Games & Recreation Photography: Who's into it what Camera and Lens do you have and show us some of pictures thread

[blackshadow]

Just magic shots. How much (if any ) editing involved with those?

I've got a Pentax ist DS dSLR which I've been happy with.

Would like some more lens power, but $$ involved as you have said above.

Thanks!

Just normal editing - all were shot in RAW so a bit of tweaking white balance, exposure and curves and a bit of cropping.

 

[OzBomber]

That's a tough question... there are a few things that would help in assisting you before making any recommendation though as there is a lot more than price to consider.

What type of things do you like or want to photograph?

Are you looking for an SLR or a high end compact camera?

SLRs will generally give better performance but more important than the actual camera body is the lenses you use - top class lenses cost big bucks! If you are serious about photography and are willing to learn how to get the most out of your camera an SLR is the way to go - but be warned if you get serious about your hobby you will spend far more than $1000 on lenses, flashes etc in time.

If you are more casual or uncertain about photography you are probably going to get more bang for your bucks from a high end compact camera.

I just wanna take action shots at the footy and cricket. Bit like some of the photos already posted in this thread. Except they don't have to be as good.

 

[Jeffers]

A few from todays Sydney Vs Carlton match. I use a Sony Alpha A300 and Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 telezoom lens. It's a pretty good lens considering i can't afford a Sony G series (about 2k more than the Tammy). This was the first time at the footy with this lens and it's alright if i use manual focus only. AF seems to be a bit inacurate during fast motion and it is slightly slow

Cloke looks petrified

 

[RobbieGray17]

A few from todays Sydney Vs Carlton match. I use a Sony Alpha A300 and Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 telezoom lens. It's a pretty good lens considering i can't afford a Sony G series (about 2k more than the Tammy). This was the first time at the footy with this lens and it's alright if i use manual focus only. AF seems to be a bit inacurate during fast motion and it is slightly slow

If you want to get awesome shots out of your lens, I reckon the focus speed would be pretty average on that lens, as I've had a similar lens. My tip is to stick it at 200mm and leave it, no zooming. You will miss out on the real close stuff for full body shots, but will end up with some real neat cropped shots with so much more sharpness.

If you check my website out you will see what I mean, those shots were shot at a fixed 300mm. the best shots end up at that point where you get the players head arms, and body in the shot perfectly.

Also if you are shooting in the shade like those shots, try using spot meter light metering. and select a bit of the darker area. It looks as if the camera is maybe set on matrix metering hence the underexposure on the players.

http://photoparsec.com

 

[Jeffers]

Thanks for the tips RobbieGray17! Yeah it seems to way to go keeping it at 200mm manual focus as the lens seemed to have a bit of a problem with front/back focus which really ticked me off. I read online that the Tammy is a bit of a flawed genius in which is can take extremely sharp photos but it's taken down by innacurate/slow focus. Gonna have to just learn more about how to use it the more i take it out to the footy.

I'll try the spot metering technique as well because my seats are in the shade during the afternoon games.

Cheers again.

 

[RobbieGray17]

Thanks for the tips RobbieGray17! Yeah it seems to way to go keeping it at 200mm manual focus as the lens seemed to have a bit of a problem with front/back focus which really ticked me off. I read online that the Tammy is a bit of a flawed genius in which is can take extremely sharp photos but it's taken down by innacurate/slow focus. Gonna have to just learn more about how to use it the more i take it out to the footy.

I'll try the spot metering technique as well because my seats are in the shade during the afternoon games.

Cheers again.

No probs, Usually I use centre weighted metering, but never Matrix, when you have heaps of bright light and darkness Matrix mixes the two. So your reading will be poor. Having said that, matrix might be ok on an overcast day, where the light is constant.

 

[blackshadow]

Nice shots Jeffers but they do look a bit under exposed - you will probably find you are better off setting your exposure settings manually than relying on in camera settings as they can easily be fooled. For games where you have marked differences between shaded areas and bright sun you will find there will be a setting that works well for each. Much higher shutter speed for sun or higher ISO for shade.

I'd give them a bit of a tweak to boost the exposure/brightness/shadows in post processing.

 

[Dime]

Wow, clearly some great photographers in here!

I've been wanting get into the SLR market a while but have never know where to jump in so to speak. I like something with a bit more weight (Canon 50d/Nikon D90) than the entry level SLR's but am too afraid to spend that much dosh before I'm certain I'll really enjoy and get into photography.
So I'm just buying an old Canon 350d from a friend with the standard 18-55. Will probably grab a cheap little 50m f1.8 aswell to start out with.

Hopefully I'll be adding some pics here soon enough!

 

[blackshadow]

Wow, clearly some great photographers in here!

I've been wanting get into the SLR market a while but have never know where to jump in so to speak. I like something with a bit more weight (Canon 50d/Nikon D90) than the entry level SLR's but am too afraid to spend that much dosh before I'm certain I'll really enjoy and get into photography.
So I'm just buying an old Canon 350d from a friend with the standard 18-55. Will probably grab a cheap little 50m f1.8 aswell to start out with.

Hopefully I'll be adding some pics here soon enough!

350D + kit lens + 50 1.8 is a cheap entry point into the DSLR world but should deliver some great results and determine whether you'll jump in boots and all into photography in a serious way. One thing many people don't consider when getting serious about digital photography is the need for some decent post processing software - I'd recommend Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements or CS4.

Good luck!

 

[Dime]

350D + kit lens + 50 1.8 is a cheap entry point into the DSLR world but should deliver some great results and determine whether you'll jump in boots and all into photography in a serious way. One thing many people don't consider when getting serious about digital photography is the need for some decent post processing software - I'd recommend Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements or CS4.

