How to improve?

Hi its my first time to shoot sports, and it was at first daylight outside and later on dark, all the time inside were bright white color and yellow color lights on.

i guess its clear im a novice.....but how can i improve?

the rest of the images are here: http://www.hongkong-chefs.com/Privateimage​s/private.html

Cheers,

Marco

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What is the EXIF data?
first in sports you have to use high ISO in low light conditions.
Use higher shutter speed.
try to use Bracketing, it can help sometimes. at least to get few good shots better than all are bad.

for the first shot its 1/125 sec, F5.6, iso 1600, lens 70-300, FL 300 MM

i have a few better shots, but it was real hard, took about 100 shots....only few are kept

tareq wrote in post #2214597
What is the EXIF data?

Tareq - search on google for Opanda and IEXIF - its a free programme that allows you to right click on a photo that has been posted on here and view the full exif info.

macobee wrote in post #2214597
for the first shot its 1/125 sec, F5.6, iso 1600, lens 70-300, FL 300 MM

i have a few better shots, but it was real hard, took about 100 shots....only few are kept

Marco,

Just having a quick look at the pictures and the associated EXIF info a couple of things spring to mind.

Firstly, I would try shooting in aperture priority (Av) mode - with this you can at least keep the lens wide open at all times, which means, by definition, you will get the faster possible shutter speed. What appears to have happened here is that you have set the shutter to 1/125s and as the aperture hasn't been able to open past 5.6 then you've ended up with some rather underexposed shots. By using Av you may end up with a slower shutter speed, but you will find you will be closer to getting the exposure right

Talking of shutter speed, to avoid camera shake (evident in Pic 2) a general rule of thumb is that you need to keep the shutter speed faster than the reciprocal of the lens focal length you are using. For example, you were using a 300mm focal length so therefore you need to keep your shutter speed at 1/300 and above. Image Stabilisation changes this a little, but we'll ignore that for the moment!! If 5.6 is the max aperture you will probably continue to struggle to get a high enough shutter speed - you will find that most people in here who shoot ice hockey use a F2.8 or lower aperture.

Am not sure I entirely agree with the bracketing suggestion by Tareq - sports photography tends not lend itself too well to bracketing due to the speed at which things tend to happen!

Have a play with the pics in Photoshop (or equivalent) and you may find you will be able to lighten some of the pics up a little.

Finally, have a think about white balance, I know there were coloured lights in there that may have altered things a little, however there is still quite a tungsten cast on some of the pictures.

Hope this helps a little and good luck - practice and experiementing is the way forward on this one am afraid, but keep looking on here for hints and tips!!

Good luck

Paul

Sorry i didn't saved and try to check the EXIF data myself because i had that exif program with one click by mouse, just most posts including the EXIF in this forum.
I agree with what Tall_Paul said, but what i meant by bracketing is if all the pics will be dark or not so steady enough then i will higher the shutter speed and using bracketing to get few well exposed shots, and i followed that with saying to get few good shots better than losing all, so if i can have very few good shots with bracketing as i can have one overexposured shot so i can get few good exposed shots and the shutter is high.
I know that bracketing is not a good idea in sports, but i went before to shoot a sport at night with my 70-200 and the aperture was wide open and bumped the iso to the highest and the shutter speed not less than 1/200 and yet the shots were dark and the noise more clear, so i used the bracketing option and i got some good enough shots, even with photoshop those bad shot can't be fixed repaired much. but for sure i don't advise that if the light is enough and the exposure is good.
it is just all practice and experimenting, so whatever way i use or others and get good results sometimes so then nothing wrong to use it.

I would start by shooting RAW and getting a Whibal card, or somehting equivalent.

Based on EXIF I'm going to assume you're using a Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 or similiar lens. Based on that assumption, I'll be blunt:


You need a faster lens.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2214954
Based on EXIF I'm going to assume you're using a Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 or similiar lens. Based on that assumption, I'll be blunt:


You need a faster lens.

second vote to that point

Tall_Paul_2000 wrote in post #2214718
Tareq - search on google for Opanda and IEXIF - its a free programme that allows you to right click on a photo that has been posted on here and view the full exif info.Paul

Hey thanks for the Freeware gift Love it.

WebMonkey wrote in post #2215868
Het thanks for the Freeware gift Love it.

A pleasure.....glad you liked the present......my birthday is in December. Just felt you should know

Actually whilst we are on free software, for those of you who caption and cover sports events, a paper I work for has told me about Kodak Photo Desk.

Its a similar application to Photomechanic, however it is free! It allows you to quickly check, select and sort photos, apply IPTC/Captioning info and then save them with sequential filenames.

I think you can also do stuff with RAW in there, however as I never shoot RAW, I probably am not qualified to comment on that!!

http://www.kodak.com …l?dcsFwSelector​=photoDesk

Admittedly I am sticking with photomechanic as I like the fact you can wire pics through it, however have tried the Kodak software and was impressed with it.

Hope this helps!

Paul

For shooting indoor sports under artificial lighting you need a camera capable of min ISO1600. A lens with at least a max aperture of f2.8. Together you should then be able to set a shutterspeed of 320 or higher.You could use a slower speed for still subjects but you may get blur or camera shake with moving subjects.

Once you have this then you are ready to go.Next you need to calculate a "correct" exposure.With ice hockey your on board meter is likely to be fooled so look to "overexpose" by about one stop.Check your WB on auto if ok leave as it is. If giving a colour cast you will need to take a custom balance off the ice.Please read the camera manual on how to take a custom WB.
Hope this helps

Picture #2 looks like Roller Hockey. How would you set a custom WB off a roller hockey floor that isn't white or ice? In that case, would a grey card be recommended? I'm learning myself and have benefitted from all the advice for ice hockey. However, roller hockey is also available in my area. Here, there are a number of roller hockey rinks and the floor colors range from light blue to white to beige. Picture #2 looks like asphalt or a dark colored sport court.

Hoonga wrote in post #2216187
Picture #2 looks like Roller Hockey. How would you set a custom WB off a roller hockey floor that isn't white or ice? In that case, would a grey card be recommended? I'm learning myself and have benefitted from all the advice for ice hockey. However, roller hockey is also available in my area. Here, there are a number of roller hockey rinks and the floor colors range from light blue to white to beige. Picture #2 looks like asphalt or a dark colored sport court.

Yep you could be right I never noticed. You could use a grey card but if not just use a white sheet of paper. Personally I use an ExpoDisc. If theres nothing to get a reading from then I take a custom reading directly from the lights.

A 2.8 lens would be a great help, the opening is about 2X the size of the max. 5.6 your getting. 2.8 lenses cost a lot of $ if that is not possible I would look into a shoe mounted flash if the league allows flash at the games. Then you can use TV and set your shudder speed up to possibly the 320-400. That will help the shot a bunch, again if the league allows flash photography.
Good Luck!!