All star cheer sports action shot indoor

shanshan9902

Can you tell me what the best settings are for all star cheer sports action shot indoor, or what you recommend? I use the Canon T3i and at times my pictures seem fuzzy. Also, what program do you use to edit photos?

Thanks!

PBked

Hi,
The T3i has a sports setting on the mode dial that delivers a fair response. However, I prefer to use Tv or shutter priority. Any sports need a setting of around 1/1000 or upwards to capture movement. The camera will set the aperture which will probably be the lowest your lens will allow - typically this would be around f/3.5 or f/4 (as you don't say which lens you have), but should give you some depth of field. Faster lenses like f/2.8 or f/1.8 are great for indoor work, but DOF is limited.
The camera will also set the ISO if you leave Auto ISO selected. In your situation this can lead to high ISO speeds and much digital noise. It is up to you to decide how much noise you can live with if you want to try limiting the ISO yourself. However, much noise can be dealt with in post processing using a photo editor.
This brings me to the second part of your question. The most popular photo editor is Adobe's Lightroom, with cheaper programs like Adobe Elements or Corel's Paintshop Pro being fair alternatives. There are also free photo editors on the net such as Picasa or Irfranview.
I would like to make a couple of other suggestions for your project.
Firstly, if possible use a tripod or monopod with IS turned off.
Secondly, you don't mention the light source indoors, but the chances are that if you set your camera to auto white balance there may be some color cast in your photos. Try using the presets to see if you get a more accurate shot. If not, try creating a custom white balance which is explained in your manual.

shanshan9902

Morning!
Sorry, I was just so excited to find the forum and to be able to ask questions I just didn't know exactly what to include. The lenses I use are the two that come in the kit; the 18-55 mm, which in the sports settings puts out ISO 3200 and aperture of f/4.5 or I use the 55-250mm (depending on how far from the stage I get shoved around to), which puts out ISO 3200 and aperture of f/5.6. The other thing I didn't mention was lighting. Each competition is different. They all use the huge stage lights, however, depending on the vendor, they also have a theme color and a different backdrop color behind them. Say for instance, this past weekend we were at a www.wsfcheer.com competition and their theme color is orange.
I am thinking my problem is ISO and aperture? I have never used a RAW setting that I hear people speak of and have no clue where to begin with that. I was looking into a lens extender, but not sure if that zooms in more, or helps with noise (like I need). Some pictures turn out beautiful, others not so much.
I currently use Picasa (weak), but would love to purchase Lightroom. My middle daughter just had her senior pictures done and this is what her photographer uses to edit. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help and the time you have taken to respond to my message.
These cheer moms wait with baited breathe for me to post these pictures of their daughters. Not to mention my own girls; they nag, nag, nag until I sift through the gazillion photos I shoot until I find the select few that turn out good.

PBked

Hi again @SHANSHAN9902.
They don't help you much with all these theme changes do they? The plain fact is that noise is going to be a problem in indoor anything. The best you can do is decide what level of noise you are prepared to live with and try to dumb your photos down a bit with a photo editor.
Using RAW actually produces more noise because their is no in-camera processing applied to RAW files as there is with a JPG.
However, on the menu system, highlight custom functions (the spanner tab first from the right). Scroll through to custom function 5 which is High ISO noise reduction. You can try setting strong and see how you get on. See page 254 of your manual for instructions.
As for your lenses, they are not the best for sports work but are capable and the apertures you are getting with both will give you some depth of field. I think the fuzziness is probably caused by the dreaded camera-shake and using Tv mode with a setting of around 1/1000th is a better option than sport mode to compensate for shake - as is using a tripod.
As for the lighting issue, all I can offer is to poke my tongue out at the organisers as long as you do also.
Happy snapping,
PBked

cT3i

@PBKED- I see that you mentioned that the lenses they use weren't great for sports. I'm having similar issues - can you tell me what is good for indoor sports? My daughter plays volleyball, so mostly crappy gym lighting. ;) Thanks!

cajungirltx

I'm having the same problem. My daughter plays vb and bb and the pictures come out either dark or blurry. I'm new to taking photos. I figured since my child is going to be a senior next year, I'd better start learning now.

rtyszko_1

Yeah, I would also like to k ow which lens is best/affordable and which manual settings to use, my daughter is a gymnast.