My photography in the local scene has gotten me noticed by my local area Patch.com editor (lilburn.patch.com). You can see what I've done with a few local events on SmugMug. I've been hired as a freelance shooter for Patch.com to shoot a couple of local events tomorrow.
I've also been asked to do action shots at high school football games for them.
Eek!
I've never done this before. I'm not afraid of trying (it is "only" HS football, after all). I'm mostly looking for advice from anyone who has done it on what I should look out for. I'm not totally ignorant of doing it, though. Here's what I've leared from reading Scott Kelby's blog when he talks about football shooting. I've also read a little about the subject in various photography books that have covered the subject.
1) I need a long, fast lens. I have a potential for a used 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM purchase from a friend. It is at the top end of what I can afford right now, and trying to get longer is out of my budget for now. Even trying to rent a second body, monopod and 200-400mm is probably more than I'd be paid to do the work. So I'll have to make the best of 70-200mm. Plus, it is "just" high school.
2) Get a monopod. Those long lenses are heavy, and a tripod is too cumbersome to move around quickly.
3) Get an extra battery. I don't wanna run out of power in the middle of a game. I do think my camera could last an entire game (around 1k or more shots per game) without running out of power. I've shot about 3-400 frames since I charged it last Friday, and it still hasn't moved from the "full" meter on the camera. But, it is probably best to be safe on the battery issue.
4) Shoot f/2.8 and try to get 1/1000 shutter speed - 1/500 bare minimum. It looks like aperture priority is the common mode to use. Maybe I can get away with a slower shutter if I get lucky or pan well, but that is risky Use whatever ISO it takes to get that (hopefully no worse than 1600). HS football games here are almost always on a Friday night here, so it will be lit by stadium lights, especially as it gets into the fall.
5) Shoot in JPEG. I'm not sure if this is necessary for me, since the reason the "pros" do this is to make it faster for their wire editor to upload shots. That's not an issue with HS football. However, it does solve the problem of space on the cards for me. If I'm shooting 300-500 per quarter, I need room for a lot of shots during a game. Football action shots aren't going to be processed much after the game anyway, so not having them in RAW is not a major drawback. Auto white balance should be fine, too.
6) Don't cut off limbs. Duh.
That'll take practice on my part since I haven't done action photography much.
7) Officials (and everyone else) are out to get you. You'll get a lot of rear-end shots because they deliberately get in the way.
So is there anything else I should know about?
I've also been asked to do action shots at high school football games for them.
Eek!
I've never done this before. I'm not afraid of trying (it is "only" HS football, after all). I'm mostly looking for advice from anyone who has done it on what I should look out for. I'm not totally ignorant of doing it, though. Here's what I've leared from reading Scott Kelby's blog when he talks about football shooting. I've also read a little about the subject in various photography books that have covered the subject.
1) I need a long, fast lens. I have a potential for a used 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM purchase from a friend. It is at the top end of what I can afford right now, and trying to get longer is out of my budget for now. Even trying to rent a second body, monopod and 200-400mm is probably more than I'd be paid to do the work. So I'll have to make the best of 70-200mm. Plus, it is "just" high school.
2) Get a monopod. Those long lenses are heavy, and a tripod is too cumbersome to move around quickly.
3) Get an extra battery. I don't wanna run out of power in the middle of a game. I do think my camera could last an entire game (around 1k or more shots per game) without running out of power. I've shot about 3-400 frames since I charged it last Friday, and it still hasn't moved from the "full" meter on the camera. But, it is probably best to be safe on the battery issue.
4) Shoot f/2.8 and try to get 1/1000 shutter speed - 1/500 bare minimum. It looks like aperture priority is the common mode to use. Maybe I can get away with a slower shutter if I get lucky or pan well, but that is risky Use whatever ISO it takes to get that (hopefully no worse than 1600). HS football games here are almost always on a Friday night here, so it will be lit by stadium lights, especially as it gets into the fall.
5) Shoot in JPEG. I'm not sure if this is necessary for me, since the reason the "pros" do this is to make it faster for their wire editor to upload shots. That's not an issue with HS football. However, it does solve the problem of space on the cards for me. If I'm shooting 300-500 per quarter, I need room for a lot of shots during a game. Football action shots aren't going to be processed much after the game anyway, so not having them in RAW is not a major drawback. Auto white balance should be fine, too.
6) Don't cut off limbs. Duh.
7) Officials (and everyone else) are out to get you. You'll get a lot of rear-end shots because they deliberately get in the way.
So is there anything else I should know about?