Shooting Sports 101 – Football
September 7, 2010 By 1 Comment
High School Football
f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 100
The undisputed heavyweight of the high school sports world.
I could create an entire blog devoted to high school football photography. In fact, there’s no time to be funny or clever here – we just need to get down to business.
Here are some of my tips from spending countless Friday-night hours on the sidelines.
Logistical Tips
1. Get There Early! Most football games are played on Friday nights. Take advantage of the fleeting daylight savings time hours and set out to shoot early in the season. Believe me, the difference in available light in early September compared with late October is staggering.
2. Stake Out Your Spot – Park yourself in the end zone or in the corner of the field. You will get yelled at if you get too close to the coach’s box.
3. Follow the ball – this is where most of the action is.
f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 1000
4. Look out! Tackles happen in the sideline – exactly where you’re standing. If the rumble of sweaty boys starts to gain strength – MOVE!
5. Take a knee – shooting sports from a sitting or kneeling positions is a really great perspective and enhances the action and drama.
Camera Settings
1. Shutter Speed – It is really hard to stop action with a shutter speed of anything slower than 1/250. If you go slower, you’ll get more light into your camera, but you will most likely end up with a blurry image.
f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 800
2. Bump up that ISO as high as it will go. (I know, I know – the grain! Keep reading because I’m addressing that in the next section.)
3. Open your aperature as wide as it will go (smallest number possible). If you’ve got some fast glass and can go as low as f/2.8 – you’ve got the ingredients to make some terrific images!
f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 800
4. Use spot focusing.
f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 1000
Equipment and SoftwareTips
1. Investing in a cheap monopod can come in really handy for high school football. Because of the lighting, you’re going to have to slow your shutter speed waaaaaay down and a monopod will reduce natural camera shake.
2. Noise reduction software. Personally, I really like Noise Ninja. Again, because of the lighting, you’re going to want to bump up your ISO as high as it will go. The higher the ISO the more grainy or noisy the image. Noise Ninja is a photoshop plug in that resides in your filter section. It does a really nice job of getting rid of a lot of that noise.
Cheats - OK so you don’t have the kind of setup I’ve described above – not a problem – here’s an idea that will also work.
If you really want to capture some great action shots of your son or nephew, a cool cheat is to set up shop during warm ups. Usually, both groups run patterns for a long time before the game starts.
f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 100
You can usually venture closer to mid-field which is closer to the lights AND the ref won’t give you a hard time for being close to the field before the whistle blows.
Since the players run patterns as a part of their warm-up routine, you have more opportunity to capture YOUR kid with the ball. If you frame the image right, nobody will be able to tell that the shot occurred prior to kickoff.
Don’t forget to capture some non-action shots. I talk about that more in this post.
And of course, if there is a DAY game scheduled – get there and make some great images!
f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100
f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100
Canon Lens Coffee Mug
August 27, 2010 By 1 Comment
I stumbled upon this product after reading this cool blog.
If any of you guys pull my name in this year’s Secret Santa, here is something I simply MUST have.
It’s a Canon Lens Coffee Mug!
I know, right! It’s freaking AWESOME!
5 Tips for B/W Image Conversion in Photoshop
August 23, 2010 By 1 Comment
I must admit. I’m not a very patient person.
Actually, I am patient, but I posess a finite amount of patience and by the time my son is played with, fed, bathed and put to bed, my patience resevoir is tapped out. When I’m ready to sit down in front of the computer, the last thing that I am able to do is spend a ton of time photoshopping my images.
I suppose it’s good to know this about myself, otherwise I’d be broke replacing so many laptops and windows after throwing said laptop through said window.
I envy these people who seem to be at their best when they are applying every single filter every single fix to end up with the perfect end product.
Me, not so much.
For the most part, I am fine doing a little bit of post-production work on my images. I bump up the saturation, apply the unsharp mask, maybe mess around with the shadow/highlight and that’s about it.
OK, OK… if I’m working with an image that I’m in, maybe I’ll do the thinning technique that Scott Kelby wrote about. Seriously, this dude should win a Nobel Prize for this tip alone!
