Shutter Speed for Low Light Sports Photography
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- Опубликовано: 22 сен 2015
- When I photograph sports in low light, I think of it as a battle between shutter speed and ISO. High Schools are notorious for having bad lighting at sporting events making it tough for any photographer. In order to get sharp images you have to make trade offs between your ISO and shutter speed. These are my thought on the problem.
I NEEDED THIS football season last year was so dark and I never thought about looking it up. I’m ready for sophomore season now
I have watched a lot of videos on this subject. I like the honesty and clear advice.
Absolutely fantastic advice. Practical, expert and clear. Thanks a million.
He hits the nail on the head in reference to college and pro venues. When I shot the 2016 LHSAA 3A State Championship in the Superdome, i was in heaven. I shooting at 1/1000 at 1200 ISO. My average settings for high school is 2500-3200 ISO and 1/400-1/640, depending on the venue.
Excellent video, and great range of examples. You have a great method of instruction. Instead of giving the viewer rules, you're teaching us how to approach the situation.
Thank you very much for your insight.
man you are so spot on all of this! especially social media and harshness of ourselves and other people's appreciation of the shots
WOW!! You feel our pain of high school sports photography!! My local football stadium lighting is really bad, as are a lot of other local schools. Your opening statement about it being a battle of shutter speed vs. ISO. It's good to hear from someone who understands that not many of us are shooting in professionally lit venues. Yeah, I subscribed too! Thanks again.
I liked your presentation. Very helpful.
Thank you for explaining some things. I've never been around a professional or someone who knows a lot so this type of video comes in handy.
this is so detailed and actually extremely helpful, thanks!
Best video I've seen in a long time!
Great explanation!!! It makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to educate us the parents who are trying to take better pictures of our kids.
I've always struggled shooting festivals in low light so this is great advice. I'm going to take onboard these points tonight when I'm shooting a lantern procession at dusk.
How did the photos turn out?
Watching this video in 2022: Vincent thank you for putting your commentary together on this video. I was looking for suggestions or someone else’s opinion on this very same subject. I shoot at night games for the local high school that my son is in. But I'm actually not shooting the sports action. I'm actually more photographing the band and the supporting staff during the games. I shoot at 1/250 because my subjects aren't running around trying to catch a football or throw a basketball. Since it is a smaller school they do not have TV lighting and I end up going pretty high with my ISO. My pictures come out pretty well and I'm able to control the amount of noises in them. Granted most of my pictures are really only being used for social media. Again thank you Vincent for your commentary and for putting this on the RUclips. 🤟
very honest in detail and super helpful. save me tons of time of try and error. Thank you!
Great video. This is the information I am totally looking for. You give both sides of fast and slow shutter speed philosophies. Thank you
Very good info. Thanks! Getting ready to photograph dancers as they do hip hop in a studio room.
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.
Just the video I was looking for thank you very much!!
Awesome info. I'm just a Dad trying to photograph his sons playing Football. I was always concerned about increasing my ISO too much. But now you have put my mind at rest over that subject. Thanks
Super informative and put simply. Thank you for the help. It is greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the lesson - I always try to shoot my best shots which meant my ISO was set to 200. Well, the last time a shot a game it was a horrible blur-fest. I appreciate you reminding me that it was a shoot just for FB posting or for parents and not being sold. So, I'm upping my ISO settings and at least capturing the money-shot... so to speak. Thanks for your help.
Good stuff for people who aren't sure how to get what they need. Well done!
I learned more from this video than any other of the videos I've seen. Very informative
Good info. Thanks again. Looking forward to that next video.
5
"Or at least that's what she took it as he said," Glad you phrased it that way, it is easy to either misunderstand or misrepresent the complexities of photography. Application is always key and any new photographer should always keep that in mind when seeking advice. WHAT are you shooting for, should more often dictate who you initially take lessons/advice from (as a beginner).
Great video, thanks for the expert opinion!
