norbs007 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Taking first shot at action shooting photography and just wanted to get tips as I don't have much time to test and practice as I'm gearing up for the Nats. Arming myself with a Canon 50D, 70-200mm f2.8/L IS and a Gitzo monopod. Shutter priority I assume, what shutter speed you guys play around with? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Taking first shot at action shooting photography and just wanted to get tips as I don't have much time to test and practice as I'm gearing up for the Nats. Arming myself with a Canon 50D, 70-200mm f2.8/L IS and a Gitzo monopod. Shutter priority I assume, what shutter speed you guys play around with? Thanks in advance. Manual --- because the meter between the ears trumps the one in the camera..... If you're really gonna shoot SP --- I'd say 1/640 and up to freeze slides and cases. Look for places where shooters will move across or at an angle --- the more of the face you can get, the better the picture. You may only have one location per stage to make a terrific picture, so identify that place. Don't be afraid to shoot tight; don't be afraid to shoot loose if getting the entire shooter in the frame shows us something different, like someone hitting a position.... Most of all -- have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 8, 2009 Author Share Posted September 8, 2009 Great tip Nik, really hoping you'll chime in and the rest of the pros here. Appreciate it much. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I generally shoot Av between f/2.8 and f/5.6, depending on what kind of DoF I want. I set ISO to insure a shutter speed at least 1/500 or so (though slower than that can be cool - the shooter stays sharp, but the slide blurs, etc). I let the camera meter unless either the background is messing with it, or the lighting is very consistent (so that I don't have to continually chase exposure). Different guys do different things for this sort of work - whatever works for them. There's really no right or wrong approach to it... Agree with Nik on "invading their space" with your framing, etc. Some stages don't even have one good shot on them, unless you're putting a remote down range I've seen some neat work using a wide angle, too (Stu took a shot of TT a couple years back at the Double Tap that was dynamite, for instance). Put yourself in a spot to catch a good movement angle, or some other piece of dramatic action, and shoot like a mad man... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eerw Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 (edited) for freezing action...definitely go for the higher shutter speeds..I tend to like 1/1000 or higher as you can still get a blur on the brass anything slower..for isolating the shooter...I like to shoot tight and very small depth of field 2.8 or 4.0. wide angles are great for showing location, showing part of the stage, showing the whole shooter to show their movement. slow shutter speeds are great to get a sense of speed and movement..sometimes 1/60 is enough..but a 1/30 usually works better. a little flash sometimes helps freeze the shootter in the blur, 2 to 3 stops underexposure of the flash just to add a pop without overpowering the available light. if you can..look where Yamil is/was setup. He may know the sweet spot on the stage, but don't be afraid to be different. also don't be afraid to shoot backlit..it can be very nice..helps isolate your subject and adds a nice natural rim light. Couple of really old school images.. XRe before flying any colors Wide angle shot of TT Tight shot of M2 in AMU colors Edited September 8, 2009 by eerw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 When you find a likely spot, take a test shot as the squad does their walk-through. Your histogram is your friend. You may find you have to adjust exposure, and shoot a full stop over or under what the meter says, due to a stage prop painted white glaring, or black sucking up light. If you plan to do remotes, ask the squad "Will this be in the way?" as they do their walk through. Have fun, and remember: you aren't burning film. Don't be afraid to set it in high frame rate and lean on the shutter button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.E. Kelley Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 When you find a likely spot, take a test shot as the squad does their walk-through. Your histogram is your friend. You may find you have to adjust exposure, and shoot a full stop over or under what the meter says, due to a stage prop painted white glaring, or black sucking up light.If you plan to do remotes, ask the squad "Will this be in the way?" as they do their walk through. Have fun, and remember: you aren't burning film. Don't be afraid to set it in high frame rate and lean on the shutter button. Patrick, What kind of witty retorts have you used when shooters ask if they can "shoot the camera"? Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 (edited) For remotely operated shots I've been messing around with wide angle and manual focus options. You can't predict exactly where a shooter will be when they shoot the stage, if they are just outside your focus zone then the auto-focus will trip you up and give you a sharp image of a blade of grass in the background and the shooter is blurred. I first set it to auto-focus, take a picture of myself in the optimum position, then switch the camera to manual focus. By using a smaller aperture the depth of field takes care of the focus. I can then crop down the image, having the background out of focus (narrow depth of field) can be fixed in post-production. Here's a sample of manual focus, the shooter moved to his left by 2 feet while shooting the array, with auto-focus it would have lost the shot. Edited September 8, 2009 by BritinUSA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Gah... Higdon with a popped collar! Autofocus doesn't work with remotes. Unless you get super lucky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Autofocus doesn't work with remotes. Unless you get super lucky... Yeah I found that out recently. I have been using Continuous-Autofocus and it was working great. Then we had a classified stage where the shooter stayed in a 3x3 box. They were moving around in the box(!), leaning back and forth and some shots were focussed and some were not. That's what tempted me to try the manual focus thing. As I said, if you know exactly where they will be the auto-focus, hi-zoom option works perfectly. I have my tape measure, and DoF Master on my iPod touch to work out the 'focus-zone' for the stages at Nationals. I have to do two walkthroughs, one as a shooter and the other for the camera shots. I'm going to take all my measurements etc. before the match starts so I can have the camera setup before the RO has finished the briefing and before the shooters start their walkthrough. This way I can set the lens, place the camera, take the auto-focus shot to establish the focus, switch to manual and I'm done. I figure 1-2 minutes which gets me out of the way and won't hold up the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Another reason auto-focus is dicey in that situation is that auto-focus tracking moving stuff likes to have a short period of time to establish a track on the subject before firing. A remote usually doesn't have that luxury... Yeah, DoF zone focusing manually (or the way you're doing it via AF on yourself, then flip to manual) works out best... I've managed to use AF in a couple of cases with a remote, but only when I could assure the subject would be in a very narrow spot - and I only did that because I had to shoot wide open and couldn't stop down for greater DoF... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eerw Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I am so old school. that I manual focus and tape it all down. been intrigued with Canon's face recognition AF on the little cameras..do they have that on the other DSLRs?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Yep, my Olympus E-520 has face recognition, I've been using it and it works well as long as the face is in the zone. If I'm shooting a tight angle then I may switch that function on as I'm pretty sure that the shooter's face will always be in the right place to make it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 been intrigued with Canon's face recognition AF on the little cameras..do they have that on the other DSLRs?? Not on the dSLRs... yet... I don't think the forthcoming 7D has it, either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 My approach to remotes is to use the shooters on their walk-through. I watch the squad, and let the camera auto-focus. (I select the focus spot, though.) Then I switch the lens to manual, so the camera can't, and make sure I'm on either time or aperture priority. (Depends on the lighting.) Then scurry out and check the results between shooters. If you're there with someone else using remotes, check to see what remote they are using. At the Single Stack, Yamil and I were using the same system, and had to figure out how to change channels. "Do you have the manual? I don't." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Well, did not break out the camera 'til last day of shooting. Figured that I sucked bad enough that I should just enjoy the last day and take some pictures. Had the pleasure of Yamil's company and picked up some great tips from him. Some of the shots I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Frank Cruz, Jr. James Ong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Tanner Larson and yours truly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 I set ISO to insure a shutter speed... This is my favorite feature of DSLR's...I still can't believe we can just dial up our ISO shot to shot. Thanks for the tips gang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandro Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Well, did not break out the camera 'til last day of shooting. Figured that I sucked bad enough that I should just enjoy the last day and take some pictures. Had the pleasure of Yamil's company and picked up some great tips from him. Some of the shots I got. Really cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Man, that shot of TJ absolutely ROCKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Man, that shot of TJ absolutely ROCKS! Thanks Duane, that was a lucky shot; thanks to high speed continuous shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Came out great though. I have noticed myself that, the higher my skill level in any particular field of endeavor, the luckier I seem to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 Can't wait what to see Yamil's work... Yamil?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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