Soccer

Lorie

Hi, I thank you for all the great guidelines! My challenge is High School soccer pictures! The games start out with good light, but as the season goes into fall, I am left trying to take low light high speed action shots in all kinds of weather. They want me to be team photographer, but I am literally...not up to speed. Any advice is greatly appreciated. When a photographer is faced with more than one challenge, how do you prioritize?

Haggis

Speed is the answer, iso high, 400 -1200.

bruto

As Haggis says, speed is the answer. The first thing to do with current equipment is to jack up the ISO. Try not to go too high to avoid high ISO noise, but go as high as you must to get a shot, as a noisy hit is better than a quiet miss. 1200 is probably a pretty good upper limit. The D3200 is essentially noise free through 400, still pretty decent through 1200. Above that it gets pretty grainy, but for people in action, the noise seems less objectionable that it would be for inanimate objects.

If you can, try different ISO values before circumstances force the issue, so you can judge for yourself how the results look.


You may have issues with slow auto focus with a slower lens even if the high ISO works. Unfortunately, the answer to this is a faster lens, which can be expensive. So practice aiming and focusing, make sure you have the camera on Continuous servo, and probably on Dynamic Area focus, though 3D may work well too. The better you get at panning, the better results you'll get following a moving player.

Haggis

Black and white can work very well in sports, apart from snooker.

Lorie

Thank you Haggis and Bruno! I greatly appreciate your comments. First game out brought late day sun glare, driving rain, and darkness, and yet, I captured several worthy action shots! Thanks for helping, I'm learning! :)