Can someone give some input

[Chaser]

Hi, I am still new to this and I have a Rebel XSI, The only lens I have right now is the one that came with it and and a friend gave me whice is 55-250 EF-S. Now the trouble I'm having is with football games, (baseball is ok but I guessing it could be better).
I tried shooting it in 2 modes the sports and then even is the auto mode. I'm guessing I should try it in a different one, Following this post there will be 2 football to show what happen ( not all ture out this way just most) and I will show you a shoot of my baseball one. We have a baseball game tonite and if you could give any info that I could try tonite will be great. Sorry this is long and Thank you.
Val



Baseball




Thanks again

[dhyravy]

For sports, any of the "auto" modes will give spotty results at best. Aperture priority is possible but your lenses are really too slow for night or indoor sports. You need to use the lowest fstop you have with the highest shutter speed that you can manage. I shoot totally manual with f2.8 glass to get anything useful under the lights. I suggest spending some time reading the numerous posts on this forum about this subject. Also, if you want to shoot night/indoor action you're going to have to invest in some faster lenses.

[tadrscin]

I guess my first question is what are your goals with your photography? Are you a student or Parent? Basically you've got several things working against you here. The football shots look like you were shooting from the stands which is going to be tough with the best equipment. You're way too far from the action to proplerly isolate the players for starters. Depending on why you're shooting it might be possible for you to get permission to shoot from the sidelines which would be much better.

You're biggest problem however, is with your gear. You really need to shoot in either manual or Av. Check your camera to see if it's possible to set your ISO to 1600 in either of these modes. You're going to need an ISO of 1600 to shoot any night time sports. Next is your lens. The 55-250mm lens has a variable aperature ranging from f4.5 -5.6 which is way too slow for night time sports. Both of the football shots were shot at way too slow of a shutter speed (1/30th & 1/25th) to stop action. You're going to need at least a shutter speed of 1/500th to stop action. Even if you can bump your ISO to 1600, that still only gets you a shutter speed of 1/80th at 55mm. Unfortunately at 55mm you're not going to be able to isolate the players even if you're shooting from the sidelines. At 250mm, that will take you to f5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/40th. You could purposely underexpose by 2 stops, this is of course not the ideal solution as you'll have to do some serious work on the photos afterwards, but that will get you a shutter speed of 1/320th at 55mm which might be usable. But you're still at 55mm which is way too wide to shoot a field sport.

Stay away form the program modes. You're better off using Av mode if you're not comfortable shooting in manual. Set your aperature to it's widest setting which is f4.5 on the 55-250 at 55mm. This will at least get you the fastest shutter speed you can get. More than likely you're simply not going to be able to get a fast enough shutter speed with that lens. It's just too slow for night sports, especially when you're at 250mm where the widest aperature is only f5.6. This is why I ask what your goals are in photography. If you're serious about doing sports photography, you really need to consider getting a better lens with a constant aperature of f2.8. These are not cheap however. You can look for a used lens and get either the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 which is what I have, or the Canon 70-200 f2.8 which of course is more expensive. New the Sigma is about $1000 and the Canon is $1200. I bought my Sigma used for $700.

As for the baseball shots, the first two look overexposed, more than likely due to the program mode. If those were all shot at the same game, then the first two should've been shot at a similar shutter speed of 1/1250th as the 3rd one was instead of 1/400 & 1/500. For metereing I use a hand held incident meter or I meter off the palm of my hand. The palm of the avg caucasion is 1 stop above neutral grey which is what the camera bases its reading on. The easiest way to determine this for yourself is to get a neutral grey card and compare the meter reading from it and your hand in the same light. This works because the palms of your hand never tan so they're always the same. I put my hand so the palm is in the same light as the player's faces and open up 1 stop from what the camera says. This will get you a very good exposure of the player's faces which is the most import aspect of any sports shot, although there are always exceptions. They also look very soft. It looks like you were focused on the fence and not the pitcher. You want to use a single focus point, usually the center point, and use AI Servo mode so that you can track the player. The XSi should have both of these options. The last photo looks pretty good. Nice exposure, pretty sharp, and you got the player's face which is key in sports photography. I would've cropped it tighter on both sides though.

This is probably information overload, and if it is, I'd highly recommend a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. You really need to understand the basics before you try and tackle sports photography. This will help you got off the dreaded program modes. Then practice, post pics, ask questions and repeat.

