Prepare to Take Good Action Photo
This is a case to illustrate how to get the best pictures for action events, in particular, with a Canon EOS 40D digital camera, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM Lens in a football game.
1. Firstly, you will be a bit under-lensed with the 70-200 as far as focal length reach. But since that is the lens you have to work with, here are my suggestions. First, at 200mm of reach, your images will only be good and sharp up to distances of about 25-30 meters away. So move around and try to stay close to the action.
2. If you will be shooting soccer games in the daytime with decent lighting, use Av mode, and select the 70-200’s largest aperture value … f/4. This lens produces very sharp images and great background blur at f/4.
3. Set your ISO to a value that gets you a shutter speed of at least 1/1000s, if not higher. If you can get 1/4000s at ISO400, go for it. Don’t be afraid to start out using ISO400. This camera produces neglible noise at ISO400.
4. Use one of the preset WB settings as applies to your sky conditions. If its cloudy/overcast outside, use the Cloudy WB setting, if its sunny outside, use the Daylight WB setting.
5. Use center weighted average metering, as this metering mode takes less of your background into account while properly metering your subject.
6. I like to use the Standard Picture Styles, and set Contrast and Color Tone to the default “0″ setting, but set the Saturation to -1, but its all a matter of your taste.
7. You want to expose for the players faces/skin, not the uniforms or the field. Its OK to overexpose the uniforms a little bit in order to get proper exposures on the faces/skin. As far as dialing in the correct exposure using Av mode, you will need to check your review image and histogram. In Av mode, you will have to use the Exposure Compensation function to adjust your exposure. Take some test shots before the match begins and start off by using “0” EC. If your player is underexposed, bump up your EC in positive 1/3 steps until you reach the proper exposure. If your player is overexposed, lower your EC in negative 1/3 steps until you reach the proper exposure.
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