Field Hockey; need advice!

Hi,

I've had a scout around the forums, however, there's a lot to sift through on the results and I may have over looked something but I couldn't find anything specific enough to my issue.

I would just call this kind of hockey "hockey", however, I have had people previously inform me (non-English people) that they'd class it as field hockey hence the title .

Basically I need some help on improving my shots as a lot are coming our a bit blurry and fuzzy. I used centre point auto focus, f.5/6 at 300mm as that's the best my lens will do and I ended up using Av mode after the light kept changing too much for me to keep messing around with it on M mode. I also was using ISO 400.

I use a Canon EOS 400D and a Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens.

Here is an example;

Both shots are out of focus. Your shutter speed was around 1/2000 for the day so I do not think this is any kind of blur issue.

In the first shot the woman's feet are pretty sharp and the shot gets progressively fuzzier the farther it goes from the camera. I think the plane of focus is closer to you than the subject. Her feet are just in the DOF. Best guess? She was running away from you and the AI servo simply fell behind her.

The second shot is very OOF. Usually this means you let the AF sensor wander off the subject and grab something in the background.....but in this case the fence is really soft too so I'm not sure. It's a clear miss though.

I am puzzled too as the results are clearly quite poor and I only managed a few decent shots from the first half (that's all I photographed due to other commitments)....

Thanks for your analysis and thoughts though, they're helpful.

I wonder if I should perhaps look at using a monopod actually. I know my lens isn't exactly heavy enough to warrant it, however, it might be easier. It'll keep it a bit more steady. That perhaps is the best I can come up with to be honest.

I use a 400D for concert photos and my AF always goes crazy because of the low light and I wind up with alot of shots that look like yours. I am trying to go more manual focus which is hard because of the action (like sports) but my results are getting a little better. You can also try manually selecting a single AF point and pinning that to the subject. Finally, depending on where you are sitting and how the action is moving, you may not need to have the AF in servo mode. Hopefully any of that helps...it has for me at least.

Gavin shoots a lot at high ISO & provides fun captions as well. The first & many other images are at ISO Speed Ratings = 1600!
The week's sporting events in images...

Personally I wouldn't use anything but AI Servo when there's a chance of movement, either mine or the performers.

Maybe your lens isn't fast enough? I shot these at f/2.8 & had no focusing problems, though I should have used the 85mm f/1.8 for less noise:
Barbara Payton @ ISO 3200

Ilantis, I see what you're saying but I don't feel as though I am advanced enough to be able to do that and get decent results...

PhotosGuy, so perhaps I should look at shooting at a higher ISO? I am just concerned about getting noise on my photos... Will I realistically be able to do that with the lens I've got (at it's longest focal length it's f5.6) and the camera I've got too . I personally feel as though the results will be poor, although then again you've much more knowledge than me in the photography field.

It is possible that my lens isn't fast enough, but I am student and as it stands I can't afford anything better... I am trying to make do with what I have got.