Sports photography and Tv setting, how to adjust for depth of field

whriley

We have a canon 60D and we shoot a lot of lacrosse for my kids teams. We have been using the sports mode. I just found out how to set it in Tv mode with continuous burst shooting and AF mode (havent tried this setting yet). We would like to capture the fast speed shots but would also like to get some of the background to blur out. The challenge we have is we seem to lose focus of the player sometimes at the instant of the shot.

How do we go about getting the continuous burst to produce focused shots with that "Sports Illustrated" blurred background?
The lens we use most often is a canon 70-200mm F/4L USM. The other we have used is the Canon EFS 18-135mm with image stabilization.

What is the best option based on the gear we have? We dont care for the sports mode as that does not allow us to get the depth of field we hope for nor does it allow for continuously focused shots (unless that issue is just me).

Thanks in Advance.

Auston

Whriley,

I shoot alot of baseball, basketball, track and American football of my children so I will recommend you use your 70-200mm F/4L. Set your AV to F/4. Lacrosse is played mainly in the day light so this will help you blur the background. Depending on how close you can get, work with the minimum zoom needed to fill the photo with your subject.

Now, start slowing down your shutter speed. Different speeds will give you different amounts of motion blur. Think about this now. If you are still than only the moving parts of the shot will be blurred (in this case the player). To keep the player in focus you are going to need to move with the subject; this is also known as panning. Panning is really easy to get the hang of when you get to doing it.

I am going to guess that you are familiar with the game; this will help you in getting good action shots. Try to predict where the next play will be made. Think and set up on where the pass will be going, that way you are getting the action as it happens and not playing catch up with the action. And, a sturdy monopod will help as well.

This should get you started in the right direction. Happy shooting!

Auston