Action shots from the Handball

[macka]

Day 2 and my arms are already sore (I know, I'm weak), but Rooboy and I are having a ball. Last night Australia played NZ and New Caledonia played Cook Islands. The lighting isn't great - we are using a lot of flash, and ISO 1600.

C&C very welcome.

These are probably a little oversharpened.







The rest so far can be seen at http://fishbowlphotographics.com/gallery

[owen]

Great job capturing and freezing the action. I understand that there was little light, but perhaps the shots could be run through noise ninja or some other program to reduce the noise... it's quite distracting.

What shutter speeds were you shooting at?

[Glen]

Came out well Macka, I just learnt thats Kiwi's do the haka for handball.

[owen]

I actually played a NZ basketball team about 10 years ago that did the Haka. Quite funny actually because most of them were skinny white boys

[losfp]

Some really cool action shots guys! Nice & sharp. Exposure looks spot on too. I don't think the noise is that bad, though admittedly I'm not viewing at 100%.

Just one suggestion, if I may... You've got a lot of photos with guys cut off at the ankles and knees. I always find it's much easier to shoot sports in portrait because people are normally standing up Unless you're showing a wide view, or a reaction/crowd shot etc, I reckon portrait works best for sport.

[rookie2]

great shots

what settings used on camera and flash?

lens?

I'm having my first go at basketball indoors this w/e so any advice will be useful.

I presume the kit lens would be preferable to 70 - 200VR as I will be very close to the action.

cheers

R2

[macka]

Thanks all. Just printed these at A4 on my mum's Epson Photo RX650 and they came up well. The grain isn't really that bad from a normal viewing distance at that size. Most of the colour noise is gone at least thanks to capture one.

Exif is intact for those who're interested. These three were actually all taken with the 85 1.4, so no flash necessary. Some of our other shots were with the 70-200VR and SB800 flash. Rooboy will have to tell you about the flash settings as he was using it mostly.

Rookie2, the thing about the kit lens is that it's not very fast. You will need a decent flash, unless the lighting is spectacular.

[ABG]

You caught some great action shots there Macka. Nicely done indeed.

[rooboy]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

First of all thanks again to our generous equipment suppliers, Birdy & MCBW.

I stuck the SB800 on ordinary TTL mode, camera on matrix metering (I would normally use CWA but with the Kiwi players in black it gets thrown off), ISO1600, AF-C and continuous shooting.

Any advice on how to use the flash effectively would be very much appreciated, as we've been thrown in the deep end here . I wanted to use a lower ISO, but it meant that the flash was doing all the work, leading to dark backgrounds, and more importantly, slower recycling times, which is a big problem when you're trying the fire off sequences at 3FPS.

Shooting portrait is easier to fill the frame, but not easy to maintain with a D70s, SB800 & 70-200VR. I would kill for a battery grip option for the camera, or failing that, much stronger arms . It's fine for a few shots, but gets tiring on the wrist after that. Also, using a flash, you lose the ability to follow the action with your non-shooting eye.

Any more advice or suggestions welcome

Edit: shutter speeds with the 70-200 were ~1/100 up to ~1/300. The 84/1.4 got 1/400 up to around 1/640 occasionally.

[birddog114]

macka & rooboy,
You guys have done well,

Sore arms? get used to it and you won't notice anything in the next couple days.

If I do this: the 85/1.4 is my priority glass and next is the 70-200VR
Why? coz you guys have privileges to access close to the player and standing around the outer rim, the 70-200VR required some such of distance + flash and sometime it's too long for what you want to capture.

Shoot in continuously is another method.
Keep them coming.

[bindiblue]

Great shots Macha & Rooboy,, love them all, very nice action shots,

Suzanne

[losfp]

Shooting portrait is easier to fill the frame, but not easy to maintain with a D70s, SB800 & 70-200VR. I would kill for a battery grip option for the camera, or failing that, much stronger arms . It's fine for a few shots, but gets tiring on the wrist after that. Also, using a flash, you lose the ability to follow the action with your non-shooting eye.

