These two soccer athletes are sisters. Check out the bend of the strike leg of each young lady. There's a weird thing going on with their knee. Is this an illusion? Or does their knee actually flex in this manner after a strike?
The top photo was taken in April 2011. The bottom photo was shot in May 2008.
As the spring club soccer season gets underway, here's a reminder about the basic camera settings I use for soccer photography. This photo was taken using Nikon's D700 with a 300mm f/2.8 Nikon lens attached. Using the D700, I use shoot in manual mode (both shutter speed and aperture are set manually; with the ISO set automatically using the Auto ISO setting of the D700). The sun was setting during this game which created shadows and bright sections on the field. The shutter speed was set a 1/800 second. While the aperture was set a f/2.8. This caused the ISO setting to rise to ISO 1000 under these lighting conditions. After taking a few test shots before the beginning of the game, I noticed some over exposure in areas of the photo like the player's socks or shots of light skin taken in sunlight. So I dialed the exposure bias back to -1/3 as well.
The title of this post seems obvious. But when capturing soccer shots, actually getting the action that highlights the goal is not as easy as it seems. What makes a goal photograph a good goal photograph? One that shows the scorer; the ball, the net; and the keeper if possible.
The background matters. If inappropriate, it can distract from your main subject, particularly when it's not nicely blurred like the big lenses with big apertures can give you.
This photo was shot with a 300mm f/2.8 lens, with 1.4x extender attached (shot at aperture f/4). The background is blurred somewhat. But the brick wall, fence and "Danger" sign in the background is a little unusual for a soccer photo.
I think the backgrounds of these photos are better.
I finally got a chance to shoot some outdoor soccer with my relatively new D700 this weekend. All of these photos were shot with the D700 and a 300mm f/2.8 lens attached. Being a full-frame camera (FX is Nikon's nomenclature for this), I don't get the reach multiplier factor that I'm accustomed to with my D300 camera. For soccer, that lower reach might be the only drawback of this camera. Autofocus speed and the ability to capture more in-focus shots seems to be much better than the D300. Yep, the D700 is expensive. But it's also a very good camera for the sports photographer.
My autofocus settings for these shots were:
If you have a D700 or a D3 (or even a D300), try these autofocus settings the next time you shoot soccer.
This shot was taken from behind the net at a terribly lit indoor soccer facility. I was able to stand very close to the net (which is something normally not allowed). Standing close to the net allowed me to almost completely blur the net in this image. Capturing this direct perspective was very appealing to me as a soccer photographer. The lack of light in this facility, however, was very problematic.
This shot was taken at ISO 6400 with a Nikon D700 and 70-200 f/2.8 lens. The shutter speed and aperture were manually set at 1/400s and f/2.8 respectively
It pays to shoot lots of photos when you're taking sports photos. After all, it's only digital. It really doesn't cost you anything to shoot as many photos as you can. The benefit for holding down that shutter release button is you'll capture some very interesting sports shots that you really can't plan for.
One of the more challenging sports photography environments is capturing shots at night under stadium lights. Getting the camera settings correct can be difficult. You have to worry about getting fast shutter speeds, proper exposure, good colors and low noise levels.
The most critical choice for attaining even decent night sports shots will be your lens choice. Unfortunately, fast lenses (f/2.8 or faster) are a requirement. These types of lenses are generally expensive - particularly those lenses that also provide generous reach. The photo above was captured using a 300mm f/2.8 lens. Yes, this is an expensive lens. You can also consider using a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens or the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 lens as well.
The first setting that I adjust for stadium light photography is the white balance setting to make sure that colors are correct in this type of lighting environment. Stadium lights are notorious for creating inaccurate color reproduction with cameras set to the the auto white balance setting. I use the ExpoDisc to easily and automatically help me set my white balance for night sports shots. You can also use a gray or white card to make this adjustment as well.
I usually shoot in complete manual mode as well when shooting night sports photography. I manually set the aperture to f/2.8 while setting the shutter speed to a setting that insures I'll be able to stop the action. When experimenting for this setting before the game, I look at sample photos and the histogram to make sure I have the proper exposure. This photos was manually set at aperture f/2.8 and shutter speed 1/500.
I also set the ISO to a level that allows me to get the proper exposure at the manual settings I require. For this photo the ISO was set a 4000. Of course this produces a lot of noise in the pictures. But I'd rather get a photo with noise, than no photo at all. The noise in this photo was also cleaned up with Noise Ninja.
Noise Ninja Pro Bundle Version 2.1 Software
The last camera setting that I adjust is to shoot in center weighted metering mode as opposed to matrix metering mode. I choose center weighted metering to make the camera account for the intended subject more than the often dark background. I find that matrix metering often over-exposes the intended subject because the camera accounts too much for the nighttime background.
I think this is kind of a dramatic athletic pose. This player was chasing a ball that was traveling out of bounds. He didn't get to the ball, but obviously there was a lot of effort in the pursuit. I think good sports photography should also capture good sports effort
