My soccer (football) pics look awful!!! Help...please!

I shot some pics of my daughter's first soccer (football) game. All my photos came out looking washed out! Please tell me what I did wrong...help! Should I have shot wide open? Faster shutter speed? Manual? Lower ISO setting? This is my first time shooting outdoor sports. Indoors was much easier.

Here are a couple of examples...shot with my XT and 70-200mm lens, Aperture Priority, f/5.6, ISO 1600 on a very bright, sunny day...

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They sure look over exposed to me. I think the iso 1600 on a bright day was over doing it a little. Are you sure the little red light wasn't blinking in the view finder? I was just in Scottsdale to get some Giant pics and 200-400 seemed about the right speed w/XT and 300f4. That was getting me a shutter speed of at least 1/1000. I hope that helps.

I would have to say the 1600 iso was overkill. for most of my bright day stuff i shoot 100 /200 possible 400 iso... also i like to set my custom white balance.. but i don't know if the xt has that option? i have not shot scoccer yet but for baseball i like shutter around 1/1000 or up..
i really hope this helps.. let me know if i can do anything else...
curtis
www.allensphoto.smugmu​g.com

They look over-exposed. Fancy posting the shutter speed for each one? I suspect the poor old camera couldn't move it's shutter fast enough for such a high ISO and relatively large aperture.

Thanks, Yonni! I'm probably still thinking that I'm shooting indoors, hence the high ISO! Duh...I'm such a dork!:o I will make sure that my ISO is between 200-400 on bright, sunny days.

Thanks again!

okiebass101 wrote:
I would have to say the 1600 iso was overkill. for most of my bright day stuff i shoot 100 /200 possible 400 iso... also i like to set my custom white balance.. but i don't know if the xt has that option? i have not shot scoccer yet but for baseball i like shutter around 1/1000 or up..
i really hope this helps.. let me know if i can do anything else...
curtis
www.allensphoto.smugmu​g.com

Thanks so much, Curtis! Another leason learned for me...I really don't know what I was thinking shooting at ISO 1600. So the concensus is that I should shoot wide open with shutter speed of at least 1/1000 and ISO between 200-400, right? I better write this down...

For sports, I generally just go with wide open aperture in Av mode then adjust my ISO accordingly to get shutter speeds necessary to stop action.

Hi, Glenn! The shutter speed for both was 1/4000 sec. My settings were overkill like Curtis said. I'm just glad this was my first try and I still have time to make it right.

At ISO1600, your XT couldn't use shutter speeds fast enough to obtain proper exposure. It used 1/4000th because that's the absolute maximum shutter speed the camera can use.

What would be a good shutter speed to start with when it comes to outdoor sports? 1/250, 1/500, or higher?

Thanks!

Depends on the sport really. Some happen slower than others. For soccer, I'd say more like 1/1000th will pretty much guarantee the freezing of movement. Sometimes you can get away with less, especially if you hit peak action rather than the actual kick of the ball, ie the leg just before it hits, or a jump in the air to head a ball.

i always hear 1/250 is good, but cant hurt to go 1/500 or 1/1000...juat watch your ISO level! let us know how your next shots come out. hopefully these answers will solve your problems.

With 1/250th you get the blur of the ball...but it's plenty for the running and jumping. I've used that speed in desperate times with Bigma at volleyball matches and such.

Thanks again! BTW, great action shots in your gallery! I promise to get better...I'll post some pics after the next game!

Thanks, Andy! You are all so helpful...I love it! I will definitely post better pics next time.