Off-camera flash

Monopod

though of course that has extra demands on your limbs and suchlike. I don't find the 70-200 that bad with a D70 in portrait mode (granted, I have only used it for short periods of time when I can grab one at a minimeet!!!), but I leave most of the weight on my left hand anyway, and really only have the right hand resting on the camera.

Pretty decent efforts though guys. I have only been able to shoot sports with my 70-300, and I'd love the chance to give a 70-200 or 80-200 a good workout.

[Glen]

I actually played a NZ basketball team about 10 years ago that did the Haka. Quite funny actually because most of them were skinny white boys

That's when you need your camera Owen

[MCWB]

Any advice on how to use the flash effectively would be very much appreciated, as we've been thrown in the deep end here . I wanted to use a lower ISO, but it meant that the flash was doing all the work, leading to dark backgrounds, and more importantly, slower recycling times, which is a big problem when you're trying the fire off sequences at 3FPS.

Yeah definitely. I'd use f/2.8 only, set the ISO to somewhere between 800 and 1600, appropriate shutter speed then make the flash do the rest. The temptation is to use ISO200 or 400 for reduced noise, but as you found out, you sacrifice background illumination. If you're going for action shots with reasonably fast shutter speed it may help to turn VR off, as it sometimes takes time to engage/disengage, and you miss pics (sorry, I forgot to mention this to you ).

[rookie2]

macka and rooboy - Did you guys need permission to shoot with flash during a tournament such as this?

I intend to get both teams and refs permission before shooting to be on the safe side.

I will be using the 70- 200 VR, SB 800, D70s and monopod

....and giving portrait a go ..I've already got a good collection of ankleless and footfree kids sports photos!!

Thanks for posting - I'm always looking for sports photo advice and am still learning with my new toy (VR)

cheers

rookie2

[macka]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Many more portait shots are on the way after tonight's games. (Certainly does make it harder to see what's going on, though.)

Rookie2 - The tournament is run by my Dad, so I just ask him. Another photographer who showed up said she regularly uses it for basketball, and that the players don't mind. Players don't seem to notice to be honest. But it would be courteous to ask those in charge first.

MCWB - haven't had any problems with VR delaying a shot. It does produce a weird sea-sickness effect though when you have one eye watching the match and the other through the viewfinder, because of the smoothing and slight lag. Very cool

Cheers

[rookie2]

thanks Macka

I look forward to more of your handball action shots.

cheers

rookie2 PS I love handball as a spectacle - it should be something Aussies will be great at internationally in years to come - just a fledgling sport in SA but starting to grow.

[ozimax]

Nice shots, conveys the action strongly

[jerrysk8]

looks like some banding going on in those pics.

[mudder]

...Most of the colour noise is gone at least thanks to capture one...

I've never tried sports/action shots like this and these look terrific, well done!

Oh, noticed the comment re: color noise, one way to reduce color noise in PP is:
- filter/Noise/Median use a large enough pixel value to blur any noise (maybe 2-4 pixels?), then before doing anything else...
- Edit/Fade Median/Mode=color

Note: if you do ANYTHING after the Filter/Noise/Median, the Edit/Fade median option will be unavailable, it only works on previous command (I think )...

Try it, see if that helps with color noise...

[macka]

Thanks again for the comments, guys.

Jerrysk8, not sure what you mean by banding. Could you be more specific?

Mudder, thanks for the suggestion. Don't think I'll bother for the website, but it's worth looking into for prining.

If anyone is interested, I've just uploaded photos from last night's games:

Aus vs Cook Islands

New Caledonia vs New Zealnd

Many more portrait shots this time.

Cheers

[jerrysk8]

by banding i meant horizontal bands/lines in the image. as produced in underexposed images of early canon 1d cameras. but on closer inspection the horizontal lines im seeing might possibly be a net blurred out in the background (to the right of the 2nd and 3rd pics). if so my Sony

[macka]

by banding i meant horizontal bands/lines in the image. as produced in underexposed images of early canon 1d cameras. but on closer inspection the horizontal lines im seeing might possibly be a net blurred out in the background (to the right of the 2nd and 3rd pics). if so my Sony

No worries, there is a net in the background on some of them, so that's probably it.