Hi Barrie from Utah!

I grew up in Bountiful. Miss it a lot. Don't mind Southern Utah tho.
I'm a Nikon shooter and have never regretted it. When my son asked me what the best camera for his wife would be I suggested the D7000. It has worked out perfectly for her.
Ugly Hedgehog is addictive and an incredible source for acquiring new camera skills.
If you haven't already try and get away from those scene settings and start using manual settings as soon as you can. I have found keeping my shutter speed at 250 or better will go a long way in reducing camera shake blur and stopping action at the same time. And yes, simply resting the camera lens in your palm can really make a big difference. Not much different than shooting a rifle to avoid shaking.

You might Google for some "soccer team pictures" to get some ideas. I think the most important thing you can do when getting team pictures is to get as close as possible so faces are easily recognizable and keep in mind most pictures will be printed on a 4x6, 8x10, or 16x20 format. Having different size subjects will help. I didn't follow my own advise on this pic.

(Download)

Good challenge. I had a little success with shooting a high school team on the track with some hurdles thrown in. Your different size tracksters will help get a closer shot. I think the best shot is always the closest shot so all faces are easily recognizable that will fit in an 8x10 frame or 16x20 poster where most team pictures end up. Good luck

Her and a couple of friends stopped just behind me after I pulled over to take some shots. None of them spoke any English but it was still fun. I took several pictures of all three of them with their cameras but only got this one with mine. It's one of those times you wished you had a second chance to get more creative.

I love living in Southern Utah. The scenery is amazing! The hill behind this beautiful tourist is actually called "Forrest Gump" hill because of the movie scene when Forrest decided to quit running.

I received this lens about a month ago. It never ceases to amaze me! This soccer picture was at 500 mm, shutter 1/800 and ISO 320 and F/10. Camera body is D4s. Oh yes, hand held too!

Across the field

(Download)

It was a ton of money. I think you are smart to wait a little while for the price to come down. My grandson received a Canon for Christmas. I was really impressed with it as I have with a lot of other Canon photographers. If I probably had it to do over again I would have gone the Canon route.
And yes they are coming out with a camera soon with better features than Nikon D4s.

Yes, 16,000 ISO was correct. The Nikon D4s can go up to a native 24,000 ISO without a lot of noise. After talking to a professional sport photographer he said the higher ISO limits allow him to use less expensive lenses while shooting sports at night.

My first chance to use the Tamron 150-600 was at our Friday night football game. I'm really impressed with everything about it. The D4s really helped with it's high native ISO.
This is the first picture I have posted on UHH so not sure how it will look.

Shutter 320 ISO 16,000 5.6 Aperture 300mm

Great picture! I just received my Tamron 150-600 in the mail yesterday. Looks like it can really perform! Can't wait to try it out.

This happened to me. It turned out that my camera had been set to automatic "Bracketing" without me knowing it. Once that was turned off it solved the problem.

For some reason the first two shots don't work for me.

However, the third one is gorgeous.

I wished I could explain why but I'm still new to photography and have a lot to learn, especially about composition.

Ultimately the pictures we take are for the people in them. I have never considered Photo Shopping my photos but you have changed my mind. I think your enhanced photo is stunning and the original just about as good as they get. I'm looking forward to being part of the UHH community. There's a ton of information and gorgeous photos like yours.

Oh how beautiful!

I use a Nikon D300S and a Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR lens. I'm always glad when the uniforms are colors other than black or white. When black or white my exposure always seem unpredictable. That's why your shots of your daughter amaze me. Between the perfect exposure and clarity. I'm new here at Hedgehog so I'm excited to learn as much about taking those "special photos".