Has anyone had much experience shooting pictures of football matches? I've been asked to do a couple in the near future, plus a ladies' hockey match.

The Good: They will be taking place in daylight hours.

The Bad: I know absolutly zilch about football or hockey!

The Ugly: I don't have any really long lenses.

So, the basic plan is to start by getting team pictures, of both teams, before the match actually kicks off. Then about half a dozen action shots from the game, and finish with a few shots of players from the triumphant side celebrating their victory.

An added problem is that I'll need to get the names of players in the action shots (and am not really happy about relying on reading the numbers from the jerseys for this). So I'm planning on, after taking the team pics, trying to get most of the action shots from the first half. Then I'll try to choose about six good ones and load them onto my ancient laptop. During the break I'll hopefully be able to find someone from the teams who can identify the players involved and I'll type them in. Then I just relax for the second half (unless I can manage to get something dramatic like a player scoring a goal, kicking the ref or whatever!), and finish by grabbing a few shots of the celebrations (or maybe despondent players from the other team walking off with downcast expressions).

I'm planning on using my tamron 28-70mm lens for the team pictures and celebrations, and my 70-200mm f4 for the action shots. I'll also be able to borrow a 1.4 extender if necessary. Sound reasonable? Is a shutter speed of about 1/200sec sufficent to 'freeze the action' in football? Hopefully it will be bright enough to get this with iso 400, and I can always switch to iso 800 or 1600 if necessary.

Sound like a plan?

Stephanie wrote: whereas i dont no anything about the technical side of things I would like to say good luck!!

I think I might need it!

Forgot to mention that I'm also intending to take a folding chair, so I can sit down for the 90 minutes or whatever while photographing the action, and a big umbrella in case it rains.

The first match is less than a week away

Cliff is it only a club match or in the Irish league?

From what I've seen at the Dungannon Swifts matches (more exciting watching the photographers  than watching the "action" sometimes) the favourite spots are at the corner flags where you concentrate on the action just in front of the goals and wait for the ball to be delivered. Keep you finger on the button and "film" the action to pick out the best of the burst. You will be kept back from the line and may get some witty remarks from the jovial supporters.

Also along the touch line for the sliding tackles and headers from throw-ins. Keep an eye too on the benches as the expressions and animation of those in the shirts and ties  may suit your style.

Don't forget that you can PS the ball in after if you miss it...

Ross and Jim - Thanks for the replies. Afraid I don't know many details about the matches yet (although I think the hockey is in Banbridge). Only got asked this morning if I would be available to cover them over the holiday period (between Boxing Day and New Year's Day). When I asked what was involved I was told two team pictures, about six action pics and two or more celebrating afterwards pictures. Not wanting to appear too 'green' I agreed without asking many other questions!

However, I'll get the full details, passes etc before the end of this week.

Ross - I must have missed the thing about 1/500sec! I was thinking the 200mm end of my zoom, plus the extender, would give me the equivalent of 400mm plus on my 1.6 crop (but with a max f.5.6). So if it's overcast I'll probably be looking at around iso 800 to get 1/500sec. As the pics are destined for newsprint, however, hopefully a bit of noise won't be too much of a problem. Some cropping will also be possible as I don't need really high resolution for these. I'd rather have to deal with some noise rather than blurred pictures! It's also possible I could borrow an f2.8 70-200, although not sure about this yet.

Also take your point about getting a position where the players are running towards me - I'd guess that's essential for good action pics.

Jim - That's a great tip about doing a few pics of the managers etc while the game is in progress - I'll definitely give that one a try! And taking the pics from the corner areas sounds a good idea. I'll also do that providing the linesmen allow it.

Also, while your remark about photoshopping the ball in might be in jest, it raises another important point - I guess an action pic MUST include the ball to be any good? Just another thing to keep in mind, lol.


I'm just hoping to get some decent weather conditions. This should be much easier if there is some sunshine.

I have a 300mm USM L f4 if you want to borrow it, the daylight at the moment would like a 2.8 but sure.

B

Ross - I remember Bob Girvan saying during his lecture at the club that he generally used an auto exposure mode and 'let the camera do the work'. Have to admit that was one thing that really surprised me!

Although I've no experience of either football or hockey, I've shot quite a few horse races and showjumping events. I've found that the auto exposure modes give very inconsistent results at these (eg, one pic might be a black horse, the next a grey, or one pic might have some sky in it while the next won't etc). With auto the exposure jumps around all over the place!

So, generally speaking, I always use full manual (although perhaps football or hockey might be different). Afterwards, when I'm getting shots of jockeys in the winners' enclosure etc, I stick the flash on and am happy because I'm back into my comfort zone doing those pics :)

 

Hey B - That's a very kind offer! Must admit I was half thinking of biting the bullet and investing in one of these myself - especially if I don't make a total hash of these games and maybe do more matches at weekends, lol.

I'm hoping the 200mm plus extender will be sufficient, but might end up getting back to you when I find out some more details about the grounds, etc!

if you would get to the club early enough you would have had all your answers from Bob's talk.... lol

1/500 sec and nothing less than f5.6  otherwise depth of field is useless and u will be binning 90% of the pics... but hey dont we all do that anyway.. lol

ps .... no excusses for the next photo comp night.