My hat is off to sport shooters

[aam1234]

Haven't done much sports shooting, just few events. But every time I process my (lousy) photos I get more impressed with the guys & gals that do sports photography. Currently I'm processing xtreme water sporting event and let me tell you... 1 in 10 is not even good, just barely decent.

Don't know how you do it guys, but it's surely very challenging... to say the least. Good job everyone.


Edit: Have to admit that I'm not after capturing purely sports action but more like the human/artistic "event" if you will. Hope that makes sense. Will post some examples at some point.

[aam1234]

This is a quick example of the human/artistic side of sports photography. Posted it here before and hope you don't mind posting it again. I'll have more examples later.

[cyclohexane]

Nice shot, though since we can't see the fencer's face... I would have either gone in tighter with the crop or included the fencer's other arm.* Great moment, but I feel like it's been subdued by the extra bits in the picture as it is right now- kind of like what some of mine look like when you view them online, uncropped.* (Don't worry, I need to go back over my photos and actually crop them... during the year I got lazy and just let the Journalism department deal with cropping the photos however they wanted to use them...)

Originally Posted by aam1234

Edit: Have to admit that I'm not after capturing purely sports action but more like the human/artistic "event" if you will. Hope that makes sense. Will post some examples at some point.

The nonaction, emotional side.* It could be a bunch of happy players celebrating, or a player expressing anguish at a tough defeat.* Sometimes, what's not on the court/field/mat/whatever is more compelling than what is.* This is almost harder than shooting peak action as these shots are even less predictable.

[aam1234]

Excellent capture Michael.

[aam1234]

Another example. Nothing special but trying to illustrate a point.

[aam1234]

And another:

[cyclohexane]

Thanks.

Hey, I like the first one, though it's a shame we can't see the guy's face- regular people tend to like faces, while art people (like me) like silhouettes... I remember getting nailed on some soccer shots for allowing shadows to hide faces. Maybe next time you could let the guy fall closer to the right; I try to avoid centering action subjects unless the impact of a subject dead center is stronger. Not sure how well your 20D tracks using the side sensors though. Alternatively, you could just crop. Every sports shooter I've talked to says "Shoot tight", and people want tight shots. Since I have almost no photojournalism background, I let my art senses take over and fool around. =)

The second one's a great moment, though the dead space isn't doing much for me. Maybe if you tried cropping so the guy falls in the upper right-hand corner of a really tight shot? I dunno, these are just opinions- I like both shots. Keep it up, and most important of all- have fun. Most of my better shots have come about thanks to experience and practice.

[aam1234]

Thanks for the advice Michael, will keep that in mind next event. Though It's easier said than done, but still, will try harder.

Thanks again.

[KABeach]

I really enjoy seeing some of the shots between the action.. it's something I need to spend more time looking for... many of these images do more to portray what is happening on the field than the action shots:

The long walk to the mound:

[aam1234]

The look in the eyes tell a lot. Simply excellent, super job there.

Edit: Liked this photo so much that I had to comment again. Hope you don't mind. This is a prize winner photo in my book. Beautiful capture, and excellent use of DOF. The eyes tell it all.

[aam1234]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

The nonaction, emotional side. It could be a bunch of happy players celebrating, or a player expressing anguish at a tough defeat. Sometimes, what's not on the court/field/mat/whatever is more compelling than what is. This is almost harder than shooting peak action as these shots are even less predictable.

So true.

[aam1234]

An example of how tough it is to photograph sports, and bad technique on my part. Need your advice on how to improve.




Half decent capture but focusing is off. Here is what I did:

1- Had difficulty with the center focusing point as focusing was a real challenge with the 100-400 X 1.6 crop factor of the 20D. So I switched to all points. Should I stay with the center point in this situation. It was on AI servo mode.

2- Used the IS. Have a feeling that that's a no no in sports. Is that correct, what do you think.

Thanks

(Note: this is not a crop, it's how it was taken. I'm not a fan of big cropping to improve a photo, minor crops are fine.)

[cyclohexane]

Squirrel, that's a sweet shot. Love the eyes, like aam1234 said.

I'd stick with the center point, as I believe (not sure) it's the only cross-type sensor on the 20D. It will track much better than the other sensors that are off-center when it starts to get darker (or even when it's bright). My D2H has 9 cross-type sensors (three full "+" ones, and six "t" ones that only go in three directions), so I usually don't use the center point, but if you don't have any off-center cross-type sensors, I'd stick with the center point. Also, if you're not doing it already, I'd experiment with rear-button focusing (custom function 4, I think) to see if you're comfortable with that. I've found that it's made a world of difference in sports shots- being able to instantly stop focus tracking by lifting my thumb if the subject's moving laterally or stopped is a great asset.

IS is perfectly fine, unless it's the older version of IS that doesn't allow panning. I'm not very familiar with Canon's IS offerings, but make sure the lens won't suppress side-to-side motion to allow you to pan and follow the action. I leave my 70-200 Nikkor's VR on unless it's bright enough for

Also, agreed about big cropping, but sometimes it makes a difference. I usually just leave it up to whoever's using the images to decide.

[aam1234]

Hi Michael.

Good points you've mentioned, especially about mode I & II in the IS. Didn't think of that. Thanks for the reminder.

As for cf.4. Well, call me stupid but I'm a believer in the old fashion way of learning. Learn the basic function(s) of any tool then move to new technology/technique

I think I did another mistake. Have two monopods but didn't bring one. So stupid

Thanks again Michael.

[cyclohexane]

No problem... I'm currently trying to find something (friend's hockey games look like the ticket) to practice on, because ever since summer rolled around, I've been getting soft... LOL

I actually switched to rear button focusing before I started shooting sports (I think the first time I used it was a dance show, but I can't recall). When I got my first (and still only) IS/VR lens, I tried switching back to using the shutter release so I didn't have to use two fingers to activate the VR and focus tracking at the same time, but I went back to rear-button after about five minutes, as grabbing the focus lock buttons located in front of the focusing ring only seemed to screw up the stability of my grip. Guess I need longer arms. =)

Monopods are great. They're your friends. I used to keep one stashed in the car for whatever purpose- I'd always pull it out to help steady this one mini DV cam we have that's really too small to be a camcorder...

[aam1234]

Maybe I should give that cf.4 a try. Though it sounds more complicated than the normal way of shooting. As I understand it, it requires two operations, one to focus the other is to capture. Sounds slower than it should be. It's worth exploring nonetheless.

[KABeach]

Thanks guys!

As I said, I need to spend more time looking for these images while I shoot. Unfortunately, I tend to get so wrapped up in the action, I just don't seem to look for those images.

To me, one of the most important thing with most of these types of shots is the eyes. As they say, the eyes are the window to the soul. The hard part with fencing is the masks. It hides the emotion (that's why they have gone to "window" masks for the olympics).

I've never had the opportunity to shoot fencing but I fenced for 6 years... it has to be one of the more difficult sports to shoot (fast action, poor lights, difficult shooting angles...).

Note: this is not a crop, it's how it was taken. I'm not a fan of big cropping to improve a photo, minor crops are fine

Never be afraid to crop... especially sports. The old saying is, shoot tight, crop tighter. When shooting sports, we are often limited to where we can stand, and with long lenses are often limited to prime. Cropping becomes an important part of the process. It is very difficult to move out onto a field during play in order to crop tigher, and if it is too tight, moving back will sometimes put you in the parking lot.

I look forwarding to seeing more of your