Help ! Taking senior night pictures of seniors and parents: Hi to all, I have been taking pictures of soccer meets under all kinds of conditions,daytime,night {under stadium lights}...

Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Hi to all, I have been taking pictures of soccer meets under all kinds of conditions,daytime,night {under stadium lights} rain etc. I will be taking pictures of the seniors and their parents walking onto the field after dark with the stadium light on.Can anyone offer suggestions on taking these pictures ? I use a Nikon D7100 and have a variety of lenses that i could use.Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2, Nifty fifty,Sigma 18-35 1.8 art lens.
Any help would be appreciated.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I would use your Sigma 18-35 1.8 art lens at 35MM. I would do a test before the event at different ISO's starting at 1,000 then 1.500 and 2,000. If necessary go to 3,000.
Have fun

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

How far away will you be? That’s important.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Like PixelStan77 wrote, do test shots at night under stadium lights if you can. Save the settings you choose in your camera.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

A Speedlight could be helpful.
Fast lenses can’t fix bad lighting, only low lighting.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

All your lenses are fast. If you are not too far away, your 50mm f1.8 and 18-35mm should be OK. I shoot summer daytime kids soccer, from the sidelines with my Nikon 50mm f1.8, on a DX camera. If you are at a distance, the Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 G2 is best suited. I have a friend who owns that lens. He claims it is the best bargain, for a brand new lens ever bought by him. As compared to Nikon's newest edition of the same focal range.

Haydon

GoofyNewfie wrote:

Fast lenses can’t fix bad lighting, only low lighting.

Definitely words of wisdom.

photomarkz Loc: parma hts,ohio

Use a flash

jameyward Loc: North Carolina

I have done this many times. A short lens will have you moving around on the field right in front of your subjects. Use a speed light with your 70-200. You won’t have to get as close to fill the frame and you can use a lower ISO with the light of your flash.

photomarkz Loc: parma hts,ohio

Good advice

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Sparky54 wrote:

Hi to all, I have been taking pictures of soccer meets under all kinds of conditions,daytime,night {under stadium lights} rain etc. I will be taking pictures of the seniors and their parents walking onto the field after dark with the stadium light on.Can anyone offer suggestions on taking these pictures ? I use a Nikon D7100 and have a variety of lenses that i could use.Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2, Nifty fifty,Sigma 18-35 1.8 art lens.
Any help would be appreciated.

I strongly suggest you go ahead of time and practice your shots under the conditions you will be shooting. Then and only then can you fine tune your exposures.
When I started out in photography this was how I learned to take images. I would go AHEAD of time and fine tune until I got the results I wanted. Then when the show began, I was prepared and ready.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Don't stress out. I would choose a 24-70, perhaps something wider space dependent, as you will, most likely, be asked to take a photo of the group. A flash might be helpful as long as it was blended with the available light, but that choice would depend upon many things for me. I would tend to not use the flash if for no other reason that not adding another, different, lighting source. Best of luck.

Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Thank you to all !!!!!!!!

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Sparky54 wrote:

Hi to all, I have been taking pictures of soccer meets under all kinds of conditions,daytime,night {under stadium lights} rain etc. I will be taking pictures of the seniors and their parents walking onto the field after dark with the stadium light on.Can anyone offer suggestions on taking these pictures ? I use a Nikon D7100 and have a variety of lenses that i could use.Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2, Nifty fifty,Sigma 18-35 1.8 art lens.
Any help would be appreciated.

Why not try your equipment out prior to the event... this will answer all questions definitively.

Cheers!

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Sparky54 wrote:

Hi to all, I have been taking pictures of soccer meets under all kinds of conditions,daytime,night {under stadium lights} rain etc. I will be taking pictures of the seniors and their parents walking onto the field after dark with the stadium light on.Can anyone offer suggestions on taking these pictures ? I use a Nikon D7100 and have a variety of lenses that i could use.Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2, Nifty fifty,Sigma 18-35 1.8 art lens.
Any help would be appreciated.

You will need depth of field for these shots. I would use the 70-200 at 200mm and f/2.8 with that you can get a tight frame from 20 yards with a nice 3 foot DOF. To do something similar with the 18-35 at 1.8 you would need to be at only 4-5 yards. You would get a lot of distortion and it would be more difficult to get good compositions. IMO
If you do use the 70-200 see if you can bring a ladder on field.
And shoot RAW in case you need to bring anything out of shadow.