livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Have a Canon rebel xt, about 4 years old. My lenses are the 18-55mm and 75-300mm. neither one is expensive. I never really learned how to use my camera properly. I really like taking sports pictures. My major problem has been taking pictures of moving objects.

Went to Monster Jam at Ford Field in January, took almost 1000 pictures and about 95% were out of focus. Odviously I was very upset. Read some articles about aperature before the event, tried my best but it didn't work out.


Going again on March 3rd, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Read a topic from a fellow michigander, she did not want any negetive feedback about her pictures. I welcome any feedback even negetive, anything to make me better bring it.

Thanks and I am happy I found your site.

Detroit - 01-14-12


Detroit - 01-14-12


Detroit - 01-14-12

Zerbphlatz Loc: Southern New Hampshire

Welcome to the forum. Nice action shots!

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Thanks, if you seen all the ones out of focus you would understand my concern.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Can you give us some of your settings you were using?
Erv
Add welcome to the site!

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Hey Erv

Thanks for the reply, lets see on the dial I use the sports settiing so I can rapid shoot. my iso is set to 400, and aperature was at 5.

Now the whole night i was trying different settings, these are what i ended up with. I do not use a tripod, is that something i should try to reduce the shaking.

Do lenses go bad after a few years?

Funny thing is, is that we went to Cincinatti last July for the monster trucks, it was outdoors, but my sucess rate was about 90%. I was about 150' further back, but the pictures came out great. when it got dark i started losing some, but most came out fine.

hopefully i gave you the info you needed, i just downloaded the user manual, i am going to read that from front to back.

Zerbphlatz Loc: Southern New Hampshire

I'm not an expert, nor a pro, and arguably a mediocre amateur, but seems you want to have the shutter as fast as possible. To get there, you probably have to open the aperture up and bump up the ISO setting.

Of course, the hard part of this is with a wide open aperture, you have little depth of field, so you will need to keep one hand on the focus ring. You might be able to use auto focus, if you have a "constant" mode where the camera monitors the focus and adjusts on the fly. Depending on your camera/lens combo, auto focus might prove too slow. (you can also manually focus where you expect the truck to be when you shoot it and leave the focus alone. Shoot multiple shots and you'll hopefully get one or two in focus as the truck travels through your focus zone)

What I would do is find some moving targets and practice with different camera settings to zero in on what works for you. Since you don't care about the actual content of the shots, you can fully concentrate on the camera. Some place that has a view of an interstate highway would be a good example. Or a busy airport. Some place where something is moving at roughly the same, or faster, speed you expect the monster trucks to be moving.

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

excellent idea, i will try that, thank you for the input.

photophly Loc: Old Bridge NJ

Great action shots.....welcome.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Well if you were at F5 and zoomed out all the way you were close to what the lens can do. You are going to have to go up with the ISO. Then see how far you can push the shutter. It would be nice to see a shutter speed around 400 to 500 if you can get it.
Lenses don't go bad, unless you don't store them right. They will get a fungus inside of them. You should be able to see it if you look through the lens holding the aperture open. I have lenses that I still use, that I bought back in 1968.
The difference between the two places and how your pictures came out was probably the lighting in the stadiums.
They might not let you in with a tripod, so I would invest in a good monopod. It will work better when you are setting down anyway.
Hope this helps some.
Erv

Bunny-Jean Loc: Wisconsin

Welcome!!!! I like your pics, Actually your pictures show motion.... Would a monopod help???

rfbccb Loc: Central Mississippi

Welcome to UHH. Sorry about the bad 95% but I like the good 5%.

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Thank you very much, I like this site, people are very helpful.

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Thank you Betty Jean. I am going to find out what a monopod is right now.

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Sorry (Bunny Jean)

livewire1999 Loc: Michigan

Thank you Erv, I will do that, I was checking out a monopod at Meijers the other day. I am sure it wasn't a good one it was only $14. I can bring in tri-pods to the stadium. Unfortunately I used it for my video camera.

I just wrote down the settings you recommended and I am going to take your advice about the freeway when it gets a little darker tonight.

Appreciate all your help