This is an excellent video, thank you. I just upgraded to the Mark ii from the 7D and this helps so much. I shoot mainly baseball and I get those fast moving arms from pitchers etc. and many times they are blurry. I can't wait to try this soon.
Baseball, especially day games, is by far my favorite sport to photograph, but then I baseball is about my favorite sport too.
Awesome man thank you!
Thank you for your information, sir.
I take a ton of HS football shots. My full frame upgrade blows my mind under the lights, often on poorly lit fields. Noise levels at higher ISO numbers (0ver 6400 on many occasions) have been surprisingly low, change in technology over the past few years I'm sure. However getting shots of the sidelines in low light situations and then increasing the exposure to compensate during editing becomes different. The noise level increases dramatically. However, if I don't have to augment exposure from the field shots, and in some cases reducing it a bit in editing situations, I am amazed at the low noise. And as you pointed out, editing can take care of more and more noise issues.
Thank you Vincent Martinez for all of your help. It was all extremely insightful. Also Thanks for ur time. Keep up the great work. I will definitely invest in an 85mm and a 135mm Nikon prime lens I'm going to be even close to the action, I'd say from about 10 to 12 feet so if you can think of another lens that will be great for that range, plz let me know. Once again thank u and keep it up..
Amazing informations!Very clean and understandable!Subscribed!
Great talk Vincent.
I like it how you presented different situations and points of view. Thanks for this video!
+Amelia Mello thank you. I'm glad to hear you like it. Sometimes I feel like I talk to much :)
Excellent Vincent, well done :)
Thanks a lot for this advice. Really good and clear. I like to see the video where you use flash for sports. I've been using off-camera flash but not on sports - yet".
nice video dude, thanks!
You are right. I shot a football game at 1/320, and got some sweet images, but lost a LOT too. I bought a 70D and Im not afraid to use it at iso 4000. After that, still works if its properly exposed, so, Im pretty happy with that as now. My 70-200mm 2.8 is not new, is old tamron and at 200mm 2.8 its not sharp at all, so I kept shooting 5.6 to get nice sharpness and bumped my iso to 800, with full sun, to keep my shutter at 1/2k or more, considering it was wake boarding and light was changing A LOT. Set to Av and didnt have any problems. A photographer next to me was using a variable aperture lens and full manual, with light changing and shooting jpeg, he lost tons of images. Whenever I can, I shoot raw, its another good tip as well, mainly for indoors, because lighting could ruin your white balance (basketball).
Hi Vincent ... Thanks for the video it was just what I needed to hear when I was at the local football game cursing wondering why my settings were not working for me ... As you said in the video the lighting at the ground was very poor but thanks to your input I was lucky enough to get shots that were pretty cool seeing it was my first night game of Australia rules Football .
Which now leads me to my question ... Vincent can you please make an editorial on how you edit your photos in LR ..as in I know the basics but really would like to be confident in removing the noise and having a great image at the end
cheers Brenden ... your latest subscriber
I like how you explained things in your video. :)
You are so right about the high ISO for a faster shutter speed. During post-processing, you can correct all the grain that comes from the high ISO.
How do you correct it tho? Do you brush it or something? Because I feel like you can't really change the quality of the picture
Good advise I have never shot sports but done plenty of fashion shoots and use the same prince-able..
Its a 2015 video...however, very much up to date! Loved every minute,Thank you! (by the way, tennis shoot tomorrow....indoor...omG!!!)
great video tomorrow I will put it into practice, and I´ll come back to tell you about the results a got out of it. Thank you for yor help.
best advice I've seen yet. shot my first semi-pro football game this past weekend. challenging, D7100, sigma 50-150 stabilized lens. poor lighting in a coliseum. mostly at 3200, f2.8, 1000. maybe I could have dropped the shutter speed to 800 and not been so underexposed. I figured I would fix it in post processing, a little disappointed in some images, but had fun and learned somethings.
70-200 Sigma 2.8 is a gr8 alrenative. I bought one for $350 used at B&H.. Xlt results.
