Daytime Football/ Flash or no Flash

I am shooting a High School Football game tomorrow at 2pm.
I need to know if I should use my flash or not and if so what are some good settings for the flash.

Also what is a good mode. Av Tv or M?

Probably not if using your 2.8...I'd go AV @ 2.8 ISO 400+ depending on light...As for flash, many shooters on the forum here like to use top mounted flash at reduced power.
GOOD LUCK!
HP

M @ f/2.8, then whatever ISO gets your shutter speed up. I prefer manual to AV or TV.

Like HP said, you can use the flash if you want, some people do.

Unless it is dark in Texas at 2pm, why do you think you need a flash?

LOL....fill maybe....shadows under helmet.
Why the need to be a smart......?

I thought it was a sensible question, rather than a 'smart' one. I'd echo the comment. If you look at some of the other threads here, shooting at night with a flash is enough trouble so if you're shooting in bright afternoon sunshine, use it without enhancements.

Make sure you put yourself in a position so that the players aren't routinely 'backlit' and you should be fine.

Shoot in Av, maximum aperture, keep the shutter speed at at LEAST 1/800th with your ISO and use centre AF focus point only. Shoot in portrait mode a lot too.

Granted, I'm way too late to be of any help, but it's Sunday afternoon and I'm a bit bored!!

Bobby stop being a smart @ss!

If you are shooting in rapid fire/mutiple frames, then your flash won't be able to keep up with the sequence. So you'd see pretty quick the comparison.

I shoot manual all the time for night football, and only use a flash when I'm in the endzone. Daytime shots, the shadows can be pretty harsh, admittedly so I don't know how effective the flash would be. But hey...go try and play around and see how it goes.

I shoot a lot of football and I've never needed to use a flash during a day game.

For one thing your flash sync speed is no where near the speed you need to shoot daytime football so the for the most part the flash would be nullified.

Try setting your ASA to 400 and your shutter speed to around 1/800th sec using shutter priority mode. Adjust your shutter speed accordingly.

Dan-o wrote in post #6652437
Bobby stop being a smart @ss!

Dan, I was just trying to help.

It is pain shooting with flash so why do it at day time when you got the light. Unless you shoot HSS, you will need to stick with 1/250 ss (typical sync speed). And like mentioned already you can not do high frame rate shooting when using flash.


Regarding modes, I would use Av mode anytime over Tv. I prefer manual exposure mode but Av will be nice start for outdoor day time game. I fusing 70-200mm f2.8, I would use f2.8 at 200mm to blur the backgrounds more. Using f2.8 during day, you will most probably be using ISO100 or ISO200 as ss will be high enough. 70-200mm zoom is quite flexible for end zones stuff.

I would recommend use 400mm f5.6 wide open. You can use ISo200 or ISO400 depending on the ss you getting. Don't worry if you ned to bump ISO in case it is cloudy.

Hope these suggestions help. Sorry I came a s bit harsh but it was not my intent. See if there is an easy way, why do the hard way.

Another thing, don't worry about uniforms too much. You should try to nail down exposure on players faces. This might mean the white uniforms will be hot somewhat depending on the light.

thank you bobby. I have never shot a game during the day and it was just the first thing I though of was the shadows under the helmets.
I have read over and over to use flash for fill on a sunny day especailly when someone is wearing a hat.

I had to do a lot of processing on these photos. I guess I wasn't getting the exposure right. I was trying to use histogram, but that wasn't the most helpful either. grrrr. wish I had more games during the day to practice on.

I shot in M with no flash and noticed as I moved with the subject the eposure went crazy. Should I have not shot in maunual since I had to move so fast?

britt777 wrote in post #6653626
I shot in M with no flash and noticed as I moved with the subject the eposure went crazy. Should I have not shot in maunual since I had to move so fast?

Brittany, don't understand what you mean here? If you set the camera in M mode, the exposure shouldn't change.