Swim meet

[mknabster]

I'm on my school's newspaper and the swim team, and since this is my school's first year having a team, my editors want me to get some good shots of the swim meets. Tonight we had one, and my dad took some shots for me since i couldn't because of my events. I looked at them later, and they were all black. It was shot in RAW at 1/2000 in Tv mode. He told me that the pixels were dancing around when he was taking the pictures on the LCD. I'm guessing that was from the heat up there. If not, what could that be from? And another question, can anyone give me some tips so i can take the pics myself, like is the speed he chose a good one, and should i use a flash?

[magicmikey]

You'll need to give us some more details. Am I correct in assuming you're talking about an indoor swim meet? If so, what's the lighting like in there?

I took lots of swim shots at outdoor meets and never used more than 1/500 of a second for the shutter speed. If your father was shooting indoors at 1/2000 of a second, that would explain the black photos. They're probably way underexposed.

Depending on the lighting, you might have to use a flash to get the proper exposure.

As for tips on getting better photos of swimmers, here's a few things I figured out. First, try to reduce shutter lag as much as possible by using a preset white balance or a manual white balance and by using the camera in the manual mode and pre-focus. If you use auto white balance, that's one more thing the camera will calculate before taking the shot.

It's the same thing with using manual exposure rather than auto exposure. In the AV or TV mode, the camera meters the scene first and then sets the shutter speed or aperture. I would use shutter priority (TV) during warm-ups to get the proper exposure settings and then switched to manual mode for the actual meet. (As the lighting changed since I was outdoors, I would adjust the camera's settings from time to time.)

You'll want to pre-focus on the area where the swimmer will be and push the shutter release button as soon as the swimmer hits the area.

Finally, the burst mode can be very useful for getting a good shot. You have to anticipate when to take the shot and squeeze off 3 - 4 frames. I got some great diving shots that way.

[lefturn99]

You need to read up on half-pressing to see if you are exposed properly. 1/2000 indoors is insane. There is no way there is enough light. If you would half press and look in the upper left of the LCD, you would see a red 2.0. The 2.0 means the camera set the widest aperture possible and the red means that it could not go far enough to acheive proper exposure. You need to keep reducing the shutter speed until the number is white. That tells you it is in range and is properly exposed.

[mknabster]

Yea, the lighting was really bad in there, and yes, these are all indoor meets. I am going to be getting the 430 EX tomorrow for my G6 tomorrow, so i'll have that to work with. Since it has 2 fps, i'll probably use that too. Would i still be able to get 1/2000 w/ the 430? Thanks for the advice guys!

[rabidcow]

Most schools don't allow flash for swim meets, at least in my area. I just stick to f/2.8, 1/200 and ISO 800-1600.

[lefturn99]

Rabidcow, we appreciate the reply, but if you would notice the forum you posted in, you would realize there are no 800 or 1600 settings on a G series camera.

I'm surprised that you can stick to one setting at an event. You must have very consistent lighting to do that and you must only take pictures in one place. I typically have to adjust my settings for different shots.

Mknabster, even the 430ex is not going to let you use 1/2000. For one thing, the flash dies out with distance, so you are not going to have consistent shots.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. If you want the fastest PROPERLY EXPOSED shutter speed, switch to Av and open the aperture up. Set the ISO to 400. Half press and the camera will tell you the shutter speed. Be advised this will cause other problems (lots of ugly noise and shallow depth of field), but you will have the fastest reasonable shutter speed for the chosen exposure compensation. Then you will need to back off the ISO and aperture until you can live with the results. Indoors, I would be very surprised if you can achieve 1/200 without major compromises.

Does this mean you can't get each individual droplet in the splash razor sharp? Well, probably. But frozen water isn't much good if the pic is black.

[JX]

Natatoriums probably have the worst lighting conditions that you will ever experience for High School and Youth Sports. Trying to take pictures at 1/2000 at f/2 will give you black images. Typically I shoot at 1/250 at f2.8 with the ISO pushed to 1600. Although, I am not familiar with your camera.

You can use a flash with two exceptions: no flash during diving and no flash until the swimmers are off the block and in the water. The starting devices use a strobe and a buzzer so using a flash while the swimmers are on the block could trigger a false start. Here is an image I took recently.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...4&d=1134957352

[rabidcow]

Oops! sorry about that. I was just trying to help.

As for shutter speed, 1/200 is the slowest that I go for sports in general, I have been fortunate enough to get good results at 1/500 in some situations, but 1/200 is my "walking in" shutter speed.

[mknabster]

Ok, thanks guys, i'll remember these settings when i take pics at the next meet. It'll be a learning experince for me. I'll post a few pics when the next one comes around. Thanks again!