The *Official Photography Thread*

One thing Canon has never been great at is autofocus in low light. If you're using the 580 on-camera (or cord), you could use focus assist to mitigate that problem.

That building looks like it'd be hard to deal with. Do you use an assistant with flash on a pole?

 

So...was browsing the newspaper's site. On the site the had 2 articles of pretty much the same thing. The first one is my photo, which the editor might have cropped a bit. And then the 2nd is the photographer that was standing beside me with a on camera flash shooting directly at the player with no diffuser. What do you guys think?

 

no flash...

the second one was not properly exposed right, the flash was way overdone. Also that guy should remove his watermark...

I would not shot sports with a flash because, of possible blinding the athletes.

 

Yeah it's way soft...thats why I said I think it's cropped a bit too. But I dunno. This week I upped my ISO and shutter trying to get better crisper photos. I can tell a pretty big difference.

Thats what I thought too. And the editor told me strictly not to include it. Guess that guy didn't listen.

Let me see if I can pull ones from this week that I sent in.

 

Was using 2000 moved up to 2500 this week.

 

That picture there was

Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Lens: 70 mm
Exposure: Manual, 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600

So that one was before I even went up to 2000

 

The higher the ISO, the more the noise. I have to say that I'm not a fan of either shot. The first is soft--whether that's a function of the heavy crop or it's just OOF, doesn't matter--it's soft. The second is just a crappy flash shot.

One way you can work is by using a couple of strobes firing up to the ceiling. This can be done by putting the strobes in the stands or against the wall at one end of the court. Lot's of good info on sportsshooter.com.

 

I have some Nik software that has a noise reduction, works pretty well and you don't lose much clarity.

How does it look like this...? That is the size on the site. Not near as soft but when blown up it's soft as hell.

 

It still looks soft. The heavy crop doesn't help.

One thing you should do is take a look at your focus point. You can dig that out with the Canon supplied software.

At the distance you were (from the action), f/2.8 should allow you enough DOF to keep more in focus. The NIK software will help you reduce the noise for sure.

 

Nice pic... I am not sure what the technical term is to remove all the color except one object, but it sure does look cool as hell with the right photos...

 

the "fancy term" is selective coloring

 

Nice.. "selective coloring" It's always easier than you think.

 

I'll have to check that. I have the focus point set for the middle alone in the viewfinder.

 

Which is the most accurate point for your camera. Also, I forgot to ask, what mode are you using for focus? It's possible you locked focus, the players moved and you opened the shutter.

Have a look at this page for some hints on the 20D. That might help you with the settings on your camera. One thing that might help a lot is to separate the focus from the shutter release--set the focus button to the "*" button on the back of the camera (you use your thumb to focus and index finger to fire the shutter).

 

Yeah that's what I do, I use the AF button on the back and follow the ball and then click the shutter. I believe if I remember correctly the focus mode is on AI Servo.

 

Cool.

 

No assistant - the 580 was mounted on camera for fill

 

Try using the flash to help you with focus. Sometimes helps.

 

Ahhh, summer time!

 

I like that Ross. Reminds me of a lake I visited this year.