Heads Up!

[gmen]

A day of sporting action - with numerous 'headers' taking place.

I was lucky enough to capture a few. Thumbs up for these heads up?

[ThoughtfulPirate]

Really nice. Nailed the focus with good thin DOF.

[Peter_AUS]

Makes you wonder how they get the balls into the goal with most of them having their eyes shut.

[gmen]

It does make you wonder! It's amazing how many of the players do have their eyes shut... Fortunately, no-one pictured here was trying to score a goal... however, I'll have to check my goal pics and see if the players have their eyes open!

[SunnySideUp]

Beautiful DOF... What are you doing to achieve or what is your setup to get such a nice DOF on a fuild sport like soccer? You have the shots that I would have like to gotten on my Ultimate shots.

[gmen]

Thanks SunnySideUp.

I generally shoot between f/2.8 and f/4 on a 300mm lens to minimise the DOF. These shots are all at 1/1250s, f/3.5 at 200ASA - with the exception of shot number 3 (which is slightly backlit) at 1/800s, f/3.2.

These are taken with the 1D MkII, but I get pretty good results with my 10D as well - although I have to work that much harder to anticipate the peak of the action due to the slight shutter lag.

The good thing about these headers is that their location is 'reasonably' predictable. The ball can go fairly high in the air so there's a little bit of time to swing the lens into position - then it's all down to nailing the focus and timing.

Hope this helps a little!