535]

Yeah the ref was behind them so he could not see him, its funny i have several pics of various penalties that the refs did not catch lots of slashing

Just a word of caution, you never want to show your pictures to the Ref, players, or coaches. The party line is "Nope, sorry didn't get that or sorry I was shooting their face." It's a cardinal rule -- one that should never be broken.

[Subfightersandman]

Just a word of caution, you never want to show your pictures to the Ref, players, or coaches. The party line is "Nope, sorry didn't get that or sorry I was shooting their face." It's a cardinal rule -- one that should never be broken.

do u mean if there is a judgment call to be made, or just in general, because I gave a few of these images to the coach to be put on the team website.

[eigga]

do u mean if there is a judgment call to be made, or just in general, because I gave a few of these images to the coach to be put on the team website.

I think he is talking about DURING the game. On close plays or objectional calls you will get asked at some point.

[aram535]

During a game for "instant-replay" purposes.

Personally I wouldn't even give the team a shot that contained an obvious foul or injury (i.e. Face mask during a football game).

[namasste]

Aram has offered some very solid advice here, both shooting and etiquette wise. The other thing that happens is that as you learn to be patient and let things come to you, you can actually see the players begin to fill your viewfinder and as they do, you'll be able to create more dramatic shots.

[Subfightersandman]

thanks a lot guys this has been a very helpful thread

[ChrisRabior]

Lots of great advice. Of course, the only way to improve is to keep on shooting. Here's an example of something I shot with a Rebel XT and the 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III (the non IS, non USM version). Not very good composition, no good shots of the players faces, and kind of cluttered, but it goes to show what you can get even with the slower lenses. Be mindful of your available light, and you'll get much better results. Realistically, your chance of getting keepers is going to go down more and more as it gets darker out, and that has a lot to do with forgetting to adjust as it's getting darker (your eyes will trick you). Fortunately for this shot, it was mid-day in the summer, so light was plentiful =)

http://chrisrabior.smugmug.com/photos/328179214_uBmjx-M.jpg
Details of the shot:
1/2000s @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 300mm focal length
Team England vs. Team Iroquois @ 2006 World Lax Championships

[aram535]

Sadly you need 3200 ISO with f/2.8 to get even close to 1/500 during night games in the Stony Brook Stadium. It depends on the lights being used but most of the time it is a struggle. After all that I need to run the images through noise ninja to get them close to being usable. Good thing that most of the time I don't need much resolutions (web output only).

[troybal]

Sadly you need 3200 ISO with f/2.8 to get even close to 1/500 during night games in the Stony Brook Stadium. It depends on the lights being used but most of the time it is a struggle. After all that I need to run the images through noise ninja to get them close to being usable. Good thing that most of the time I don't need much resolutions (web output only).
For my first shooting yesterday, I had 2 games to do, the 2nd ran into the night. I was pushing 1/500, f/2.8, 3200 and I am not to happy with the results so far. I am just going through them now. But it is tough shooting with that. I shot with a 70-200 mm f2.8.