A little help with sports phography

[rossh]

First of all, sorry if this is in the wrong section and been answered before.

I've been shoting for a bit, but always used the sports mode on my 10D, but now have been given the chance for an extended borrow of a 1d markII. Had a play and realised I really don't know anything about the setting of a camera. Can anyone recommend a book/website at will explain what each setting a function has on a piture, if it has a sports feel to it that would be great.

Any tips and advice would be greatly appeciated.

Ross

[CallumW]

Ask to lend the book that came with the camera maybe?
It will explain all the settings of the camera and What they are best for and how to use them.

I found this it might help.
http://alpha03u.c-wss.com/inc/ApplServlet?SV=WWUCA900

Sorry if none of this is help.

Callum

[JSPhoto]

if you are shooting sports, do a search (from the line where it says MY Account) for the sport you want to shoot and get some tips right here from the forum. Then when you have specific questions ask here.

One thing I will say is use Manual mode, not the other modes.

JS

[rgusberti]

Hey Ross -
I will soon get to the Manual mode, but I'm not quite there yet. We all would agree with JS that manual will allow you, as the photographer, to completely control what happens (given the lighting environment). I would ask you if you feel comfortable with manual yet?

I am much less experienced than JS and most others here, so I still shoot Aperture Priority. Depending on what you're shooting, indoor, outdoor, sunny, cloudy, etc... you adjust the aperture accordingly, the camera's brain then figures out shutter speed based on what ISO you're using. For my son's indoor basketball, in small middle school gyms with pretty poor lighting, I open the aperture fully to allow for the fastest possible shutter speed. For these games I use my Canon EF 85mm f1.8. In fact, just beore coming online to this forum today I was reading a review on the Canon EF 85mm f1.2L lens because that may make a huge difference in the gyms. Pretty big price tag, but according to what I'm reading, probably worth it.

I hope this helps. Believe me, I don't really feel qualified to give this advice. even if you "lurk" on this forum like I have for a long time, there are some pretty sophisticated photographers here. My experience is that they're more than happy to lend advice.
BobG

[masdog]

Hi Ross,

Welcome to the forums. My first bit of advice would be to head over to the Canon USA website. Download the camera for the book and read it. Even though Canon tries to make the basic control layout of the cameras very similar from model to model, the manual will give you more insight on the camera and its features. Some will be very helpful to you, others may not, but you never know when you might want to try something.

Second, don't hesitate to ask questions about any sport you might be covering. All the photographers here have pretty much covered it all...from football and baseball to motorsports and cricket. Yes, I said cricket.

If you have a question or a situation you need help with, chances are someone here has shot in a similar situation.

In regards to books, there are a few out there. Most of the ones I've seen weren't terribly good, and the most recent that I am aware of called Digital Sports Photography by G. Lawrence Newman was halfway decent. You'll learn very little, in my opinion, from some of those books, and you'll be better served by sharing your work and asking questions on a forum.