Second game with my new lens

[SciAggie]

This is my second attempt with my new-to-me 400mm lens. It has been around the block a few times but seems to work perfectly; if only I can get the hang of it.

Our home stadium is typical for a small 2A high school - it's a dark pit. After dark I leave the exposure at 1/250 @2.8 6400 ISO and still underexpose by a full stop at times. I shoot RAW so I try to bring it up in post. I am using a monopod of course. My body is a 5D MkII.

I'm genuinely trying to improve so any constructive advice is very welcome. For your guys that shoot a 400, where do you typically try to position yourself relative to the action? I'm still working that out. I am having a tendency to be too close sometimes and not having enough room for framing or I just can't follow the action when I'm framing really tight.

Here are a few from our most recent game.

1.


2.


3.

[Daniel Bates]

#1 is my favourite here, closely followed by #3.

[LSCSN.com]

Wow I thought we had to shoot in some dark stadiums. Maybe you should get the booster club to invest in some of those commercial portable lights :-).

With those settings I'd be looking into a flash.