Good luck!

Cheers!

I actually have the CS4 Master Suite which includes Photoshop so I am all good in that respect! Now I just have to learn how to use it! I'm guessing mainly it's used for slight adjustment of saturation/brightness/contrast/hue etc?
Are there things you can do on Lightroom which cannot be done on PS?

 

[blackshadow]

Cheers!

I actually have the CS4 Master Suite which includes Photoshop so I am all good in that respect! Now I just have to learn how to use it! I'm guessing mainly it's used for slight adjustment of saturation/brightness/contrast/hue etc?
Are there things you can do on Lightroom which cannot be done on PS?

Lightroom is primarily for RAW processing and cataloging. I have it but haven't mastered it - I prefer to use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop CS3, probably because I know how to use them better. You can do more with PS but it is more time consuming.

Lightroom looks good if you are processing similar images and want to do them in a batch.

 

[the_fresh]

Lightroom is primarily for RAW processing and cataloging. I have it but haven't mastered it - I prefer to use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop CS3, probably because I know how to use them better. You can do more with PS but it is more time consuming.

Lightroom looks good if you are processing similar images and want to do them in a batch.

If you're on a Mac forget about Lightroom and use Aperture, its 100x better, faster because it's built by Apple and is great for RAW processing, I pretty much use it for 99% of my work with a tiny bit of Photoshop.

Also.
Took this today during the Last Post @ The MCG, I got there at 8:30 to get this seat 2nd Level, Row A seat 1 in the MCC middle of the ground (best seat in the house without a doubt).

 

[OzBomber]

If you're on a Mac forget about Lightroom and use Aperture, its 100x better, faster because it's built by Apple and is great for RAW processing, I pretty much use it for 99% of my work with a tiny bit of Photoshop.

Also.
Took this today during the Last Post @ The MCG, I got there at 8:30 to get this seat 2nd Level, Row A seat 1 in the MCC middle of the ground (best seat in the house without a doubt).

Far, out that's one of the best photos I've ever seen AFL wise. That is mint! Would love to see a higher res to see the teams in better detail. Wish I had that seat. Best seat you could ever get I was wait up the back row in Q3 of the GSS. But I got to ride home that last goal being right behind Zaka.

I'll add some of mine soon.

 

[the_fresh]

Far, out that's one of the best photos I've ever seen AFL wise. That is mint! Would love to see a higher res to see the teams in better detail. Wish I had that seat. Best seat you could ever get I was wait up the back row in Q3 of the GSS. But I got to ride home that last goal being right behind Zaka.

I'll add some of mine soon.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3472274585_e7b9dd4ae9_o.jpg
Thats half the size of the PSD file which is 350+mb.
We've got roll printers at school so I'll be printing this out as soon as I can.

 

[OzBomber]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3472274585_e7b9dd4ae9_o.jpg
Thats half the size of the PSD file which is 350+mb.
We've got roll printers at school so I'll be printing this out as soon as I can.

Cheers, mate. That is awesome! How do you do that so perfectly? You must have steady hands.

Also, what camera do you have?

 

[the_fresh]

Cheers, mate. That is awesome! How do you do that so perfectly? You must have steady hands.

Also, what camera do you have?

Used the rail as a steady and took about 15 photos, used photoshop to line it up and dropped it back into Aperture to fix the colour a bit, I still wanna do the light poles but I've got time and I wanna get one of the teachers to help out a bit.

I use a Sony a200, a Tamron 20mm lens shot at 100ISO, ƒ8 & 1/60th.
I might even try to HDR it when I get time to even out the exposure.

 

[OzBomber]

Some of mine. Obviously not as good as others.

 

[Jeffers]

If you're on a Mac forget about Lightroom and use Aperture, its 100x better, faster because it's built by Apple and is great for RAW processing, I pretty much use it for 99% of my work with a tiny bit of Photoshop.

Also.
Took this today during the Last Post @ The MCG, I got there at 8:30 to get this seat 2nd Level, Row A seat 1 in the MCC middle of the ground (best seat in the house without a doubt).

That is some serious skills man. Well done!

Would love to see your HDR attempt at this!

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Photo of the decade; What an absolute ripper.

Get that signed by Ryder and it'd be worth a pretty penny one would think.

 

[USAEagle]

Kodak Easy Share Z650 Lens Schneider Kreuznach 38 - 380mm (equivalent)...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2281720&l=0df6234c40&id=664661553

Bit of Surf near Denmark WA.

 

[blackshadow]

Here's a shot I took last night - The Eagles of Death Metal

Plenty more can be seen here

 

[blackshadow]

It's been a while since I have taken some photos at a game but I took my camera along yesterday. Here are a few - the rest can be seen here.

Enjoy!

Simmo gets in a clearing kick.

Drew strides out.

Ben Warren slots one through.

The JYD laying down the law at quarter time.

Andrew Swallow fires off a handball to Scotty McMahon

The future captain on the run

Turtle pulls in a screamer.

 

[Jeffers]

Great shots again Blackshadow. I love the contrast in the guernseys. Really brings it to life.


Can i ask what kind of white balance mode did you use to get the contrast? I have mine set to auto but i wasn't too happy with the results. Did you use the sunny mode?

Cheers.

 

[blackshadow]

Great shots again Blackshadow. I love the contrast in the guernseys. Really brings it to life.


Can i ask what kind of white balance mode did you use to get the contrast? I have mine set to auto but i wasn't too happy with the results. Did you use the sunny mode?

Cheers.

Thanks.

All auto white balance, shot in RAW and tweaked slightly in post.

 

[Nardz]

i can't believe how empty the stadium is in those pics..