Here are my quick and dirty tips for b/w image conversion. These are in no particular order, because sitting down and ranking them would require the patience that I spent wiping the winter squash out of my hair after my son threw it at me.
Here’s the original image that I’ve converted.
1. Channel Mixer – In my opinion, using the Channel Mixer gives you the most control and power over your conversion. When you select this option, you’ll see a control box that let’s you adjust how much the red, green and blue filters will kiss the image.
2. Grayscale Color Mode – this is the quickest way to turn a color image into black and white. Go to the Image menu, Mode submenu and then select Grayscale.
Now, while this is the quickest way, it is far from the best way. Check out the results below. It looks a little muddy.
I’ve found that the grayscale mode works best for color images that already have a lot of contrast and possess color on the extreme ends of the spectrum. If you have an image like this and not alot of time, this might be a good method to use.
3. Desaturation – Another option is to reduce the saturation option all the way within the Hue/Saturation tool. This will remove all color from the image.
4. Duotone - I love this method because not only can you make b/w images, you can select any two colors you want – red and white can be REALLY cool! See:
5. Use whichever method YOU think looks best. Who cares what I or anyone else has to say! They are your pictures – do what YOU want.
Weekend Bonus Shot(s)
August 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
My son loves airplanes. We’re fortunate to live really close to a small airport and there is never a shortage of small propellor planes flying low overhead
No matter what we’re doing, whether it’s eating, walking or playing, when he hears the distant rumble of a plane approaching, he is immediately frozen in his tracks. He looks up to the sky and is transfixed.
Shooting Sports 101 – Waterpolo
August 16, 2010 By 7 Comments
I’m kicking off a regular series here at Live Laugh Shoot to coincide with the Fall sports season. First up, the photographer’s dream sport – waterpolo!
What makes this a dream sport? PLENTY!
1. It’s super easy to get a beautiful clean background. No need to worry about garbage cans on the sideline or parking lots – just perfect blue water.
See what I mean?
2. DRAMA! The action in waterpolo takes place at face level, so almost every shot has the potential to capture peak drama.
3. Outdoor shooting – sure, some games take place after dark, but a good number will occur during the day where you can take advantage of fast shutter speed.
TIPS
If your son or daughter’s game IS scheduled to begin around dusk, get there early! I truly believe that hell is lit by high school football lights. High School Football lights are the SUN compared to the dangling 40 watt bulb over a pool that serves as THE light source for nighttime waterpolo.
My tip to you – get there early and fire off as many shots as you can before night falls. Most high school refs believe that their authority was proclaimed through the 11th commandment. Needless to say, they’ll probably humiliate you if even THINK about pulling out a flash. If you have got some fast glass, you’ve got a good chance at stopping motion at f/2.8, 1/250 and ISO 1600 to 3200.
Most of all, get out there and have fun!
Weekend Bonus Shot
August 15, 2010 By 2 Comments
This weekend’s bonus shot is courtesy of Julie’s cousin.
It’s a little late, but Welcome to the World Keira!
2 Become 1
August 14, 2010 By 1 Comment
I’ve spent the majority of my adult life trying to figure out which Spice Girls song is my favorite.
2 Become 1 is an epic ballad and an appropriate title for today’s post.
Julie has made a major transition professionally and will be temporarily exiting the blogging-sphere so that she can focus on her new career.
She has finally done the world a favor and committed herself to break-dancing! Ever since Breakin’ 2 – Electric Boogaloo, the circuit has really lacked the kind of soul that Julie will undoubtedly provide. I know what you’re thinking, THANK GOODNESS! While I couldn’t agree with you more, we all know fun jobs like this won’t buy a lot of diapers and so breakdancing has been tentatively slotted for 2012, pending her daughter’s successful potty training and Julie’s back holding out.
Julie will certainly continue to follow the site and post the occasional guest piece, but for the time being, she has decided to take a break as the co-leader of this venture.
Please join me in wishing Julie the best and reminding her that the longer she stays away from Live Laugh Shoot, the more atomic the wedgie will eventually be.
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