My son the Shot Putter

[MonkeyWrench]

This is one shot of my son doing the shot put.

I am not a very good sports photographer and I hope by moving to digital will help me improve. Any advice on how to best photograph this event would be appreciated. He also does the high jump. My other son does the hurdles. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. Russ

[Beamer]

Russ,

I don't know much about photography, because I just started shooting to. But from what I gather, try to get facial expressions.

Happy Shooting,

Beamer

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks Beamer,

This is the rest of the sequence with facial expression.

[Old Timer]

Russ as I think I mentioned earlier my son and daughter ran track in high school and I always enjoyed getting as many pictures as possible of them. I still enjoy shooting track and field and as Beamer mentioned the facial expressions can be all important in this sport. As in all sport you should always strive to capture the moments of extreme exertion or peak action. Such as the moment that the shot is released from the finger tips. Your off to a great start for the season keep it up.

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks Larry,

I am having trouble trying to get the background blurred and still get a good exposure. This is a shot a just took tonight. You and Brent would of been proud I did it all manually relying on my exposure meter and histogram. The shot came out okay, I would just like to have the background less in focus. As for off to a good start you can thank Brent for that he gave me a few pointers in another post. This picture was taken with my 50mm f/1.8 lens. I am finding it to be quite handy.

[JSPhoto]

Russ,

What camera body, lens and settings did you uise for these? That will help give you some help on your non-blur issues.

JS

[Old Timer]

Russ It might help on the background if you paid close attention to your positioning. On this hurdle shot you appear to be standing straight up. Try getting higher or even better lower. Get down on that knee or even on your belly. Sometime moving to the bleachers and getting higher can help. Use a longer lens that will still get you in close to the action but allow you to get a better angle or position to shot in. Large aperture and critical focus are the keys to getting the background blurred more as well once you have physically tried to eliminate as much as possible with angle and positioning.

[MonkeyWrench]

Russ,

What camera body, lens and settings did you uise for these? That will help give you some help on your non-blur issues.

JS

Thanks for asking John.
To start my equipment: Canon Digital Rebel XT 350D, Canon Kit Lens EFS 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 II, Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II and Canon EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III lenses.

The shotput pictures were shot in Landscape mode. So I know there is not going to be any blur there. I chose landscape because it was very sunny and my LCD screen was pretty much useless. Landscape is what I use when I don't know what to use.

The Hurdles were shot in manual with a 50mm lens at ISO 400 shutter 1/800.

This new picture of a pitcher with some blur was taken today in manual with the 75-300mm lens at 180mm F/5.6 1/400 and ISO 100.

Thanks for your help.

[MonkeyWrench]

Russ It might help on the background if you paid close attention to your positioning. On this hurdle shot you appear to be standing straight up. Try getting higher or even better lower. Get down on that knee or even on your belly. Sometime moving to the bleachers and getting higher can help. Use a longer lens that will still get you in close to the action but allow you to get a better angle or position to shot in. Large aperture and critical focus are the keys to getting the background blurred more as well once you have physically tried to eliminate as much as possible with angle and positioning.

Thanks Larry,

I'm still learning for sure. Brent also suggested that getting the right angle was key to taking good track pictures. I did try some bleacher shots today but they did not come out so good but it did eliminate a lot of the background clutter. I think I had the elevation okay but not the right angle. My oldest has a track meet tomorrow I am going to try using my zoom lens at its longest focal length 300mm and see how it goes. Practice, Practice, Practice.

The boys and I are going to a Dragons Baseball game this Wednesday. Hope to get some good pics.

Thanks as always for your advice and tips.

[MonkeyWrench]

Here are two from today. The shotput was shot at 300mm F/8 1/800 iso 100. The long jump 300mm f.5.6 1/800 ISO 100. My son is rather tall and has a high throw and I am having trouble keeping him in frame. As you can see here, but I did improve on the blur. And for the record Larry, I was sitting for the Shotput and Kneeling on the Long Jump.

[JSPhoto]

The blur is better, however the 75-300 doesn't do the best at it. As long as you keep it wide open you'll get the best results you can. Shoot in manual mode, keep your f stop as low as possible and adjust from there.
You may just want to do some test shots, say of a tree in your yard with different f stops and see which settings give the best background blur. Sometimes you'll also find your lens is sharpest where you least expect it. Canon can adjust the camera and lens for a specific f stop.

JS

[MonkeyWrench]

The blur is better, however the 75-300 doesn't do the best at it. As long as you keep it wide open you'll get the best results you can. Shoot in manual mode, keep your f stop as low as possible and adjust from there.
You may just want to do some test shots, say of a tree in your yard with different f stops and see which settings give the best background blur. Sometimes you'll also find your lens is sharpest where you least expect it. Canon can adjust the camera and lens for a specific f stop.

JS

Thanks John,

I'll do some testing and see how it goes. Thanks for the input.