I have found my 50-150 very soft at 2.8
jimmyfly I bought a canon 70-200 f2.8 l series for £700
jimmyfly I looked it up on google and just saw a sigma 70-200mm f2.8 going for $420
This is what I have. A great all round lens. @@robertstv8045
thank you so much for this. I havent been shooting sport very long so it is an experience for sure but im shooting with a t3i and have loved the images its producing. yes some are noisy and i can handle that. I know this isnt the best body out there but it was what i could afford and better than my previous camera of a canon rebel xti.
70-200 Sigma 2.8 is a gr8 alrenative. I bought one for $350 used at B&H.. Xlt results.
thank you will definitely look for one
Very detailed information... quality content ... Subbed
When using flash you definitely want to get permission first by the officials. In all the years I've shot high school football as a photojournalist, no one ever claimed that the flash distracted them. They're like "What flash?!!!" But clearing it with the officials is key or you'll get tossed.
When I used flash, I was usually at 1/4 power on my SB900 and that worked well. 4 pops of the flash for every charging up of the flash. And I'd change out the batteries at halftime.
I had Michael Bass Designs on the east coast make me a custom monopod-mounted dual-flash system and that worked amazingly well. That allowed me to shoot ISO 800 for night football and things really popped.
It's important to get the right mix between ambient and flash though. I've seen too many photographers rely on the flash and their backgrounds go dark. It looks unnatural and you can see that it's obvious flash.
Hi Vincent! I sat through this entire video and was hoping you'd address speedlights at High School sports events. I agreed to cover a girls soccer game at a local high school for a family friend. I showed up with my Nikon D5 with my Nikon 70-200 zoom and I wanted that little extra boost so I had my SB-5000 speedlight on the D5. I'm a professional who works full time in photography and don't cover HS sports in my normal work. I was approached by a "parent-photographer" who covers all of their events and sells prints. He told me that I should not be using a flash! I paused and carefully responded that I use every advantage I can to get the images I personally would want. I was told by the individual who hired me, that I could use flash and anything I needed. So, I was puzzled. I did also realize that I was out-gunning this parent, but softened that up by explaining that I wouldn't be selling any photos and that my images were going specifically to the Booster Club Pres. that hired me. So, is it a NO-NO to have a strobe on at a High School Sporting Event? It appears that some of your photos were taken with a flash, so I'm curious. Thanks in advance for your reply and thumbs up on your video comments. The D5 is good up into the stratosphere in iso range, but I enjoy using high-speed-sync as well.
This was helpful! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Great explanation and very simple to understand from others I watched. I agree of what you mentioned and here in Hawaii our gym lights is terrible and listening to you just re-enforced my problems and hit home, thanks!!!
Great video...
I've been doing my son's baseball games as well as local team photos for a few years now.. im with you, I NEED a high shutter speed.. fall sports kill me with getting darker earlier. Spring and summer I never have issues..
Thank you, thank you...
Would you recommend shooting in full manual or semi manual modes for a bright, amateur soccer game? Awesome video, thanks
Thank you! This was very informative for me. Fantastic work. #Filmmakers
Helps out some.. looking todo some horse racing photos at night and they usually have a lot of lights up but will see
Thanks for the great info. I am a dad shooting my kids volleyball and basketball and I’m really starting to get into photography. I recently upgraded to the Canon 90D....any lens recommendations for basketball and volleyball? Do you have any favorites?
Thanks,
Seth
I agree.....noise is alot easier to deal with post production..... then motion blur....
hello vincent, what would you recommend, sigma 70-200mm f2.8 HSM II (non-OS) or the canon 70-200mm f4 non-IS? ill be using it shooting very fast paced triathlon most of the time...
REPLY
Thanks. Good tips
what about flash?
Ride AMAP flash at night at sporting events in general isnt going to throw light 50 ft where you need it.On top of that its really not good practice to use flash on sidelines.Its a distraction to all the players and even the fans.
