Swallen95 Loc: Flathead Valley

So I said I would post some sports photos, here they are. I've got hundreds these are just a few. How do i avoid the blurr? I've pretty much just learned photography as I've gone- someone please help me understand fstop iso and shutter speed.

VA7RS Loc: BC Canada

A faster shutter speed would help. Try 1/250 and see how it works.

Swallen95 Loc: Flathead Valley

will try, thank you!

Hoss Loc: Near Pittsburgh, Pa

What equipment are you using? You can kick up your ISO. but it may add noise to the photo. Shoot wide open say f2.8, but this will also give you shallow depth of field so you focus needs to be dead on the player you want. High school football is tough because the light is fair at best, and usually gets worse as you get closer to the goal line. Some blur looks good like the one with the Qb passing the ball. It shows the motion of his arm! If you want I have several football pics on here just click on hoss and look at some of the topics i have you will find the football pics.
Mike

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

The quest for sharply detailed photos of action subjects is all about shutter-speed, or, more correctly shutter-duration. In the case of your photos of football players, often they are moving very fast, and, in fact, sometimes you are actually moving your camera as well. Generally you'll need a shutter-duration of at least 1/500th sec. or perhaps greater (1/1000th, 1/1200th, etc.). This is not too difficult on a bright, sunny afternoon: 1/1000th sec. @ f/5.6 is average with ISO 100. But when you get stuck under the lights for evening games it becomes a challenge. You need to be boosting your ISO up to, perhaps, 1000, or even 1600 or greater. It's something you'll need to experiment with, as there isn't any really reliable formula to follow.
On the plus side: Don't neglect intentional blurring as an expression of action in a photo. Race cars, for example, photographed with very speedy shutter-durations will often look like they are "parked" on the track, not giving the impression of speed at all.
You are venturing into an extremely interesting area of photography which I'm sure you will enjoy. Fortunately, with digital, we can take multitudes of images without having to mortgage the homestead. So, shoot LOTS and have FUN and success will be YOURS!

Hoss Loc: Near Pittsburgh, Pa

oops! My mind was thinking about when you raise the ISO it will allow you to increase the shutter speed! My fingers just did not type what I was thinking. Is it too late or am I just too old!!!! Thanks for catching my oops!
Mike

Swallen95 Loc: Flathead Valley

I have a Conon EOS rebel xsi, with that a tamron 300mm zoom lens. abs then i have a Nikon D5000. with a nice sigma 70-200mm lens. for these photos i used the canon but I also take photos for the local semipro football team. I had an incident last year, where i was taken out by a player due to a late hit.. and my spleen burst. here in April their season starts up again and i will be able to use the Nikon. it allows double the iso speed. it should work better right?

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

I commonly set the "scene" mode to "Sport" during warmups and shoot a few shots under the conditions I think I might encounter and note the settings the camera picked for the photos and the resulting pictures. Then set the camera on manual or shutter priority for the effect I want. For example, at the last soccer game I shot, the Sports setting set the SS at 1/2000 which froze all action but also set a rather high ISO and wide Aperture. I wanted a little motion blur on the feet and ball but everything else frozen so I lowered the SS, decreased the ISO and increased the F-stop. And shot the game that way.

You may also find some of your best shots will be those taken during warm ups or in practice since you know where the action is going to take place and can position yourself perfectly and get to repeat it over and over. For example, if the place kicker is practicing field goals, he/she will do it over and over. You can set up in perfect position and make minor adjustments to get the best composition and subject isolation. I also shoot in burst mode with the intent of rejecting 9 our of 10 shots of each series.

jjestar Loc: Savannah GA

Faster shutter speeds should do the trick, practice your panning also.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Sorry about the sideline incident and your spleen injury. You are obviously a trooper since you are looking forward to a new season. Your Nikon with the 70-200 is a good setup for sideline football photography. As has been said a higher ISO will allow you greater flexibility and shutter speed. For football I generally select a shutter speed that will freeze most motion (around 1/250) and shoot in shutter priority mode. Setting the ISO where it needs to be to allow the camera to determine a midrange aperature. If you use a monopod it will be helpful handling the weight of your camera and lens and give you better stability. Sometimes I am shooting from the bleachers but usually I am moving along the sideline with the ball but I often take a small canvas stool and just find a good spot to "camp out". Hope this helps.

jjestar Loc: Savannah GA

Best place to be is 20 yards in front of the offensive line.

michelleGD

I love the blur in the first shot !! Good job.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Agree, in front of the offensive line. Personally I like 15 yards but that's me.

mariraju Loc: Toronto

Try increasing the shutter speed to 300 and above. Also make sure how much F-Stop (DOF - Depth Of Field) you would like to have in the photo. One thing to remember is, when you increase the shutter speed and DOF, you might want to compensate the light with the increase in ISO as well. Otherwise photos will be dark. Try these and please let us know.

Toby

Most HS stadium light is tough. Usually f 2.8, 1/300 and ISO 3200 is minimum requirement. You will still get some blurring but many will be OK. Try to position so that players are running toward or away from you rather than across in front. If you can consistantly acheive good pics with these settings I would go with aperature priority so that the lighting needs less post adjusting file to file. If lighting permits increase shutter speed to 1/500 and if you are truly lucky then lower the ISO. I most situations f 2.8 has sufficient DOF to keep your subject in focus, going to f1.8 may narrow it too much. Good Luck