Night time football

[themadcow]

This is my first post and I am new to these posting boards.. I enjoy reading all the great info here...

My question is I have a night football game coming this saturday.. I shoot football during the day but never at night..
Flash is not allowed , it is a high level pop warner game..level A so they are quick..
the field looks well lit.. better than some fields I have been to..
I have A 40d, 70-200 2.8 IS
My question is what should I start with for settings? What will stop the action for SS..1/500??
I would asume ISO all the to 1600??
Shoot in tv mode??
Any sugestions would be most greatly appreciated

[TeamSpeed]

Shoot in ISO 3200, set EC to +1/3 to compensate for added noise levels, go to Tv mode and set your desired shutter speed. 1/500 may not be enough to stop all the action though.

I would start with this, then maybe lower EC accordingly until you get the shutter speed you want. You may have to raise brightness/exposure later and then do some heavy noise removal, it all depends on the lights. If you find you have more than enough shutter speed at these settings, then lower the ISO to 1600, again playing with EC of 1/3 or 2/3 either way of 0.

Also shoot Raw + JPG, this way if your JPGs are not good enough, you can go back to the raws and salvage more of the image.

This is how I start to shoot hockey, and I get there for practice so I can practice before the game. Hockey is more forgiving though, the ice acts like a giant diffuser/reflector, the football field is just the opposite.

[timbop]

great advice from teamspeed. All I can add is that 1/400 is an absolute minimum, and 1/640 or faster preferred. My daughter's soccer fields are extremely well lit, and I have to up the ISO to 5000 on my 7d to get shutter speeds of 1/640 @ f/2.8. As teamspeed said, get there for the previosu game/practice to find out if there are hotspots and bad shadows, as well as if you are going to get the shutter speed you need. I find that the middle portion is often a stop or more brighter than the ends/sidelines. Also, make sure to take a white piece of paper or greycard if you have one, and set custom white balance ahead of time. It will save you tons of PP time to set a custom white balance before shooting. I use spot metering and 0 EC, but my daughter's team has dark uniforms

[themadcow]

I will have to look up where to find ISO 3200.. I thought I had read it is the same as 1600.. somewhere.. thankyou hockey is my next task.. but hopefully I can maybe use strobes there..

[TeamSpeed]

I will have to look up where to find ISO 3200.. I thought I had read it is the same as 1600.. somewhere.. thankyou hockey is my next task.. but hopefully I can maybe use strobes there..

Hockey is easier.

Set your custom function to allow expanded ISO. 3200 is just interpolated 1600 where the camera handles the -1/+1 for you. If you shoot 1600, you can set your EC to -1, then take your raw files and add +1 to the exposure/brightness, and you have effectively shot ISO 3200. Using the camera setting is just easier if you shoot JPG, it saves the raw post processing.

If you shoot in raw anyways though, then it is not that big a deal to shoot ISO 1600 EC-1 and bring it back out later.

[themadcow]

TY.. Yes I always set the custom WB the teams I shoot have a lot of white in them... nothing worse than a white uniform looking grey or off white..
I was thinking 640 might be able to stop the action.. I know I will loose alot of images due to blur..
thank you for great tips..

[themadcow]

Can I use light room to get rid of noise when I use an ISO so high?? I normally shoot Jpeg I don't have much experiance with the raw files

[timbop]

I don't have lightroom, but in photoshop I use a plugin from neat image. There are several other NR plugins out there, and they do a better job than CS4's native NR IMHO

[themadcow]

I aso just saw the forcast for sat night ... It says rain.... will this have any effect??

[timbop]

I aso just saw the forcast for sat night ... It says rain.... will this have any effect??

Do you have a rainsleeve or similar camera protecter? If not, I would suggest not shooting in the rain. If you do, then it shouldn't impact the lights too much, depending upon how heavy the downpour is.

[timbop]

I think this got moved to the wrong forum.....

[themadcow]

Oh my I think it did as well.... I have used plastic bags in the past.. I know its not very professional... but it does work...

[TeamSpeed]

Wow, is this nude football, like powderpuff? :)

[themadcow]

looks like they fixed the posting subject..

[slimenta]

I would be surprised if those settings will work unless you have very good lights. I shoot with a 200 2L at ISO 4000, 2.0 on AV getting shutter speeds of 1/200 to 1/500. If you shoot with RAW + JPEG your buffer will fill quickly. I would simply shoot in RAW.

[TeamSpeed]

I would be surprised if those settings will work unless you have very good lights. I shoot with a 200 2L at ISO 4000, 2.0 on AV getting shutter speeds of 1/200 to 1/500. If you shoot with RAW + JPEG your buffer will fill quickly. I would simply shoot in RAW.

Completely depends on the lighting, which none of us can guess at, and what size CF cards madcow has. The settings I suggested are about as good as you will get on the 40D. Sure you can shoot at ISO 3200 and push your EC down into the negative stops, but the shots will really be noisy.

I shot this with the 7D at 1/100 using ISO 6400 under parking lot lights. Hopefully the football fields have much better lighting!

http://teamspeed.smugmug.com/CHS-Band-2009-2010/CHS-Band-at-Chesterton/IMG3864/684409283_wcxG3-L.jpg

[slimenta]

Obviously light dependent. On my best HS field I shoot 3200-4000.

http://www.sportsactiondigital.com/High-School-Football/Football-Latin-v-Christian-10/9831326_vPFmc#668209094_TJVx6

[J.Napier]

Completely depends on the lighting, which none of us can guess at, and what size CF cards madcow has. The settings I suggested are about as good as you will get on the 40D. Sure you can shoot at ISO 3200 and push your EC down into the negative stops, but the shots will really be noisy.

I shot this with the 7D at 1/100 using ISO 6400 under parking lot lights. Hopefully the football fields have much better lighting!

http://teamspeed.smugmug.com/CHS-Band-2009-2010/CHS-Band-at-Chesterton/IMG3864/684409283_wcxG3-L.jpg
TeamSpeed,
This is a sweet shot with some awsome DOF, the only thing (IMHO) would be a tight verticle crop. Just my .02, and sorry to get OT but that is MONEY! Just had to say something.

[TeamSpeed]

TeamSpeed,
This is a sweet shot with some awsome DOF, the only thing (IMHO) would be a tight verticle crop. Just my .02, and sorry to get OT but that is MONEY! Just had to say something.

Thanks, I wish I was making money on this, but all pictures were for the school band program, and they could do whatever they wanted. I had already spent alot of time taking and processing the shots through 4 different events. Thanks for the idea though, in the future, I will have to think about different crop potentials!