1st time at Soccer

1st time at Soccer

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The second image is a nice, standard soccer stock shot and is a good capture. Both images appear to be cropped in quite a bit and over sharpened as the edges, especially around their faces, are not clean.

also seem at at least a third underexposed and very cool on this monitor. action is good so the other stuff can be practiced at the next game.

thanks, it looks a lot different here at work on my monitor vs on laptop at home, and yes they were cropped.. only have a 70-200 hoping to purchase a 300 or 400 some day.. thanks for the comments

JP, here's my advice if only using shorter glass (although it applies to longer glass as well really)...BE PATIENT! Seriously. It sounds so basic but understanding the limits of your gear (including focal length) is critical to making good sports images. Wait for the action to develop around your position as opposed to chasing action around the pitch at distances where you will absolutely have to do huge crops. Even with a 300 and 1.4tc, I plan on covering less than half the pitch generally as I want my subjects to fill the viewfinder as much as possible. Even on my end, I don't shoot much of the opposite side as I lose too much player isolation usually. You'll miss some action and that's okay. I actually use the time I am not shooting to watch and in doing so, I develop a much better sense for how each side is playing which makes me better prepared to anticipate peak action when they are in my "zone". Hopefully that makes sense.

thanks, that is what I did for football, sounds like a great plan for soccer since they are moving so much up and down..

Scott:
What would you do when shooting in poor lighted fields?? I have shot some with higher ISO and then when using lightroom it softens up them with noise reduction.. do you just find a trade off.. were you can keep the sharper images but have noise or what?

I think the trickiest time for lighting is just after the sun begins sinking since stadium lights don't help yet and flash can't overpower the ambient. In those times, I usually shoot more candid stuff around the bench, coaches, maybe a player readying for a corner or throw, or a keeper shouting orders at teammates (always a good one). I do this since I can use slow shutter speeds and thus get good exposure until it gets dark enough for lights and flash. Is that what you mean?

As for noise, I used to get overzealous with NR but over time, I've come to realize that a noisy image with some detail is far better than the soupy images that come from too much NR. I'd use it sparingly and just focus on getting exposure as close as you can with some noise. Bear in mind that sometimes, you simply can't get the light you need and when that happens, stow the gear, kick back, and hope you get to watch a good match. There's always going to be another match to shoot. For my camera (MkII) this typically means that if 1/400, f2.8, 1600ISO isn't getting it done, then I'm packing up. One the flip side, flash does work for soccer and with a hotshoe flash at 1/2 power, I can usually get 1/250, f4, 800ISO with relatively little ghosting (albeit some). Make sure you use second curtain sync if you go this route though.

here's a few samples I dug up where flash was used (exif is intact so you can see settings). you'll see some ghosting in most but the images are still fairly usable.

I totally agree with Scott. As a new shooter you want to get all of the action on the entire field and it's just not going to happen. Be patient as the action will come to you and when you get a couple of players full frame with some decent action, fire away.
I position myself at the end line, near the corner so I can cover the action that takes place in front of the goal to the sideline I'm near. If I can I go to the opposite corner to get some action on that side as well. I then move upfield, just on the otherside of the benches so I can get snaps of the defensive players while they are still facing the camera. After that I move down the field a little more so I can get snaps of the goaltender.
Just relax and let the action happen and it will come your way. Luckily, soccer is two 20 minute halves, at least in high school, so there is plenty of time to get your snaps.

Anderson-Photography wrote in post #11950452
Luckily, soccer is two 20 minute halves, at least in high school, so there is plenty of time to get your snaps.

Even more luckily in most places I've been involved with high school soccer, it's more like 40 minute halves so even more time to get your shots

I'll throw in a differing opinion to Scott - have never liked flashed soccer and will take a noisier high ISO ambient action shot over most with flash. Soccer, especially at high school, is a fast action sport that really needs the higher shutter speeds. Have never liked the ball or limbs as a blur like the keeper shot above.

cpo13 wrote in post #11950952
Even more luckily in most places I've been involved with high school soccer, it's more like 40 minute halves so even more time to get your shots

I'll throw in a differing opinion to Scott - have never liked flashed soccer and will take a noisier high ISO ambient action shot over most with flash. Soccer, especially at high school, is a fast action sport that really needs the higher shutter speeds. Have never liked the ball or limbs as a blur like the keeper shot above.

Ya know. I think you're right. I think they are 40 minute halves. I gotta stop drinking all that cough syrup. Yikes.

thanks for all the input, really like those Scott , thanks Chris that is great advice.. I really like shooting Soccer its such a great fast paced game always lots of action going on