This past weekend, I went to a college football game in Tucson to see the University of Southern California Trojans play the home team, the University of Arizona Wildcats. I had my camera with me and took the opportunity to attempt some sports action shots. I’m a novice at this type of photography and I saw this as a good opportunity to learn a little about it. Learning by doing.
Our seats were a little distant from the field, row 67 to be exact but I had my 70-200 mm lens and was able to get in sufficiently close to the action. I was using my Canon 40D camera which gives me good resolution and its smaller sensor serves to crop the image, effectively increasing the lens focal length by 60%. I was able to further crop the images in the computer and achieve close-ups of pretty good quality.
Although the field was brightly illuminated, it was quite dark where I was seated, under the grandstand roof, below and behind the lighting. To get the shutter speed necessary for sports action, I had to increase the camera sensor’s sensitivity to its maximum (ISO 1600). I was able to get shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/250 second, which is on the slow side for this type of photography. You’ll note that some of the pictures have a little motion blur as a result. Motion blur is often done intentionally to convey the sense of speed. I prefer a more crisp image, so any motion blur you see is there despite my preferences. I could have gotten a little more shutter speed by increasing the aperture size, but I was concerned about losing depth of field. It’s always a matter of compromise when photographing in less than ideal conditions.
Setting up the camera correctly wasn’t difficult and I was able to get the balance I wanted with only a few practice shots. What was most challenging was anticipating the plays (particularly the pass plays) to target and time my shots to capture the action. This must take a lot of practice and I respect the professionals who do this for a living. I need only look at Sports Illustrated to see how this is done!
Following is a slide show with some of my favourites shots from my visit to Arizona Stadium. Oh yes, the Trojans edged the Wildcats by a score of 24-21.
Click on the right side of the images to advance; the left side to reverse.
