Sports subjects not in focus

sjhagan

I have a Canon 60D, along with a Canon 100-400mm lens. I take high school and college lacrosse photos. Most of my pictures are outside (mid-day). I have the camera set to Sports mode.

A number of my photos aren't turning out the way I'd like. For example, the subject (player) is blurred, while the background is in focus. I take about 1000 shots per game and about 30% end up this way. I do not understand or see any reason why this is happening.

Is there something that I can do to prevent this? Are there settings on the camera that I am not taking advantage of? Thanks for any help.

Moose

Howdy @sjhagan - The issue is with autofocus. Your 60D is focusing on the background, rather than your subject. A previous poster mentioned 'Spot metering', however, that will just cause more problems...especially when shooting fast action.

To improve your odds of getting the subject in focus, I would do the following...

1. Enable Shutter priority (Tv on the mode dial) and set your shutter speed between 1/500 and 1/1000
2. Set your ISO to Auto
3. Set your AF mode to AI Servo
4. Make sure all nine focus points are being used (refer to page 78 of the manual)
5. Make sure metering is set to Evaluative
6. Set your Drive mode to High-speed continuous shooting

With these settings in place, half press the shutter button to focus continuously on your subject. When you're ready to take the shot, fully press the shutter and hold it down. The 60D will fire off a burst of images in quick succession.

This should get you going in the right direction. Happy shooting! :)