burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, I'd use shutter priority.

If the game is in full sun, I'd probably use 1/1000 second so I could get an aperture of about f/8 at ISO 250, when using the long zoom. That's a compromise among action stopping ability, lens performance, diffraction avoidance, depth of field, and low noise. With the 70-200, I'd lower the ISO to 125, which would float the aperture to around f/5.6.

If the game is under a cloudy sky, or in shade, I'd probably bump the ISO as high as 1000, maybe higher, to maintain about f/8 on the long zoom. I'd probably set ISO to around 500 for the shorter zoom.

To make post-processing easier, I would do a couple of things regarding white balance. First, I would set a custom white balance, using a target of some sort. Then, I would re-check that white balance when plays are in the shade, or when the light changes. You can always hold up a Passport Colorchecker Chart and make an exposure, and base your white balance off of that in Lightroom, to keep it accurate.

Stadium lights these days tend to be HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide) or Metal Halide. The color temperature can vary a lot, but it tends to be in the range of 5000 to 6000K, to match daylight. Reason? TV broadcasting... Broadcast cameras tend to have presets for Daylight and Tungsten-Halogen lamps (5500K and 3200K). Camera operators don't like to fool with custom white balance during a game. As sunlight fades in the afternoon, and the lights come on, it makes sense that they would be designed to match Noon daylight. Afternoon sun adds a bit of warmth to highlights, but the lights tend to balance things in the shadows, which are lit by blue sky (10,000K or so!). You can try Daylight white balance, but may have issues with JPEGs. Raw files can always be adjusted in post; hence the use of a Passport or other target.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

My opinion: Use shutter priority as you said and let the camera decide the rest. At the evening game you're going to have some problems... for example, if you use auto ISO you'll most likely get some noise. Day time that won't be a problem. Good luck and have fun. Oh, since I use to shoot football from the sidelines for broadcast TV... try not to get run over - it hurts.

btbg

Your D300 will be fine in daylight, but will have a lot of noise in the night game. The players may be good, but the darker backgrounds will have distracting noise.

I shot with a D300 and a D300S up until this summer when I finally replaced them with a D5 and D500. I mostly shoot high school sports for a local newspaper. Occasionally get to shoot college, mostly small college, occasionally the big schools.

Shooting major sports just off and on can make it stressful as most of the photographers that you are competing with shoot major college every weekend.

There are several things that you can do to make life easier for yourself. First, get there early, walk around the entire stadium and be friendly with all of the security personnel that surround the field. You would be surprised how much easier they can make moving back and forth around the field if you have been friendly with them.

Second, shoot some shots during warmups. That gives you time to look over your work critically and fine tune your exposure and white balance settings.

Third, you will see hand held and monopods both at major games. Shoot in the manner that you are most comfortable. Monopods hold the camera more stable, but if you aren't used to them you may have trouble tracking the action as well as handheld. Handheld may cause some blurring if you do not hold the camera stable enough or let your shutter speed go too slow. There are advantages to both. What lens you choose to use will also be a factor with that. If you stick with the 70-200 hand held isn't going to be a problem. If you use the 200-500 it is much more likely to give you problems if you try to hand hold.

Fourth you will find that shooting collegiate sports is highly competitive and some photographers will do anything to get the shot including getting in your way. So choose your locations carefully. There are a lot of things in the way at a game. There is the chain crew, the teams, in some cases cheerleaders, security guards, and other photographers. Sight lines are important as are backgrounds. In your pregame walk around the stadium look for places with clean backgrounds. Since you will be shooting wide open, the background will blur, but the last thing you need is a cluttered background or a background with hot spots. They can destroy an otherwise great photo.

Once you choose where you would like to shoot from make sure that in the event that you are going to move during the game that you plan your route carefully. There is nothing worse than trying to move from one end to the other at the end of a quarter and not getting to your spot until after the home team has already scored. Plan your moves ahead of time.

Fifth, burst mode can help, but the reality is that great sports photos are usually great because the photographer carefully chose the background, composed, and pressed the shutter at the right moment. Timing matters and separates the average sports photographer from the great.

If your timing is good great. If you have more trouble with timing then concentrate on things that are less timing dependent. the emotion on the sideline is easy to predict and shoot. Look for players, coaches, cheerleaders, or even fans that express emotion in a big way. Then shoot them when something big happens. Capturing the action isn't just about the action on the field.

Sixth, fill the frame. I know that with the D810 cropping is an option, but the more you can fill the frame the better your shots will end up being. If you study the truly great sports photos there is very little wasted space around the borders. Isolate the subject as much as possible from everything else. There is a reason that the big guns shoot 600 f4s and 400 f2.8 lenses even though they could shoot with a smaller lens and crop. By shooting with big lenses they do a much better job of isolating the subject. Yet these same photographers also carry medium zooms or even wide angle lenses on a second camera just in case the action comes near them.

Finally, lens choice isn't nearly as important as that the lens you choose fits your shooting style. I have seen people take great sports photos with wide angle lenses and with 600 f4 lenses. Any lens that is fast enough for the light can take good photos. How you the lens is going to determine how good your shots are.

At least for the daytime game both your200-500 and 70-200 will take good photos. At night you may find it easier to shoot with just the 70-200 and if you have one available a 24-70 2.8.