And its going to limit your shutter to 1/200 or 1/250
rtazz17 excellent. Thank you. I shoot more of my kids band competitions but this is very helpful
in other words... crank you ISO to get a faster shutter speed?... Any tips on the lenses? I usually try an either Tamron or Sigma 70-200 2.8. Any comments? Thanks for the time and for the video.
Great Information ,but i need some suggestions I'm following a Wrestling team and I'm having no success getting any good shots. I noticed you mentioned wrestling so wanted to get your thoughts . as you are aware its fast pace under low lighting I'm using a Coolpix P900 not sure if thats the problem, but i have no luck. any ideas or suggestions on a good camera or feedback on the settings . Im getting lots of distortion and noise even with sport mode on its so frustrating.
Good advice that's still useful with today's improved cameras. I still shoot high school sports with my trusted 1dx 2. 10,000 ISO is totally usable. You should have touched on lens selection a little bit because using the proper lens and f/stop is important too.
Lens choice means a lot. Lenses that bring in more light.
70-200 Sigma 2.8 is a gr8 lens. I bought older version for $350 used at B&H.. Xlt results. Shooting above 2.8 is tough.
Will my 300 AF-S F4 prime survive indoor basket ball with my D7100? I know the buffer issues with the D7100. I am talking about getting the shot with that lens. Thanks for your help.
I'm shooting low light picture, football, behind the flood lights, this Friday. The setting is downward with a light pointing towards the camera, and smoke machine in front of it. I just need some tips. I only have two opportunities for this shoot to get these kids in their pregame walk. Thank you dude. My camera's a bit of an older Fugifilm bridge, with 11FPS continuous shutter. If you've ever messed with smoke or intimidating shots I'd love to hear. I'm still super young.
What would you suggest for shooting competitive cheerleading? Constant motion for 2min and 30 sec. I only have a short time to get some great images. I have a Nikon D3300. I have shot in the sports mode and my images were all blurry.
Common sense video! You nailed it when you mention that a lot of us are harder on ourselves than anyone else. I've apologized a few times for some photos I've posted on FB, but the parents and grandparents love them as a rule. My theory is this, a maybe not tack sharp pic is better than no pic.
great video. i wish you spoke more about the lenses. I shoot a nikon d90 w 70-200. Shooting outdoor Frisbee Games early evening.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I love your videos they are very informative. Can you please advice what settings you would use for a dog show? Considering the shot on the table so basically a still pic and the other around the ring and straight back and forth on a running pace like. I got a 70-200mm canon lens to get that frozen action and the creamy bokeh but considering 2 diferentes types of pics are required not sure there is enough time to switch settings to take still and fast pics. Thank you for any tips you may be able to provide
I have a T7i eos rebel cámara ...
This was so helpful for a beginner like myself. I was thinking of getting the Sony a6000 with the kit lens 55-210mm. It is primarily for shooting youth soccer during the day. Will that camera be good? I have to keep it under $1000. Thank you
Easily. A great budget lens
Good info Vincent. As this video is for amateurs you should probably mention what type of equipment you are using to achieve that lower ISO. A kit lens with F5.6 will not allow you to stay below 6400 ISO, unless your shutter speed is below 1/500sec. However with a f2.8 lens this is not as much a problem in most sporting events. Also a crop camera sensor cannot recover higher ISO photos as well as a full frame sensor. This is a one disadvantage of crop cameras in my opinion.
I take photos of sports for my kids teams and parents, but want to up my game with a new lens. The 2 I was thinking about are:
Canon 70-200
Canon 100-400
The problem I have is that I am new the being permanently disabled so I can move all around that great. But want to take great photos for my sons football games but from the disabled part of the stands. Any advice will help thank you.
What would u recommend I use for NYC Handball.. Lots of action and there r 4 players moving at the same time. Its always high energy and lot of action.. plz let me know. thank u.
Lolol. Yes handball is very popular in NYC, yes I'm looking for no blur and keep the action and detail. so what lens would u recommend? thank u again.
