Friday night lights

pertykat2

What would you recommend for shooting football games?

jeowens

Me too! Like in the next 6 hours!

Lonnie

I noticed your question was dated for August 16th. I'm no expert, but I would say most people like to use higher shutter speeds for sports. That way you can freeze the ball in place, the plays, or the movements. Please let me know what you came up with. Thank you, Lonnie

bruto

Indeed, higher shutter speeds, fastest lens you can find, and telephoto if possible. If you're following a player, try to pan with the player to reduce blur and focus issues. If you have difficulty tracking and focusing a player with lens you have, pull back to a wider view for slightly easier focus and slightly faster lens speed.

If you're fairly far from the action, you can use a wide aperture and still have enough depth of field, and that will help you to achieve a high shutter speed without cranking ISO too high.

Set your shutter to multiple firing, so you can fire short bursts when action occurs, and increase your chance of getting a decisive moment. But don't overdo it if you're shooting Raw, or the camera will freeze momentarily. Take a few shots at a time.

wheezer37

I purchased a Nikon D3200 and I am a beginner in photography. I mainly bought the camera to take pictures of my children and family but I am having trouble getting the camera to focus. I purchased cheat cards from Moose's website, but I still have problems with focusing in on certain shots! Thanks.

bruto

@wheezer37, check your focus settings. Depending on the circumstances, you may do better with different settings from the default.

The default, and the only setting available in "auto" mode, is multi-area focusing. In this mode, the camera's brain decides what to focus on. It often guesses right, but not always. It includes a face recognition feature that will tend to lock focus on the nearest recognizable face.

If you want precise focus where you want it, you need to choose a focus mode that starts at a single point. If the subject is still, you can use S for single servo, and a single spot. Center your focus point in the finder, and aim for that. If the subject might be moving, choose "A" and the camera will determine whether it needs to be tracked. If you know it will be moving, choose "C" for continuous servo, and it will track. Choose "dynamic area" focus for a most subjects, or 3D for subjects that move with some regularity.

If you are getting good focus on what you aim at, but need more depth of field, close the lens down more. The kit lens is often sharpest around f/8.

In order to use those focus modes, you're best off with P, S, A or M modes of the camera for full control. As you've noticed, the cheat cards usually use either M, A or S, depending on the circumstances.

You can access the different focus modes in the [i] menu. Remember that there are two sets of settings: one for the servo mode, and one for the area.

The focus modes for Live View are different from those in the viewfinder view, and focus in Live view is slower and often less precise in difficult light; it uses a completely different system. In good light for still subjects it can be the most accurate, but it's not very good at tracking or locking in fast. You're generally better off with the viewfinder.