First attempt at soccer - I'm quite pleased

My Brother-in-law is the grounds manager of a local football club. I cheakally asked if I could pop along and see how I got on shooting a game. I got the phone call last Tuesday, my request having been approved by the board.

I must now point out, that I have never been interested in football (soccer). I have never been to a match and the last time I played was at school, during compulsary gym classes (I later used to skive out of it and spent my time in the computer room - that was back in the 80's)

Anyway, the game. Local team Rushall Olympic were to play FC United Manchester. I don't know how this level of the sport compares to what I might of skipped past on TV, but they play in the EvoStik league.

Most of the following shots were taken with the 100-400 (on a monopod) and I must say I am quite pleased with them - the quality is quite good, although the good light must of helped (the following photobucket 640x480's don't really do them justice though). I did find though that 100 is too long (I was around 1-2m away from the touch line for the most part).

Trugga wrote in post #14016434
I mostly used Tv as I wanted to keep the shutter speed high, although in hindsight, perhaps I should of used Av at the widest and Auto ISO.
Comments welcome.

Lawrence

yes, you can get sharper pics with a higher shutter speed, instead of 1/800 increase the ISO to get 1/2000

A shutter speed of 1/800 is fine... you might get some blur on the feet during a kick or head during a header but it wont be bad. I've had to use 1/500 with soccer in a stadium with bad lighting and didn't get much motion blur.

I don't know what I would do with a variable aperture lens. If lighting is consistent shoot manual at f/5.6 with what iso/ss you want.

nice shots, good color and 1/800 is fine for people (they don't move that fast).

To be honest, these would hit the reject bin for me. Many of them are too loose, backgrounds are distracting, peak action is missed, focus is missed, and white balance is off.

1/800 definitely is not fast enough for a player striking a ball. You'll want to get it over 1/1000th.

Shoot tight and crop tighter.


Also as a tidbit, FC United was created by people who were disgruntled with the Glazers who own Manchester United. They have had some real cinderella moments in the FA Cup.

ajaffe wrote in post #14025531
To be honest, these would hit the reject bin for me. Many of them are too loose, backgrounds are distracting, peak action is missed, focus is missed, and white balance is off.

1/800 definitely is not fast enough for a player striking a ball. You'll want to get it over 1/1000th.

Shoot tight and crop tighter.


Also as a tidbit, FC United was created by people who were disgruntled with the Glazers who own Manchester United. They have had some real cinderella moments in the FA Cup.

I'm glad someone else said it first so I didn't have to be the bearer of bad tidings. None of these are keepers for me if nothing else than because of the lack of sharpness or focus. IN the second to last one, the player kicking the ball isn't in focus but the defender in front of him is. There's a bit of a general blur to most of them. And I agree, 1/800 is definitely nowhere near fast enough if you plan on completely freezing action. People most certainly do move that fast and I've got terrabytes of photos to prove it LOL