Hi Vincent I currently the shoot QBL (Queensland Basketball League) here in Australia, and I shoot around f2.8 iso 4000 and shutter of 640, and I have found that I get pretty good results with those settings. When I used to shoot the NBL (National Basketball League) the Pro Basketball I could get away with shooting iso 1250, f2.8 and shutter of 640. Mind you as you mention in your video when shooting the pro basketball the light is usually about 10 times stronger.
Mark Glenday what camera body?
Hi Carl I am currently shooting with the Canon 7D MKI however I am currently looking at purchasing the Canon 7DMKII, because of the 61 focus points and better ISO, also it has the dual card slots. Hope this helps. Thank you.
Thanks for your reply. It doesn't really help me but it may help another Canon user, I use Nikon. The reason I asked is that one's camera setting and camera body are revelent. What I mean is camera model "A" at 3200, can be drastically different from camera "B" at 3200. Thanks again.
Carl Bradley Hi mate I am a ex Nikon user I understnd where you are coming from I used to run the Nikon D2H very old camera bit it was a great camera. Good luck with sports. :)
How much will the quality, like shooting in raw, play into this?
I have a Canon Rebel T7EOS 1500D. Any suggestions taking dance pictures in a theater & school gym w/o flash?
The photos you showed seem like you used flash?
I think auto ISO is amazing when you have a night football game where the only lighting is from these big ass stadium lights that are planted in the corners because you'll find that the lighting isn't perfectly balanced on the field. Some places will be darker than others, which will show if you're using a fixed ISO and you're just photographing a team go up the field from one side to the other.
I may give auto ISO a try at football games. Our small school stadium lighting is less than perfect.
Any tips on what to do if the light inside the theater is really low, but you can't get close enough to the action for your flash to really make any diferrence? (I use a Nikon D3300 with Nikkor 18-55mm lens).
+Lilly nan the best thing is a fast lens. I don't know how close to the state you can get, but if the 18-55 works for you as far as focal length goes I would recommend something like a 50mm f/1.8 lens. They cost a little over $100 bucks but they are great for low light photography. You would gain 3 1/3 stops of light over your current lens. So instead of shooting at say ISO 6400 you can shoot at around iso 640 and get the same exposure ( but you do not get vibration reduction with the 50mm). Or most likely you will be able to raise your shutter speed to avoid motion blur in your images. With the 50mm you can also get a lot more background blur to make your subjects pop a little more.
Unfortunately when it comes to low light photography you are typically limited by the camera gear. It's one area where you typically have to spend money to get better quality images, especially if flash isn't an option.
Sir, I'd like to hear your thoughts in 2021. Software and hardware advances as well as cameras can shoot extremely high iso. Hope to hear again
I would like some help with shooting soccer in High school stadiums My best so far was in a decently lit stadium - shooting at 1/800 / f2.8 / ISO 4000. There was not much blur it was more they jst were not crytal clear - only about 5 out of the hundreds I took came out clear. What can I do to get clear photos ?? My lens is a Tamron, SP 70-200, f/2.8 Di VC USD G2, camera is a Nikon D5300.
You mentioned a video using flash? Can I have the link please. I understand most ppl use a fast lens, AP 2.8 or so, maybe F3.5 or 4....I might not even have that luxury. At 200mm I will likely be at F5 or 6.3....so I really want to be able to use 1 or even 4 speedlights set up sometimes for some shots. Using two speedlights will hopefully give me enough power to freeze motion, even without a high SS when I am close enough for the flash(es) to have an effect. In addition, I will be shooting soccer inside a dark stadium....flash is my only option....even if I had a fast lens.
excelente video.... te sigo y me gustan mucho tus contenidos... entiendo ingles pero no lo puedo escribir por eso te comento en español... saludos desde UTAH
the thing i noticed it is that there are two worlds:
photographers world and customers world.
