Shamrocks vs Harps (C&C)

jamescrombie

what do you think... its from last nights Shamrock Rovers (2) vs Finn Harps (0)

jamescrombie

here is a couple more

peepingtom

shutter speed seems a little slow, and need to be sharper .... probably need a tripod/monopod for these kind of shots ... all would benefit from a lot of cropping too to i think.

Morlar

I would agree with cropping on all of them except maybe the one called 'running' and 'running air'. Those 2 are the strongest imo - however the grain seems a bit heavy on them.

I have done some sports shots and I know it can be hard to be on the right focal length at the right time. Usually those sort of shots work better when the ball and players are rushing towards you - might be worth getting a spot to either side of the busiest goalie and staying focused on one grid of the field and then, when the play moves your direction, snap away.

super_furry

Quality stuff. I'm slightly biased though.

jamescrombie

Cheers guys... it was my first time really shooting sports pictures... i would love love to get into it .... i only had a very basic lense on my Nikon D50 (18-55) the basic one and i was kinda restricted.... i would say that when it come to changing apendeture shutter speed blah blah i am kinda hopeless.. some of the motion ones i like like its gonna hurt because hopefully it gives an element of fast moving like the its my ball one.... can anyone recommend some settings that i should go by when taking these kinda shoots... whats the advised shutter speed, ISO settings, appendeture... or does it all come with patience and practice

peepingtom

if there is plenty of light, go with the fastest shutter speed possible ..... isnt there a sports function on the D50?

I havent really got the hang of the appeture/ISO etc myself yet .... just acting on trail and error at the moment.

I would also set the jpeg size to max ... that way you get better crops.

For this kind of photography your kit lens might not be up to the job ... i know mine on the D70 isnt .... im thinking of getting the 70-300mm zoom lens for sports etc.

jamescrombie

peepingtom wrote:

if there is plenty of light, go with the fastest shutter speed possible ..... isnt there a sports function on the D50?

I havent really got the hang of the appeture/ISO etc myself yet .... just acting on trail and error at the moment.

I would also set the jpeg size to max ... that way you get better crops.

For this kind of photography your kit lens might not be up to the job ... i know mine on the D70 isnt .... im thinking of getting the 70-300mm zoom lens for sports etc.

hey Peepingtom,
I was using the sports function for some of the, I would love a 70-300 myself just trying to put some dollars aside for it at the moment, i seriously dont think the kit lens is up to much ....thanks for the advice

peepingtom

i just did a quick crop of the first one ... not perfect by any means, but this way it concentrates on the subject matter

peepingtom

jamescrombie wrote:

hey Peepingtom,
I was using the sports function for some of the, I would love a 70-300 myself just trying to put some dollars aside for it at the moment, i seriously dont think the kit lens is up to much ....thanks for the advice

glad to help ..... i havent taken a photo for a bout a month now myself ..... hope to get out soon though ... might even try a footy game .... not Rovers though

saltie

Couldn`t agree more with peepingtom about cropping and a little more messing around. Attached one which took about 2mins in picassa the free google tool which i think is fantastic for just basic fixes and effects.

saltie

addicted to B&W focal

mervifwdc

You could really do with reducing the DOF and getting the shutter speed up a bit.
Set the aperature as open as you can (go into Aperture priority, and set it as open as it will go, the Shutter speed will go up automatically). Next, set the ISO so that you have a Shutter speed of at least 1/400, preferably more.

And the crops done above are good. Use the zoom to do that in camera, and when you cannot zoom any more, crop in the software when you get home.

Well done on your timing, it's not easy getting players in the air etc.

Merv.

peter1892

Good effort - the jump one is quite good, if you had a longer zoom lens fitted you could have zoomed right in on the two players & isolated the action some more.

I'd agree with the comments about opening the aperture as wide as it'll go as in the case of 'jump' it would have blurred the background to a certain extent.

The best way to learn is get out there & take more shots, keep it up!

CONMIKE12

I could be wrong(feel free to correct me if i am)but wouldn't the easiest way be to set the cam to shutter priority,that way you can get it to 1/500 or more,then set the iso to whatever makes the aperature value stop flashing? On the Canons,the apperature value flashes if the shutter speed is too fast for the available light.

obewan

I agree with Conmike12, set to shutter priority (TV on Canon 20D) and to anything from 1/500 up to 1/800; set the ISO to 200 or higher if light is low. This should get the ball in focus as well. Experiment at local games or even with kids playing on the street.


Mick.

Yerac

The settings are a whole lot of trial and error, but aperture priority is a good way to go, keeping it as wide open as possible in order to blur the background. Beware of this though particularly when learning as it leaves a smaller margin of error when focussing so for example if you can go to f2.8, don't be afraid to try f4.0 or even f5.6, especially if the action is on the "far" side - much harder to pick the subjects out from the background for focus.

Shutter priority will be fine too if you select it high enough, as was said at least 400 or 500, but you may get unpredictable results with the aperture or iso jumping around, a point being the game mentioned where there were significant dark and bright patches on the pitch.

Well done with the shots and keep trying out different settings. What you read somewhere might not be for you and you might stumble on your own dream settings along the way so keep playing around.

On a side note - be careful when photographing kids. Lots of laws out there you could now run foul of. Safest option would be when the local adult leagues resume around august.

mervifwdc

To see what a 300mm 2.8 looks like:



If you keep an eye on the sports pages in the papers they usually (not always!) do a nice job on this.

Merv.

antifuse

Yerac wrote:

On a side note - be careful when photographing kids. Lots of laws out there you could now run foul of. Safest option would be when the local adult leagues resume around august.

Are there actual laws in Ireland preventing photography of children? What exact laws would you be breaking? I could see parents being wary of you photographing their kids at the park or at the beach, but would anybody even notice you photographing them at a match? I'm guessing there's tons of parents there taking pictures as well.

peepingtom

i'm not sure of legallities myself, but if you intend taking pics of minors, you should definately get the nod from the parents first.

Morlar

mervifwdc wrote:

To see what a 300mm 2.8 looks like:



If you keep an eye on the sports pages in the papers they usually (not always!) do a nice job on this.

Merv.

Impressive focus on that - you even caught the snips of grass floating down !