[Chaser]

Hey thanks to both of yous for the info.
As for why/ goal, I'm taking them for me a mom LOL my boys are big into sports and I want to take pics of them and friends. As for how serious I am, I guess you can say I would like to get some good ones! We have a baseball game on Sat. I will use your info and see if I understood it right Thanks again

[BFiredup]

Chaser, that is how it starts...then watch out...it grows on you...LOL...
Jeta will tell you the same thing, we start off as moms that just want to shoot a few GOOD shots of our kids, now she is doing it professionally for several teams, and I have earned enough money to purchase the nice lens to sell pictures online to the parents at school, and this weekend I am doing the pictures for homecoming, and senior day. So all I can say is, practice, and keep shooting, you never know where it might lead.

[Homer]

Hey Chaser, tadrscin gave some great advice.

I believe the camera you have can only go to ISO 1600, which is another factor in shooting night games. I've found that at most high school football fields you really need to push that ISO to 3200. So with your camera and your lens, your not going to get much better. If you really want to get some decent shots of your kids then I would consider getting your hands on a 40D and then a 70-200 f/2.8 lens. Even under good conditions, night games are tough and your really need the better equipment to get the shots.

Jim

[tadrscin]

Yeah the harsh reality is that you're really going to have to spend some money to do what you want to do. I agree with the 40D, unless you can swing a new 50D ($1399 when they're available). The improved high ISO performance may make that worth it if you're going to be shooting a lot of night sports. Otherwise you're probably going to see a fair number of 40Ds for sale by those that are going to upgrade to a 50D so you should be able to get a good deal on a used 40D. If you can only buy one piece of gear for the time being, personally I'd actually go with a 70-200 f2.8 lens first and use your XSi. I think you're better off shooting at ISO 1600 at f 2.8, than shooting at ISO 3200 (with a 40D) and be stuck with f4.5-f5.6. The truth is you really need both based on the exif data from the shots you posted, but if it's one or the other right now, I'd go with the lens.

Based on the exposure you used, ISO 3200 (with a 40D) @ f4.5 only gets a SS of 1/125th which is not nearly fast enough. And that's shooting at 55mm which in my personal opinion is pointless, especially if someone is shooting from the stands. ISO 1600 (with your XSi) @ f2.8 gets a SS of 1/200. Still not fast enough, but closer. I would go ahead and shoot 1 stop under to get a SS of 1/400th and see how that goes. With some good panning ( and I don't know how practical this is for football, but we're trying to make the best of a bad situation) you should be able to get some decent shots. Then I'd go to 1/500 and even 1/640 or 1/800 to see how much of a useable image you can get. Shooting RAW would help with that. At least you can shoot at 200mm this way. Otherwise you're shooting at 55mm and would have to crop heavily which would yield some very poor results. Perhaps you won't be able to get any really good night shots until you can also get a new body, but at the very least you'll have a very good lens for daylight/indoor use. I shot a lot of sports with my RebelXT and Sigma 70-200 f.8 (although nothing at night) and got some great results.

Oh and go ahead and ask the coach or AD if you can shoot from the sidelines. You'll get much better results from there. Others here can explain more how to go about doing that as well as the risks involved from shooting from the sidelines.

[Chaser]

Ok alittle confused, is Rebel XSI not good for sports?

[tadrscin]

As far as night time football under the conditions you're shooting under, I'd have to say no. This would especially be true with your current lens. However, this depends a lot on what you consider good vs acceptable images. You're shooting under horrible lighting conditions that would challenge even the best cameras. That's why I suggested that you start with a lens and see what you can get with your XSi and a good lens. Purposely underexposing by up to 2 stops as I suggested, just to get a minimally fast shutter speed, is not a great choice with that camera. You might however, think that they're better than not having any photos at all. Perhaps for what you want the photos for, you will be able to get acceptable results with that combo. Remember, we're just trying to make the best of a bad situation. When it comes to day time, outdoor sports, the XSi will do just fine with the lens you have and it will do fine indoors with a good lens. Like I said, I've shot a lot of sports with my XT and good lenses and got great results. Depending on how happy you are shooting night time football with the XSi and a 70-200 f2.8 ( you may want to look into renting one to try), you may simply need to hold off on night time sports until you can also get a better body. Only you can make that decision. If you are serious about shooting sports, a 70-200 f2.8 is a lens you will want to have. Good glass will last you a long time, while bodies come and go.