do you guys have games where you just get no keepers?

i shot a men's and women's game of soccer last night and the women's game was just the most uneventful game i have ever seen or shot. it was like they barely played. my team got a quick lead without much effort and then just stopped trying. and the men's game the lighting is terrible as always which limits what spots on the field i can even get shots from and it was like the action hardly ever was in the light spots.

my athletics department told me last night to get shots of specific players from both teams and i got most of those shots, some players sat out and some never even touched the ball.

usually on a really great game with lots of action and assuming im in the right spot on the field i can go home with about 50 shots that are keepers and then maybe 10-20 just ok shots that my school still wants anyway because they are not as picky when it comes to the shots. last night i got about 10 shots from each game and it was of the specific players that the school wanted for senior night. and even those are good shots but are not exciting. thankfully i have next saturday to get more and im not going to listen to my school and shoot certain people, im just going to shoot the game like i normally did.

sorry for that rant lol just didnt get very many shots, but i dont expect 100 keepers as i have not been doing this very long

few samples:

Brian:

It's like the pitcher who starts a game, is shelled and doesn't make it to the 3rd inning. Sometimes you have your 'a-game,' sometimes you don't!

I've shot football games where no matter where I was setup, the play went the OTHER way. This is why having a contingency plan to shoot another aspect of the game comes in handy.

And your shots aren't bad at all. Just probably not your very best.

dave

Depends what you view as "keepers" - shoot 500 images a game and 90% of them should be keepers in the fact they're usable if necessary, not the "selects" per say, but usable. Selects are more like 10-20% of a shoot, those are the ones sent in. Most my game galleries range from 100-200 images per game, the selects, out of 500-800 overall shot. Not always the greatest of shots but something, if they want 10 players I'm leaving with all 10 players if they're in the stadium - that's what warmups are for, the emergency shots just in case they ride the pine during the game, or head over and get them watching.

There are some games though that just feels like you miss EVERYTHING, always in the wrong spot, always focusing on a different part of the game, etc. They happen unfortunately.

I had one this weekend. I was shooting a PoP Warner team's homcoming game and one parent wanted shots of his kids. In one game, the opposing team ran the score up so fast that the player (running back and safety) did not touch the ball, so I had to catch him in his stance or just out on the field, but then near the end of the game I caught 2 nice images of him trying to block a field goal - hands up and ball in the frame. Bottom line, I only walked away with 44 worthy images because the game was so lopsided. It happens.

thanks yall. i think it was just one of those games. especially the mens game they just stayed in the dark part of the field. i tested out a 5D mkII (not the greatest for sports) but even that camera with is very nice ability to handle high ISO was struggling to get clean shots. its takes a very nice ISO 5000 though that makes my 7D look like poo, but that 5D has slow AF i had to shoot in MF and stay zoomed at 200mm.

i think the lighting is just getting to me as i dont have the funds to shoot sports with a flash and after about ISO 4000 the quality of the shot seems to get lost a little from the noise and more after noise reduction in LightRoom3.

im shooting a little basketball tonight which i know ill get some clean shots depending on the performance of my sigma 30(first time put it to the test) so i think tonight will cheer me up a little. and I have another soccer game this saturday to try again to get some better shots.

I do, but it's usually because I did something stupid like inadvertently change my aperture or shutter speed & forget to check it periodically.

"do you guys have games where you just get no keepers?"

Yes, it's called high school volleyball.

when shooting games at night like shot #1&2 in my OP what is the best way to fight these lighting conditions and possibly win without shooting with strobes/flashes since i cant afford them.

i lately have been shooting these night games in RAW to try and salvage them through pushing exposure and contrast with some noise reduction. under this lighting i cant get a proper exposure without probably going ISO 12800 which i might try tonight just for fun since it cant hurt anything.

but generally i cant get much action from the men soccer game shooting any slower than about 1/640 at f2.8 ISO 5000.

im going to test out 1/500 to see how motion blurred my shots get but there is a certain point where i just dont want too much blur because i want to be able to provide clean captures. i feel kind of stuck at what should be sacrrificed in order to get the best possible shot with what i have.

i have also mentioned to both my school president and athletics director that we need better lighting on our field and court and they both agree that we are in need up updating our sports venues. our soccer field was setup as simply a field with lights and when built was not intended for NCAA competitions

dankopp wrote in post #13252955
"do you guys have games where you just get no keepers?"

Yes, it's called high school volleyball.

Bahhahhaaa!! But only if it's played in a f/2.8 1/320 ISO 6400 gym........with no flash allowed.

Tim S wrote in post #13254431
Bahhahhaaa!! But only if it's played in a f/2.8 1/320 ISO 6400 gym........with no flash allowed.

And when you are shooting the JV game and your team only plays 2 very poor games in the match, it is worse.

dankopp wrote in post #13252955
Yes, it's called high school volleyball.

Once while shooting or a local newspaper I got to a HS Volleyball game plenty early.Took a couple of basic shots before moving around for interesting stuff, think a had only a half dozen frames. Heard a whistle and bang the whole thing was over in 15 minutes. Very lopsided I don't think the one team even had a serve. Anyway, it was rather embarrassing to turn in film with only a few shots on it.
We all have our good days and bad days.

Jack

dankopp wrote in post #13252955
"do you guys have games where you just get no keepers?"

Yes, it's called high school volleyball.

+1. Those who never shot HS Volleyball should try it , and no flash allowed.

It's better when the teams are good and evenly matched

Yeah, it happens...

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #13245091
Depends what you view as "keepers" - shoot 500 images a game and 90% of them should be keepers in the fact they're usable if necessary, not the "selects" per say, but usable. Selects are more like 10-20% of a shoot, those are the ones sent in. Most my game galleries range from 100-200 images per game, the selects, out of 500-800 overall shot. Not always the greatest of shots but something, if they want 10 players I'm leaving with all 10 players if they're in the stadium - that's what warmups are for, the emergency shots just in case they ride the pine during the game, or head over and get them watching.

There are some games though that just feels like you miss EVERYTHING, always in the wrong spot, always focusing on a different part of the game, etc. They happen unfortunately.

You get 90% usable frames out of your day's take? What sport(s) specifically?

ajaffe wrote in post #13259805
You get 90% usable frames out of your day's take? What sport(s) specifically?

Football, baseball, hockey - three main sports I shoot, but you have to notice it's "usable if necessary" - not your selects, talking in focus and if you had to use it, say the only image of that person, then you could - but not what you consider top of the line. It would also go down with sports do not shoot on a regular basis, that's for sure...but to walk away with nothing I'd either send in my gear because it's obviously broken or retire.