Suggestions for blur on gymnastics pictures

I went and shot a few pictures this past friday evening at an alabama gymnastics meet but i ended up getting some blur in the shots, i was shooting across the gym floor in my seats so i am hoping that is the main problem. The other problem is they do not allow a lens over 6 inches so i took a canon 2.8 200mm prime lens. Anyway what would you suggest. Higher iso? I think all of my image info should be in the pictures

Most of the shots look pretty sharp outside of hands and feet and things like that.

The slower moving parts of the body are nice and crisp, it's the hands/feet and heads that are sometimes blurred and they will be moving substantially faster, so that is why they are blurred. Shoot with a faster shutter speed next time to entirely "freeze" the action.

You need to get your shutter speed up. I would up your ISO without hesitation, especially as you are using a 5DII.

When I shoot basketball I can't get away with less than 3200 ISO, the light is just horrible in most gyms.

Yah, one click up on speed, and probably one click up on ISO.

thanks, i will give that a try next time

I see the same hand/feet motion blur shooting basketball at 1/640. I guess to completely freeze all motion, you'd need something like 1/1000-1250. And it's really hard to see shutter speeds that high shooting indoors. Heck, I'd need ISO 32000 to see that at most HS gyms!

As someone else pointed out, you've got the important body parts (face, torso) in great focus with current settings. If it's imperative to stop motion in the hands and feet, by all means raise ISO until you reach 1/1000 or faster on the shutter.

dave

dave

the longer your lens is the faster shutter speed you need. to freeze the action with a 200mm i think 1/400 doesn't do the trick with this sport. but at 1/800 you shouldn't have any problems

rady wrote in post #12017670
the longer your lens is the faster shutter speed you need. to freeze the action with a 200mm i think 1/400 doesn't do the trick with this sport. but at 1/800 you shouldn't have any problems

Not sure if you meant that somehow focal length and a shutter speed needed to freeze action were somehow tied, so excuse the following if that wasn’t your intent! Generally speaking, longer lenses require a faster shutter to prevent camera shake induced blur. The loose "rule" is 1/focal length (200 MM lens = shoot 1/200 or higher), some toss in a little fuzzy math to figure in the camera’s crop factor, but in truth, since it is not a hard fast rule it doesn't matter too much. The individual and the environment come in to play more than the rule. In comes the advent of IS to help here... A fast shutter is needed to freeze action, of course, but that depends entirely on the action and not your lenses focal length. If you need 1/800 to achieve the result you want, it would hold true whether you were shooting at 70 MM or 300 MM lens.

On the shots, they are great captures IMHO. I would say they should be a little brighter if anything, maybe by a full stop. You were in AV mode with -EC dialed in. Not sure if you meant to have the -EC dialed in, but it was there. If you want to completely freeze action, AV is not the mode to use! Use TV, or M to have positive control of the shutter speed would have been better. Just judging by the pics, I think I would have shot Manual, 1/800 – 1/1000 with an ISO of 6400.

I will most likely try manual next time and see what happens, it was my first time trying and was not sure what to expect at all and plan on getting in me 70-200 IS lens next time after seeing a few people with those and think the stabilization may also help. I did move the EC because i thought some of the pictures did not look right

Doemasters wrote in post #12018718
I will most likely try manual next time and see what happens, it was my first time trying and was not sure what to expect at all and plan on getting in me 70-200 IS lens next time after seeing a few people with those and think the stabilization may also help. I did move the EC because i thought some of the pictures did not look right

Well again, the IS will only help in removing camera shake induced blur caused by shooting at a shutter speed slower than the focal length the lens (1/FL). It will do absolutely nothing for you to stop subject motion blur. For IS, think electronic tripod. If you’re shooting with a shutter fast enough to freeze action of that (advanced) level of gymnastics, then all IS will do is eat batteries faster. Your 200 MM prime is a better choice unless you needed to go wider.

I would say you have some pretty good shots already. A simple ISO increase and shutter speed bump next time and you'll be getting well frozen shots.

BTW, the IS version of the 70-200 is sought by sports photographers more for the image quality improvement rather than the actual help of the IS system since IS does nothing for fast sports shooting at shutter speeds 1/200 and above.

Thanks again, I will keep practicing and use this advice