Most of my photography has been of relatively stationary subjects, where I just use single-servo AF and either focus & recompose or move the single focus point to where in the frame I want the subject, or largely-individual sports like triathlon. But I’ve struggled getting sharp shots in team sports photography with a large number of moving people in frame.
If I try using continuous autofocus, it often focuses on the wrong subject or the background or seemingly nothing at all. If I try falling back on the techniques that work in other contexts, I usually just can’t get the shot off at the right time.
I don’t really understand the different autofocus options on my camera. I was mostly using what it calls “3D”, but I also briefly tried “group-area”. I don’t really understand how group-area differs from d9 or even 3D. And my camera’s manual doesn’t clear things up for me. I spent a little while in manual autofocus with a fairly closed aperture, by using autofocus and then switching to manual and leaving it untouched; but this only worked when play stayed roughly the same distance from the camera for a while, so didn’t really scale well.
Separate from the focus question, I spent the afternoon shooting at 1/1600. I’m not completely sure if this is fast enough, and maybe some of the blur in my photos is actually better explained by camera shake (shooting at 200 mm on a 1.5x crop sensor) or movement of the subjects. I suspect it’s probably not relevant, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.
What’s the best advice for how to get sharp shots in team sports photography?
(Included photo is a SOOC jpeg of a set play on the opposite side of the field from where I was…a situation that minimised my chance of focus problems.)
ianovic69 ( @ianovic69@feddit.uk ) English3•17 days agoTwo things:
AF-A and AUTO AF Area select should be fine. If not, try AF-C. It will track the subject it’s locked to. If its not locking where you want, you’ll have to use AF-S and Single AF Area. That requires predicting where the subject will be, and if it’s going to move you’ll need to set 3D to track it.
maybe some of the blur in my photos is actually better explained by camera shake (shooting at 200 mm on a 1.5x crop sensor)
This depends on which lens you are using. If it’s a Nikon with VR there should be no shake. If it’s not focusing fast enough, a better lens may be needed. I’d recommend the Nikon 70-300mm VR AFP f/4.5-6.3 DX E
Of course, no lens or camera can help if your problem is technique. The D7500 is a fantastic DSLR and with a suitable lens there’s no reason you can’t get the results you’re after. Technique is crucial in that with all else accounted for, poor technique will reduce your chances.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask anything.
I’m using Nikon’s 55–200 mm f/4.0–5.6 VR. When play was on the opposite side of the field I definitely wish I had a longer lens, but when it was close to me, having the shorter end of that scale was crucial. Of the 354 photos I took, 50 were at 55 mm, and 4 more were above 55 but below 70 mm. (16 of 77 after my first pass). And I can always crop down when I want the far side photos to have larger subjects. I think the 70–300 would make more sense if the camera were full frame.
ianovic69 ( @ianovic69@feddit.uk ) English2•15 days agoI’ve made a mistake, the 55-300 does not have the fast AF I suggested it for. Apologies for that.The 70-300mm VR AFP f/4.5-6.3 DX ED has much faster AF. It works on your camera, is affordable, and the best tool for your usage here.
Interestingly, I’ve read that with VR teles, switching off the VR will actually get you slightly faster AF. It’s only really for slower speeds, so that makes sense.
You should only use DX lenses.
When the play is close to you, set your position to allow for that.
Edit to reflect that I got confused with which lens I recommended. Sorry!
Interestingly, I’ve read that with VR teles, switching off the VR will actually get you slightly faster AF
Oh, good tip, thanks!
Chahk ( @chahk@beehaw.org ) 3•17 days agoShutter speed is only half the equation. What’s your aperture set to? If you shoot wife-open (lowest f number) on a fast lens (e.g. f/1.4), the area that is in focus will be too shallow, and the camera’s AF will have trouble locking onto fast moving subjects. Step it down to f/4-f/8 to get more of the area in focus,and get the shutter even faster to 1/4000 or even 1/8000 to freeze the motion. Of course if you’re shooting indoors that would require cranking up the ISO to compensate, which may introduce noise. It’s a matter of finding the right balance.
So, ideally I’d like to keep the aperture wide precisely because I want the low depth-of-field. As it happens my lens isn’t a very fast one (55–200 mm f/4.0–5.6), and a fair few of my photos were stopped down to around f/6–8 anyway, especially the ones where I had switched to manual, but the reason I was asking for assistance on how to nail the focus is to help get the sharpest subject I can and be able to keep a nice soft background.
Chahk ( @chahk@beehaw.org ) 1•17 days agoWith max shutter speed (looks to be 1/8000 on your D7500) try following your subject while shooting (a.k.a. panning), and you should get nice motion blur on the background like this: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4af1e0_0c4400474dff4f94a8873a2d235b1139~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1280,h_720,al_c,q_90/4af1e0_0c4400474dff4f94a8873a2d235b1139~mv2.webp
https://digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-master-panning-photography/
Also to keep in mind that many consumer grade lenses get soft at their max zoom levels.
EddoWagt ( @EddoWagt@feddit.nl ) 1•16 days agoThere’s no way that shot was taken with 1/8000th of a second, that would result in pretty much no motion blur. That F1 shot was probably taken closer to 1/50th
Panning to blur the background is definitely a technique I’ve done before when shooting triathlons & cycling. It works great! Though I don’t want to be anywhere near max shutter speed to get it to work. Needs to be well under (or above? What’s the correct terminology here lol. Slower than.) 1/1000. But I’m not sure that it’s a technique that really translates to team field sports where players’ movements are so much less predictable.
consumer grade lenses get soft at their max zoom levels
Oh that’s very interesting. I did not know that! Thanks.
Unrelated to the main question, I’d love any quick feedback on how to improve composition and get great photos in sports photography once the technical elements are sorted, if anyone has advice on that front.
joao ( @joao@aussie.zone ) 1•16 days agoIf you have enough light, close your aperture to something like f10 or higher, and increase your ISO to some value where you’re comfortable with the noise, like 6400. Test different shutter speeds depending on the action that you’re trying to capture, but the small aperture will help with the focus.
Maybe try manual focusing too, at small apertures you can set a large focus plane that will capture all the action.