ISO for daytime football?

[ldelacruz]

What is the best ISO for daytime football pics in bright daylight? Let me know what you think and why?

[CaptainTom]

Interesting question.

Will you be wearing a hat ? just kidding.

I would select an ISO that compliments the shutter speed I want to use to stop the action, plus the aperture that I want that gives the DOF I want.
In my Canon I can select the option to have the camera select the ISO that works with the settings I am using.

If you just want a number. ISO 200

[ndsimm]

for the few mid afternoon games I've had 100ISO was too low although I could have shot it. I liked 400ISO better to give me a faster shutter

[ldelacruz]

I have been using 400 ISO but was wondering if that was too high for daytime? I noticed on most of my shots that the parts of the body closest to the grass seemed to be washed out especially the black colors on pants and shoes. The grass is brown and it seems to be reflecting the bright sun and washing out the dark colors closest to the ground only.

Example: notice the colors of the kid on the ground.

Canon 30D with 28-135 IS USM
ISO 400 f5.6 1/2000

[CincoJoe]

Kinda looks like it back focused to me. The grass and the fence in the back look sharper than the players.

[bigjon0107]

Based on the image you gave us, the exposure would be the last thing to worry about. If i were you, i would only try to critique photos that are in focus. I know the focus and exposure are two different things, but when it is in focus, you will have more detail to look at.

[AndrewCCM]

Yep.. bigtime back focused. Looks like the center AF point focused on the ground behind the players..

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

In my Canon I can select the option to have the camera select the ISO that works with the settings I am using.

What camera, Tom? I want this option.

[Chimper]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

I have been using 400 ISO but was wondering if that was too high for daytime? I noticed on most of my shots that the parts of the body closest to the grass seemed to be washed out especially the black colors on pants and shoes. The grass is brown and it seems to be reflecting the bright sun and washing out the dark colors closest to the ground only.

Example: notice the colors of the kid on the ground.

Canon 30D with 28-135 IS USM
ISO 400 f5.6 1/2000

Daytime football is almost as challenging to shoot as night football... it just has a different set of problems to overcome. You have discovered several of them: harsh lighting and glare off of grass. Harsh lighting will always look bad, it has since the days of film. Unless you are shooting during the "Golden Hour" or on an overcast day, midday sunlight will give solid shadows in face masks and chests. Try to set up so that your shadow is pointing directy at the direction you wish to shoot. Then there will be backlit situations where you must overexpose the background to get detail in the player. Glare from the grass? Not much you can do, unless you use a polarizer, which is going to cause you to bump the ISO higher to keep shutter speeds between 1/1000 and 1/2000 seconds. One thing I've found in Photoshop to improve the look of grass with a lot of glare on it is the Selective Color command.

Image>Adjustment>Selective Color>Green>Black +30 to +80

This adds black to all of the greens in the image and lessens the look of glare from grass or synthetic turf.

[ldelacruz]

That is an amazing photo!!!! How did you do that Greg?

[mike.strock]

Different question, but along the same lines - I'm shooting a youth football game on Saturday at 11am. It's my nephew who is the star quarterback, apparently, and this is the championship game. Anyway, I've got a 70-200 F4L. Am I going to be alright with that, or should I bring out my 75-300 4.5-5.6 (which isn't an L and isn't nearly as sharp)....

Thanks. I don't know where I'll be able to stand, I'm assuming since this is youth football, sidelines shouldn't be an issue....but I don't honestly know. If I'm in the stands, I'm not sure even the 300 would save me.

Mike.

[bigjon0107]

Go with the 70-200. It is a youth game so the field will not be as big. And since it is youth, you should be fine just on the sidelines, unless there is some rule about you having to be in the stands.

Originally Posted by mike.strock

Different question, but along the same lines - I'm shooting a youth football game on Saturday at 11am. It's my nephew who is the star quarterback, apparently, and this is the championship game. Anyway, I've got a 70-200 F4L. Am I going to be alright with that, or should I bring out my 75-300 4.5-5.6 (which isn't an L and isn't nearly as sharp)....

Thanks. I don't know where I'll be able to stand, I'm assuming since this is youth football, sidelines shouldn't be an issue....but I don't honestly know. If I'm in the stands, I'm not sure even the 300 would save me.

Mike.

[Cope]

Originally Posted by JohnT

What camera, Tom? I want this option.

I'm guessing Auto ISO.

[mike.strock]

Thanks Jon. I appreciate the response.

Mike.

[ldelacruz]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Yep.. bigtime back focused. Looks like the center AF point focused on the ground behind the players..

I am still experimenting with what works best for me and when I used the center only AF point on my 30D a lot of my shots came out like this. I have been using all the AF points along with Al servo and I am getting more shots in focus but still getting a lot out of focus.

Any suggestions on what AF point and drive setting works best for fast paced sports with a Canon 30D?