Which mode you shoot on is entirely up to you. For the nighttime game I would probably just go to manual mode and set all the settings to suit my personal preferences. I would rather underexpose by a half stop to even a stop then let my shutter speed go below 1000 for college football. That's easier to do in manual mode. However, if you do that you have to keep checking your histograms as the light will change quickly early in the game.


The problem with your D810 is it's buffering rate, but it will have significantly less noise than the D300. What your lighting situation is for the night game depends a lot on what stadium you are shooting in. The major stadiums like the SEC, Pac 12, Big 10 and Big 12 all have excellent light and should not be a problem. Some smaller conferences on the other hand do not have as good of lighting.

You will notice that the advice you have been given here is all over the map. I am on the side that shoots RAW (yes even for sports) The amount of time it takes to open and process a RAW file is more than worth it because of the adjustments that it allows you to make. Yes, I have deadlines for the paper. In a pinch I will shoot RAW + Jpeg, but I always shoot RAW. So do most of the other newspaper sports photographers that I know.

That has become less important to me since I have a D5, and a lot of the big guns only shoot jpeg for speed and convenience. You can do that if you have the best equipment that money can buy, otherwise RAW will help you immensely.

Also one other thing that no one has mentioned so far. It depends on the stadium, but if it is big and loud earplugs are a really good idea. Some of the bigger stadiums can be deafening in places. Stadiums like University of Oregon or the stadium that the Seattle Seahawks play in can actually be painful if you are standing in the wrong place when it gets loud. Ear plugs solve the problem.

Have fun, and good luck.

NHinote Loc: Tennessee

Thank you for the information and your time.

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

Looks like your gonna have lots of fun.

Robeng Loc: California

Noel,

Just my personal opinion, I love my D800 but it's a little slow when it comes to frames per seconds in sports. If you can rent a D4s or D5 I would use that. I've been invited to shoot the SF 49ers next month at Levi Stadium. I will be using a D4s with a 200mm-400mm with a 1.4 tele. If you do use your D810 put it in group focusing. it helps a lot with action shots.

Rob

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

I agree with most of what you said, but the D810 is still a very good backup as it is used as my 3rd choice with a 24-70 around my neck as I have been able to capture some awesome end zone celebration shots, but it is very slow indeed.
My D5 is on my 400 while the D500 is used for my 70-200, making it a 100-300 backup, which works excellent for my needs.

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

Have you actually been able to get good usable shots at 12,800 with the D810 for night games?
I personally feel the D810 is horrible if pushed past 3200 ISO.

btbg

It's a lot better than the D300 in low light. Since that is the OP's choice the D810 will be much better in low light. Besides if it is a good stadium it won't be that low of light. The big stadiums are pretty good. They can be shot at 3,200 f2.8 and have a fast enough shutter speed to do just fine.

Beside the fact that the camera buffers slowly isn't that big a problem if you go old school and only shoot one image at a time. That's the way we all used to do it. Worked then. No reason you can't still do that if you have to. It beats firing away and then having the camera buffer right when you get to the shot you really want.

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

Hi Rob,

Which version of the 200-400 do you have? Is it the VR1 or VR2 (Nano Coated)?
There is a huge difference between the two, especially when used with the D4s.
I personally would not recommend using the 1.4x with the 200-400 because the quality will suffer considerably on the high end, especially
for night games, even with the best lit NFL stadiums. Your better to just use the 200-400 and just crop what you dont need.
I shot 18 college football games last year and 8 NFL games as I used both the 200-400 and my 400 lens as a combo setup and if you compare the shots side by side, you will definitely be disappointed in the 200-400 because the image breaks down closer to 400mm.
Ive only tried the 1.4xIII twice with the 200-400 lens and decided it was not worth submitting to my clients as most use my images for print. However, day games are perfect for the 200-400 lens.
Best of luck next month, but the players will be wearing pink trim such as shoes and gloves because of breast cancer awareness.
Unfortunately my clients do NOT use these shots because they tell me they will not sale.

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

You are correct about newer and better stadium lights will definitely help in getting 3200 ISO f/3.2 1/1000, but unfortunately you will not achieve those results with a 200-500 f/5.6 lens and I personally would not use 12,800 ISO for the D810.

btbg

Agreed. The 200-500 will work for the day game, but probably not for the night game.

Robeng Loc: California

Hi Mongoose,

Thanks for the info, I have the second generation 200mm-400mm with the VR2, Thinking about calling NPS to send me a 600mm but not sure if I want to lug that lens around. This will be the first time for me shooting the 49ers. I'm still waiting for info regarding where my seats are, was told next to the field.

Rob

mongoose777 Loc: Frisco Texas

Rob,

The 600mm is a great lens, but way too long for what I need.
I'll get some really great shots with it, but will also miss a lot.
The 200-400 VR2 is a great lens for what you'll need.
I recently sold my 200-400 and bought a D500 and now it stays with my 70-200,
making it a 100-300 2.8 lens, however its not as sharp as my 400FL or 600 f/4 primes.
That 600mm is way too heavy for me to carry around the whole game, perhaps I'm just too out of shape. :(
Well, I better run, I gotta catch the Liberty Flames @ SMU Mustangs game in a few and drive up to Houston to cover the Chiefs/Texans at noon tomorrow.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

,

Mongoose, good to see you found your way in to this post to lend your extensive professional experience. This kind of advice is hard to come by, by those that have never been in the pro trenches or are not in that trade!!!
SS