First Attempt at Junior HS Football

Hi guys,

I was not going to post these as I do not think they are that great, however some of the parents were very fond of them . Anyways, this is my very first attempt at shooting sports/action photography and I hope to get better and hopefully with more practice I should see some better results. My one downfall was that I was not able to lock focus during any action sequence and I want to be able to get players facial expressions while in motion. Also, I was not allowed to shoot behind the touchdown zone for some type of restriction the school had so I was limited to only shooting from sidelines.

Gear Used:

5D II
Canon 70-200 f2.8 MK II with canon 2.0 extender MK II
Monopod

1)

Well, you stripped out the exif information so we can't see your camera settings. Those are all candidates for the bit bucket because they are soft. Not sure what you were doing.

Personally, I think you should shoot tighter and concentrate on getting the primary player's face...and ball...and action.

Unless you have good bright sunlight, you probably need to skip the extender and shoot the game when it comes to you and forget about the far off action.

Also, I tend to shoot in portrait orientation a lot.

Good luck and keep on shooting.
Post the exif info if you still have it on your original images.

MT Stringer wrote in post #13167418
Personally, I think you should shoot tighter and concentrate on getting the primary player's face...and ball...and action.

Unless you have good bright sunlight, you probably need to skip the extender and shoot the game when it comes to you and forget about the far off action.

Also, I tend to shoot in portrait orientation a lot.

Good luck and keep on shooting.
Post the exif info if you still have it on your original images.

Good Advice.

Focus is tough with the 2x. Are you shooting Servo Focus, Karim? I ask because you mention 'lock focus' in your original post and the focus won't/can't 'lock' when you are continually focusing on a moving athlete in Servo Focus.

Phil

do a google search for Peter Read Millers tips for shooting football. They are somewhere on Canons website. That will give you some ideas of what to look for. Shooting football is probably 40% planning and 60% luck. You have to plan what you want to try and shoot, then hope the play calling works out.

Image #1 doesn't really show anything because everyone has their back to you. In #2 I am going to guess that the quarterback (4) had his pass blocked. The problem is that the shot just shows a guy up in the air and the ball not "in flight". I am guessing thata frame or two before would have gotten the block. Capturing that moment is just somethng that comes with shooting more.

As was mentioned above, it doesn't look like you were using the focus tracking and that is a must for sports action. Additionally you may find limitations using the 5D mark II for action because the focusing speed and burst mode are much slower than cameras designed for sports. I know photographers that shoot the NFL that tried usng the 5DmkII and they said it can be done, but you don't get near as many usable images.

Look at this as a starting point and keep shooting..

number 2 is probably your best one out of these, it's really hard to capture a field goal block attempt, and I think you did a fine job of it. given these are in daylight, however, you need to consider your dof. I think that is what makes these images nice snap shots, but there is room for improvement. smaller aperture will get more of your image in focus, but you are going to have to bump the iso to keep your shutter speed as well.

once it gets dark, shooting wide open is really the only choose you have, and presents more challenges, but when there is light, you have to take advantage of it!

keep shooting, and find out what works best for you. given yout equipment, I think you can do better.

I appreciate all the advice and I will shoot without the extender next time which will be tomorrow.

I was pretty much shooting at 400-800 shutter speed and because I was using the extender, I was not able to get 2.8 aperture as the lowest I could get was 5.6. ISO was around 800-1600 most of the times.

I think I just need to plan ahead as to what and who I really want to foucs on. Speaking of foucs, I was using AI Servo mode which I believe is what I should be using to shoot moving subjects and using Auto foucs centre point only and continous mode.

As sch_Photo mentioned above, I will let this be a starting point for me and hopefully be able to get better results the more I shoot.

Here's a couple of thoughts...
1) Zoom out to 200 and don't change it. You are already short on focal length so keep it there, unless the play comes right to your sideline. Then shoot and run!
2) Pick a spot say the corner of the team box and the sideline at the 25 yd line. Shoot whoever comes into your window of opportunity at about the near hash marks to your side of the field.
3) Try to isolate individuals instead of getting the whole "gang".
4) If you are just shooting your team, do all the above and shoot offense when they are coming at you or defense when they are facing you.
5) No backs! If you can't see their face, fagetaboutit!

Here is a sample gallery consisting of shots I try to get every game.
Humble @ Sterling

Note: All images captured with a 7D and 300 f/2.8.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Mike

MT Stringer wrote in post #13171951
Here's a couple of thoughts...
1) Zoom out to 200 and don't change it. You are already short on focal length so keep it there, unless the play comes right to your sideline. Then shoot and run!
2) Pick a spot say the corner of the team box and the sideline at the 25 yd line. Shoot whoever comes into your window of opportunity at about the near hash marks to your side of the field.
3) Try to isolate individuals instead of getting the whole "gang".
4) If you are just shooting your team, do all the above and shoot offense when they are coming at you or defense when they are facing you.
5) No backs! If you can't see their face, fagetaboutit!

Here is a sample gallery consisting of shots I try to get every game.
Humble @ Sterling

Note: All images captured with a 7D and 300 f/2.8.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Mike

Thank you Mike for the pointers I will definitely keep that in mind for next game. I also looked at your site and your shots look very good. Hopefully in my next posting there will be some improvements and I will avoid backs as much as possible .

Cheers,
Karim.

Karim1980 wrote in post #13171859
--
I was pretty much shooting at 400-800 shutter speed and because I was using the extender, I was not able to get 2.8 aperture as the lowest I could get was 5.6. ISO was around 800-1600 most of the times.--

with good day time light, I would lower the ISO under 400 and up the shutter speed to over 1000, also what focus points did you use

With good daytime light, I shoot in AV mode at about f/3.2 and let the shutter speed run wild. I would much rather have 1/2500 over 1/800 sec. Once the daylight starts to fade, I back off to f/2.8 and start upping the ISO to keep the shutter speed as fast as possible.

First thing, loose the 2xTC. Shoot close by action like Mike mentioned along with his other recommendations.