Unless your customer is a photography as well, a "normal" customer dont even know what is noise, grain, etc.. they often compare your dslr images with their cellphone images.. and guess what, your dslr even with noise, etc its better than a cellphone image, thats why i dont think we should overthink that much about that ISO stuff cause will like it no matter what
would you consider using auto iso in such a situation? also which metering mode would you suggest, matrix or spot
Get an m5 or m6 with exposure compensation dials they are cheap mirrorless cameras that compare to midrange dslrs. M6 is m5 without viewfinder but $100 cheaper with optional viewfinder attachment for $100
Can you do a video on editing the photos after and were you shooting in raw or jpeg
I have learned to go between 500 and 800 shutter speed, and ISO of around 4000
I'm an advance hobby photographer. The main sports photography is indoor bull riding and rodeo.. fast action with terrible lighting in middle of the arenas with darkening toward outside edges. My primary equipment is Nikon D3 with Nikor 70-200mm VR f2.8 lens. Secondary is a Nikon D810 with Nikor 24-70 mm VR f2.8...I've been shooting this genre for about years now and still not totally satisfied with my finish product .. My go to camera setting are ISO4000, shutter priority at 1/320 and barely getting a 2.8 auto setting..I've tried to boost my shutter speed up to at least 1/640, but at that point its so dark that it takes way to much post processing thru abode cloud.
My finish product is for these event promoters. Primary use is online and promotional print/posters, cowboys are wanting prints, anywhere from 5x7" to 13x19" prints. One problem is the client likes what I produce, but I'm not satisfied with the quality, yet very fulfilled with photographing these type of events.
While watching your video I was nodding my heading the whole time.. I would greatly appreciate and suggestions you may have.
ps... I wish the lighting was as good as high school gymnasiums
Thanks in advance.
Rodney
Hello Vincent thank you for the video I shoot for my school and needed to know whats a good acceptable iso for instagram for low poor football game i am using a7ii and also i have a sony 6500.
I'm now shooting high school football and experiencing a lot of noise in my shot, can you please help me. My gear is a canon 70D , lens ef 28-300 L is usm
I am a drag racing photographer. I just bought a Sigma 24-35mm f2 lens. My question is " Is this lens fast enough meaning focus capability to keep up with a continuous burst of shots as the car leaves the starting line?" Hmmmmm?
15+ yrs using 70-200 Sigma 2.8. I have 3 lenses. Gr8 to buy used ($450-$600).
I have a 16-50mm 2.8 - but my 70-300mm is only 4.5-5.6. Do you think my best bet is to just use the 16-50mm zoomed in and just hope for end zone shots only? On my camera it would be equivalent to 75mm fully zoomed in.
I'm using a Sony a7iii with a 28-200 Tamron for high school basketball. If my ISO is 6400 or higher, sharpness / noise is evident.
Would shooting in raw, at ISO of 1200 with 1/200th of a second is a good compromise. I use CS4 Photoshop and wouldn't fixing brightness in Photoshop be a lot cleaner then trying to remove noise without losing sharpness in post?
Also, for anyone watching this, new cameras can handle ISO better also. My Nikon D780 can produce sharp pictures at high ISO up to 6400 it's pretty clean still!
With good post-processing too ofcourse :)
hey so when u mentioned shutter at 1/1000 of a second seems right but with my camera if i go above 1/100 the photo if pitch black the highest iso my camera can go is 3200 too and aperture f/4 and my photos r still super dark
what about a filter. I am currently photography a futsal tournament outdoor during night. i am using Program mode and the iso comes between 3000 to 5000 in my pictures. some are getting over exposed . what filter you suggest I could use for my canon 70-200mm 2.8
Don't use filters at night. If you're already struggling with light, adding filters only makes it worse. Do test shots - when the teams are warming up is a good time. Go full manual. If the lighting is constant (proper nigh game) then you can dial is the correct settings well in advance when you do your test shots, so you can then focus on the actual game when it starts.
I can't afford a 70-200 f2.8 any suggestions for an alternative or other lenses I could use for sports ???
canon 85mm 1.8 is a really good lens for under $400
Wax Groove 50mm 1.2