Sports (Football/Soccer) Action Shots

I've had my Rebel XSi 450D for about 6 months now. I've been practicing action shots at high school football games, as it has the same setting (field and lighting) as my main volunteer gig. I've volunteered to take pictures for the girls high school soccer team. And yes my daughter is a player on the team. I'm an amateur photographer and have read my owner’s manual several times and have experimented with manual, program, action settings. I've changed the F-number, ISO speed and shutter speed with no success. It's good to know from reading some past treads that even the experienced shooters delete many pictures, because I've definitely deleted my share. I'm not sure if it's my lens or the settings causing the results of the attached photo. Should I purchase an external flash or different lens for action shots at night? Thanks in advance for your time.

The picture is too dark

My picture details below
Lens: Sigma 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 DL Aspherical IF
F-Number (or aperture) 5.6
ISO speed 800
Exposure Time 1/125

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Your aperture is too shallow (f/5.6), and doesn't allow you to get a shutter high enough shutter to freeze the action. The BARE minimum to freeze sports is a recommended 1/250. Keep in mind the rule of thumb is your shutter speed should at least be the reciprocal of your focal length (I.E. 250mm should be 1/250, etc. etc.).

If you are on a budget, I'd recommend picking up a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8, it is a great,sharp, fast-focusing lense that would be great for football, but you might find that you need more focal length. The Canon 300mm f/4 IS comes into mind...which will run you about $1000-1100 used.

You could also try shooting at ISO 1600...although excessive noise might be something you'd want to avoid, you decide. If you had used ISO 1600 on the shot you posted, you could have gotten a shutter of 1/250 (the minimum) and perhaps gotten a better result...

Do some searching on the Sports section and you will find many threads with great detail on camera settings and shooting strategies. Your first step will have to be to invest in some faster glass as your Sigma 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 is way too slow on the long end to give you any useful shutter speed. You can use your current lens with day time sports (with plenty of sun) to practice camera handling and shooting techniques, but when the sun goes away, you have the low-light challenge and that's when you need to think about a faster lens.

Thanks for the feedback. Can you point me to information that defines how different lenses work (speed, distance, light, wide angle and etc.)? Thanks

EDUBO wrote in post #8854884
Can you point me to information that defines how different lenses work (speed, distance, light, wide angle and etc.)? Thanks

Under the 'EF Lens' subforum, there are a number of Sticky threads that will get you started nicely. From your question, I'd humbly recommend that you do not rush into buying any lens until you have a better understanding of lenses.

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I am an Novice photographer and have only been shooting a few months, but I just purchased a Sigma 70-200 F2.8 lens with a filter and a 2x teleconverter new for under $850. This lens works great I am interested in a flash unit but will need time to save some more $

The teleconverter works well in day games but the loss of the F stop makes it tough to use for night games with out a flash.

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