High School Soccer at Night
Mar 13, 2015 23:34:52 #
I'm trying to get some shots at our high school soccer games this season. And the games are at night with lighting that is not real great. Attached is a shot from the game last night. Pretty noisy and overall not very good... thoughts on how I might be able to do better? Looking for ideas for improvement with technique as well as equipment (might have to wait until next season for this!). Thanks for any help!
Mar 14, 2015 04:37:41 #
Sure, slow your shutter speed to 1/200th or less. The resulting available light will allow you to reduce your ISO and the noise that can go with it. I shoot a 70-200mm often and get terrific results at shutter speeds considerably less than 1/200th.
Besides, non of these kids is likely to be running so fast that you really need 1/500th to stop the action.
Besides, non of these kids is likely to be running so fast that you really need 1/500th to stop the action.
Mar 14, 2015 09:09:26 #
1stJedi wrote:
Sure, slow your shutter speed to 1/200th or less. The resulting available light will allow you to reduce your ISO and the noise that can go with it. I shoot a 70-200mm often and get terrific results at shutter speeds considerably less than 1/200th.
Besides, non of these kids is likely to be running so fast that you really need 1/500th to stop the action.
Besides, non of these kids is likely to be running so fast that you really need 1/500th to stop the action.
thanks, I'll give it a try.
Mar 14, 2015 11:09:10 #
tomglass wrote:
I'm trying to get some shots at our high school soccer games this season. And the games are at night with lighting that is not real great. Attached is a shot from the game last night. Pretty noisy and overall not very good... thoughts on how I might be able to do better? Looking for ideas for improvement with technique as well as equipment (might have to wait until next season for this!). Thanks for any help!
It's really a good shot. Some suggestion would be to crop tighter. Lower the iso, you don't need that much. This shot iso 1250 500 1.8 Nikon d-7100
Here is a website a fellow club member told me about. It is great for removing noise www. imagenomic.com
Lens 50mm 1.8
Good luck..
Mar 14, 2015 16:15:35 #
juleskarney wrote:
It's really a good shot. Some suggestion would be to crop tighter. Lower the iso, you don't need that much. This shot iso 1250 500 1.8 Nikon d-7100
Here is a website a fellow club member told me about. It is great for removing noise www. imagenomic.com
Lens 50mm 1.8
Good luck..
Here is a website a fellow club member told me about. It is great for removing noise www. imagenomic.com
Lens 50mm 1.8
Good luck..
Thanks! I'll try some shots with the free trial from imagenomic... Just curious... how close were you with your 50mm lens? and how much did you have to crop?
Mar 14, 2015 19:02:37 #
tomglass wrote:
Thanks! I'll try some shots with the free trial from imagenomic... Just curious... how close were you with your 50mm lens? and how much did you have to crop?
Imagenomic is free. It works great. I was about 20 - 25 feet away from the action. Cropping was a little. Imagenomic is for erasing noise, that's it.
Good luck,
Jules from Vegas
Mar 18, 2015 11:58:13 #
I personally would not shoot any slower than 1/500 because you will definitely see motion blur in the appendages. Try to find positions where the action will be coming towards you so that you can fill up the frame. If you crop, the noise will become even more prevalent. Using noise suppression in post processing will also help but be careful because you can easily loose detail by using too much.
Mar 18, 2015 13:43:18 #
jr168 wrote:
I personally would not shoot any slower than 1/500 because you will definitely see motion blur in the appendages. Try to find positions where the action will be coming towards you so that you can fill up the frame. If you crop, the noise will become even more prevalent. Using noise suppression in post processing will also help but be careful because you can easily loose detail by using too much.
Good points. I agree.
Mar 19, 2015 04:12:22 #
juleskarney wrote:
Good points. I agree.
jr168 has very good points! That is just about the only way you can work with the equipment you have. I'd add shooting in RAW.
But lets consider something else. All of those articles on this forum and elsewhere that say it's the photographer not the equipment... are wrong. With sports, and event photography in general, you get results from throwing money at the problem.
You've got a pretty darn good f/2.8 lens. Going to a shorter focal length is not much help, but you could get 1 fstop more exposure from a 135mm f/2 DC lens. Honestly though, it is too restrictive at only 135mm, and what you'd really like is a 400mm f/2.8 on a good tripod. But that's a small fortune too.
The money best spent would be on a full frame body. Any used or refurbished recent model (don't go as far back as the D3 or D700, stay with what has come since the D3S) will provide close to 1 fstop improvement over what you are using now. You'd be able to shoot at ISO 10000 and get less noise than you are at ISO 6400 with an APS-C sensor.
Aug 19, 2015 09:11:30 #
Apaflo wrote:
b jr168 /b has very good points! That is just a... (show quote)
Agree, Agree, Agree. I used the same combination you are trying and the quality could not be improved. Full Frame and big glass is the only answer for dimly lit High School sports. Since moving up to a D3s (and 300mm f/2.8 sometimes) my work has been accepted by CBS/MaxPreps and I am now a regular pro contributor. Keep the noise program handy, crank up the ISO and keep you shutter speed 1/500 or more. Shoot RAW (High School lights stink) to PP the WB. Even a programed WB with a D3s has to be adjusted because of light frequency, especially in a High School gym. Good luck and show us some more samples. You will get some great advice and tips here on the HOG!
Aug 19, 2015 19:36:19 #
I've "upgraded" from my D7000 to a new D7200 and took some pics during my son's summer league. These games were at the local college practice fields with lighting similar to the high school field (bad!). Here are two shots from one of the games. Kinda high ISO, and probably not very good for printing, but I think more than adequate for internet viewing and better than anything I was able to get from my D7000... thoughts on what I can do to improve some more?
Thanks for your advice and help!
Thanks for your advice and help!
Aug 19, 2015 21:28:04 #
The 7200 seems to handle the noise very well. You will actually see more noise on an image when posted on the web than you would if it were to be printed. The printing actually smoothes out the noise a bit. Doing a little finishing work to the shots such as cropping out what is not needed a little straightening and a little post processing of the noise will give them a finished, professional look.
Aug 19, 2015 21:35:15 #
jr168 wrote:
The 7200 seems to handle the noise very well. You will actually see more noise on an image when posted on the web than you would if it were to be printed. The printing actually smoothes out the noise a bit. Doing a little finishing work to the shots such as cropping out what is not needed a little straightening and a little post processing of the noise will give them a finished, professional look.
Thanks! Looks nice.
Aug 25, 2015 13:55:29 #
tomglass wrote:
I've "upgraded" from my D7000 to a new D... (show quote)
A little further processing...
Neat Image (noise reduction)
NIKON NX2:
Increase sharpening & slight contrast increase
Aug 25, 2015 15:02:39 #
Jimbo9948 wrote:
A little further processing...
Neat Image (noise reduction)
NIKON NX2:
Increase sharpening & slight contrast increase
Neat Image (noise reduction)
NIKON NX2:
Increase sharpening & slight contrast increase
Very nice! Do you use Neat Image as a stand alone program or plug in?
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