Sportsday tips

[sony_photographer_jake]

As some of you may know it is nearly sportsday in a lot of schools. Has anybody got any tips such as what shutter speed to use and what aperture. I was thinking about using a slow shutter and panning to get a blurred background behind the subject.
What do you think

[Cutter]

Its very hard to pan , i would open you apeture up as much as poss, use a fast shutter speed and use a long focul lenght . That will get you blurred backgrounds, panning will be difficult to get your subject sharp. hope this helps

[sony_photographer_jake]

Thanks for the tip. I am currently using the Sony 75-300mm lens and it changes to f5.6 relatively quick through the zoom. Will this limit me. I will have to bump up the ISO.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by Cutter

Its very hard to pan , i would open you apeture up as much as poss, use a fast shutter speed and use a long focul lenght . That will get you blurred backgrounds, panning will be difficult to get your subject sharp. hope this helps

The fact that it's hard to pan probably means you should have a go!

I would get some "bankers" at a decent shutter speed (say 1/500 as a starting point) and experiment. Get down low t the ground for a more interesting perspective and have a go at some panning and maybe some long exposure stuff to capture blurring legs etc

[sony_photographer_jake]

I will have a go at panning. I did a little bit of panning last year and the subject was a bit blurred aswell as the background. I always manage to use around 1/500 or 1/800 at ISO 100. This makes for freeze of the movement of the subject and also very high quality images with my 14 Megapixel DSLR.

[cosmicma]

Originally Posted by sony_photographer_jake

I will have a go at panning. I did a little bit of panning last year and the subject was a bit blurred aswell as the background. I always manage to use around 1/500 or 1/800 at ISO 100. This makes for freeze of the movement of the subject and also very high quality images with my 14 Megapixel DSLR.

i think if your still getting blurr at those shutter speed it might be down to the speed your panning at ( to fast or too slow ) maybe your not panning in time with the subect

Edit....
just had another read and i'm not sure if your getting blurr at 1/800th or you get sharp images at 1/800th

at 1/800th you should be able to shoot moving vehicles and keep them sharp
i usuually use around 1/800th to shoot m/cycle racing and get good results but if i don't move in time with the bike it causes an amount of motion blurr

if i get it right i get a sharp image with motion blurr in the background

example


i would think if your shooting people running/jumping you could afford a lower shutter speed but you might have a problem with arm/leg movement causing blurr ( something to keep in mind ) these will be moving faster than the subject

use 1/800th as a guide and experiment either side
this is the beauty of digital photography you can experiment as much as you want if it's rubbish delete it and try again

[sony_photographer_jake]

I don't get blur at 1/500 or 1/800 I get photo's like the once above. It's just when the shutter speed is about 1/30 or 1/50 the subject is blurred aswell as the background when panning.

Thanks for your help.

[ap4a]

1/60 is around what I'd use for motorsports. Kids running races are going to be going a lot slower than a car so you might need to go to below 1/30, maybe to 1/15. That obviously increases the risk of camera shake as you're finding though. So practice your panning technique to try and get it as smooth as possible, place your feet apart with your approach foot (the one nearest to where the subject will arrive from) slightly ahead of the other foot so that your body can pivot a little easier. Also, try it using a monopod to keep the vertical position of the camera steady. (If you find a monopod isn't helping and you're really struggling then (if using one is allowed) you might want to try using a tripod with the centre column free to pivot around its own axis, but I would really work on free hand technique first.)

[cosmicma]

so how would you deal with hand and leg blur at 1/15 1/30 or even 1/60th ???

here's a little experiment for you

ask somebody to stand still and swing there arms as if they were running

start at 1/15th and work your way up through different speeds

now see what speed your shutter is at when the motion blur of the arms stop

this little experiment has nothing to do with panning it will show what speed your shutter needs to be to make sure ALL of the subject is sharp not just the torso

in motor sport we accept blurred wheels as long as the rest of the subject is sharp it gives a sense of movement but this doesn't quite come through the same in athletics

@ap4a could you show me some of your sports shots taken at 1/60th and below i'd love to see how they turned out
if you could leave the EXIF within the image so i could study how the shot was taken ( and maybe learn something ) this is something i am really interested in

[cosmicma]

Originally Posted by sony_photographer_jake

I don't get blur at 1/500 or 1/800 I get photo's like the once above. It's just when the shutter speed is about 1/30 or 1/50 the subject is blurred aswell as the background when panning.

Thanks for your help.

cheers for clearing that up i just got a little confused when i read your post

i think speeds below 1/200th your gonna struggle to be honest
it's worth pushing the iso and dropping the apeture to keep the speed in my experience
a shot with blur isn't a keeper but a shot with a bit of noise can be dealt with

i'm no expert but i have been taking photo's for some years and i can only advise what works for me

the rest is up to you