Football

[dstdiego]

I am an amateur and i have a 30d canon and also a 100-400mm lens IS. I am very
excited because my son plays football (american football) and that's the reason why I got these equipment.
Spring ball is coming and I want to learn techniques in getting good action pictures.
Can anyone give me tips?? Please ? Any rule of thumb? what is the best way to
approach it...by TV or AV or Manual? Thanks.

[dhyravy]

Welcome to the forum! First off, how old are the kids and at what time will they be playing? If you're talking HS football, there are many older threads on this but you will be very challenged to get many useful shots after the lights come on. Manual is the only way to go if you want consistant results. I'm not very familiar with the 100-400 lens but unless it's a constant f2.8 or lower, it won't gather enough light for night games even with flash. If his games will be in daylight you should be able to get some decent results. As far as settings go, they can vary greatly with the amount of light. You need at least a 1/400 or higher shutter in good light to stop the action. The other settings will depend on that.

[dstdiego]

thanks a lot daniel! my son plays college football. they usually play on saturdays around
1:00pm which provides some excellent available lights. But the problem are
there can be shades from the grand stand and I really dont know how to work on
this. The 100-400mm canon lens has an f/ of 4.5 - 5.6. is this too slow?
I really appreciate your quick assistance.

[SmartWombat]

Manual gives you more control but you have to keep an eye on the meter and be aware of the light.

Remember to set the lens IS to mode 2 for panning.

The lens is rather small aperture, and likely a bit soft wide open (well mine is).
You may need to use f/8 to get really good images at 400mm, which is not letting in much light
So you will need to use higher ISO to get a good shutter speed on dull days.

If you find you're not using the full 400mm, consider the 70-200 L f/2.8 as your next lens.
Yes it's expensive even second hand, but the ability to use it at f/2.8 is worth it IMO.
That will give you a more blurred background against which the players will stand out, because you can use a wider aperture.

Shutter speed depends on the action, do you want to try to freeze it?
Or do you want to show a bit of blur to keep the impression of movement?

Unless you have good light, you may be pushing the ISO up to the point where it gets noisy. If so look out for a noise reduction program to post-process the images.

Personally, I would shoot RAW and not JPG all the time.
It stores the full colour range of the sensor, not the limited 8 bits/pixel/colour range of JPG.
So there is more opportunity to correct colour balance and exposure later.
Of course you should try to get it right in the camera, but if you don't then RAW is your safety net

I'm sure JETA will echo my advice to keep your eyes open if you're on the sidelines !
I think her broken leg has healed now.

Now that's all general, because I don't shoot American football here in the UK.

[dstdiego]

Dear Paul,

thank you very much concerning your advice. I have read your response again and again
because I want to remember what i have to do. Unfortunately, right now I can only afford
the 100-400mm lens. But I am seriously considering the 70-200mm lens 2.8 because
of its review. without your opinion I would never have thought about this lens. The reason I bought the 100-400mm lens was because I am on the stands and I am stuck in one location. I needed the range to take the pictures. I thought I made a good decision.

Question: If i need to blur the subject, at what speed should i use?
and also your point about using raw is well taken. I have contemplated on trying it out
but i have been so intimidated. I was worried it would make my life more complicated.
I don't know anything about adobe nor about the software. I software that came with
the camera is still in the box. Never even dared to upload it to my computer.
But there is always a first time for everything and tomorrow I will upload the software.

Again thank you very much.

Doug

[BFiredup]

Well if you are shooting in Raw you will need the software you haven't loaded yet....
So take the plunge....LOL....it is worth it.....

Welcome to the forum...

[SmartWombat]

Well Doug if you're in the stands you'll need that 400mm to get the players anywhere near filling the frame. So don't worry about the 70-200 until you can get closer.

I bought the 100-400 because I wasn't getting close enough to motorsport. I've found it very good for the price, better then the Sigma 80-400 because for me the speed was worth the 30% extra. But for the lurkers who haven't bought a lens yet, it depends on your budget and if you need the faster autofocus of the Canon.

I tried the 70-200 with the Canon x2 converter and it was a mistake, not sharp enough for me. I should have bought the 1.4x instead.


The shutter speed depends completely on what you are blurring !
I can't give you the right setting, sorry.
Remember that the IS on the lens will help you keep steady, but it doesn't stop the blurring from movement of your subject.
With a 400mm lens it's recommended not to go slower than 1/400 second (the rule of thumb is 1/focal length) but you can probably get to 1/250 with careful panning.
The only way is to try it and see, because you will get different effects in a tackle compared to a full tilt rush.