first attempt at sports photography tomoro. any advice?

[speedychrissie]

afternoon all.
tomoro will witness me making my first attempt at sports photography with the D70. it is a uni rugby match that only takes place once a year, so i thought i would see if anyone has any advice to give before the event so that i dont miss any oportunities.

equipment:
nikon D70s
nikon 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 lense
sigma 75-300mm 4.5-5.6 lense
jessops tripod.

im guessing that i will make very little use of the small lense, but i was wondering whether there are any "best" settings to put the camera on? i was gonna just put it on manual and see what i can do during warm up.

cheers in advance
chris

[simpo two]

Wot fun! I have very similar kit, so what would I do?

Most of your work will probably be done by the 75-300, but keep the 18-70 handy because if the action gets close then 75mm could be too long.

Assuming the day is dull and that Nikons don't like high ISO, I think avoiding camera-shake is the first hurdle, as neither of your lenses are fast. I'd use Aperture Priority and set it as wide as possible. See what shutter speed that gets you. If it's too low for the focal length, then you'll have to boost ISO, maybe to 400.

Other stuff: You could experiment with tracking AF (AF-C) but don't expect to to perform miracles.

If you're arty, you might like a deliberate motion blur, so try Shutter Priority, maybe 1/60, and see what happens.

[speedychrissie]

thanks for the suggestions.
loads of stuff for me to be trying then!

[ehasler]

I wouldn't bother with the tripod myself - it'll just get in the way, although a monopod would be handy if you can get hold of one for the day.

[speedychrissie]

ok, while we are on the topic of monopods:

is there any real point in getting an expensive monopod over a basic one? other than feeling nice and maybe folding up smaller, i cant see that the expensive ones are worth that much more than a basic one.
opinions?

[monkeyhanger]

If you want a decent monopod for a fair price, take a look at the Manfrotto 681.

I got mine for <£50 and it's rock-solid, although for Rugby you might find it's more of a hindrance than a help.

I've done a bit of football here & there but no Rugby. I believe the general rule of thumb is "Faces & Balls".....Rugby Balls obviously :lol:

[GetCarter]

Have fun. I'd also ditch the tripod.

...just hope it's sunny!

[V6GTO]

Faces and balls is spot-on,,,have a look at these for inspiration...

www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/355710

Martin.

[CVP]

I reckon you'll really only use your longer lens. I shot a game of a work colleague a couple of weeks ago and best images were with 300mm. If it's sunny then ISO 100/200 should be ok at f5.6.

Best advice seems to be "know the game", by this I mean use your knowledge of the game for likely images such as;
1) Scrum half making cheeky break down the blind side,often closely follwed by
2) Blind side flanker then proceeds to murder scrum half as he's been expecting this little break.

Can often get nice images from set plays like throw-in and scrum where you get more time to be prepared.

Have fun

Chris

[tog]

Don't try to run up and down the touchline trying to get everything. Accept the fact that there will be action that you will miss because you are at the wrong end. Put it in aperture priorty or manual to keep the aperture wide open, both so you lose the more of the background and so you force the shutter speed up as well. Shoot lots.

[simpo two]

monkeyhanger said:

If you want a decent monopod for a fair price, take a look at the Manfrotto 681.

Or just tie your tripod's legs together...

[speedychrissie]

V6GTO said:

Faces and balls is spot-on,,,have a look at these for inspiration... www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/355710 Martin.

there are quite a few good ones on that forum. cheers.
one thing that someone on there mentioned was getting down low.
how low do people get when shooting at rugby/football etc? i thought i would be wanting to try and shoot from roughly chest height, but some people on there say that they take a small stool to be able to shoot as low as possible.

any thoughts on this?

[dcw@pr]

V6GTO said:

have a look at these for inspiration... www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/355710 Martin.

over sharpened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UKBob]

If you have time, praps try and catch the ref looking pondersome with some blurred action in the foreground.

[monkeyhanger]

simpo two said:

monkeyhanger said: If you want a decent monopod for a fair price, take a look at the Manfrotto 681. Or just tie your tripod's legs together...

Aye fair comment if you have a tripod and won't need a monopod on a regular basis. Not really practical for my purposes though

[Scooby_snax]

Before they get cracking why not use the 18-70 at 18 and lie on the ground and get the guys to scrum over you....tell them to stand still otherwise it maybe painful

On 2nd thoughts you will probably need a 6mm to make it work right

>> Edited by Scooby_snax on Tuesday 21st February 19:49

[speedychrissie]

Scooby_snax said:

Before they get cracking why not use the 18-70 at 18 and lie on the ground and get the guys to scrum over you....tell them to stand still otherwise it maybe painful On 2nd thoughts you will probably need a 6mm to make it work right >> Edited by Scooby_snax on Tuesday 21st February 19:49

good idea, but it is a woman's rugby match, so there may be some possibility for misunderstanding there! plus i am not the official photographer so i dont know whether i will be allowed past the barriers.

[CVP]

speedychrissie said:

one thing that someone on there mentioned was getting down low. how low do people get when shooting at rugby/football etc? i thought i would be wanting to try and shoot from roughly chest height, but some people on there say that they take a small stool to be able to shoot as low as possible. any thoughts on this?

I tend to use a monopd to support the camera and lens as I find my combo too heavy to hand hold for long. I tend to half kneel down and find this comfortable for a while but a small stool would be good for a whole match if you don't want to move about.

I guess the reason most people shoort froma low angle is that a lot of the action happens slightly lower than you would think. If you are shooting from head height you're always pointing down, but if you're shooting from waist height, the top of your frame will be head height and so you'll get all the aciton in.

HTH

Chris

[ehasler]

speedychrissie said:

ok, while we are on the topic of monopods: is there any real point in getting an expensive monopod over a basic one? other than feeling nice and maybe folding up smaller, i cant see that the expensive ones are worth that much more than a basic one. opinions?

As long as you avoid anything too cheap and flimsy, you don't need to spend too much. The expensive versions tend to be made from carbon fibre which is very light, however there isn't much to a monopod so even an ali one isn't too cumbersome. You should be able to get a good one (e.g., Manfrotto) for around £30-40.

As Simpo says, you can use a tripod with just one leg extended for the same effect, but you still need to lug it around with you.

[lotusfan]

I do quite a bit of rugby and it can be one of the easiest sports as the action tends to be in one direction, so if you're covering one team (as opposed to the game as a whole) then you can set yourself up near the try line and shoot away merrily.

monopod is always a good idea especially if you use the meatier lenses.

I have two cameras on the go, one with a 100-400 IS L for distance and one with a 24-135 for try line shots, the 400 wont focus that close and would only get the head if it did, and changing lenses is not practical. I used to use a Konica minolta Z2 as my short snapper and that worked pretty well as it has IS built in and can shoot at 15FPS!

If you're on the touchline you may well need a waterproof cover too. i always take one as well as a folding stool and a pair of gel pack handwarmers (those big L lenses get bloody cold)
some smaple stuff on:
www.stevebostock.com/rugby

BTW, very cheap (15 quid) jessops monopod, very light and does the job.
DOH! must read all of thread properly! just realised this was for yesterday



>> Edited by lotusfan on Thursday 23 February 13:22

>> Edited by lotusfan on Thursday 23 February 13:23