EclecticGuy

Here is Part B of my earlier post, “Practical Guide for Youth Soccer Photography – Part A”. Part A presented some general non-technical tips and techniques. This post will concentrate on the more technical details of taking good soccer photos. I am assuming that you are shooting with a digital SLR camera – or at least a good “point and shoot” camera that allows manual control of aperture and shutter speed. Being able to control your camera is critical to get the best photos.

As always, the following is my opinion based on my experience and results. There is no one way to take really good photographs. I recommend using this as a starting point and making improvements for your own equipment, conditions and photographic style as you go. I can’t stress enough how important it is to take lots of photos and then actually look at them as soon as you can. I think I need to add that to the Part A section!

Soccer is – in my opinion – one of the more difficult sports to photograph. There is lots of action, the direction of play changes unpredictably and instantaneously, and the lighting conditions can be all over the map on a large field. These just add to the challenge! Now, let’s talk about Equipment and Technique.

Part B – Equipment & Technique

Equipment

Let me spend a minute discussing equipment. I happen to shoot with Canon 40D and Canon D60 cameras but I am not uber-religious about “Brand”. There are a lot of very good cameras out there, and the reality is, the photographer has as much to do with the quality of the photographs as does the camera. I highly recommend spending time on DPReview.com reading camera reviews and the user forums if you are just starting out and want more information than you could possibly consume. Camera equipment is a compromise – there is no “perfect” camera. Consider reviewer opinions but use your own experience and judgement. Of course, if there are 100s of reviews saying that the shutter lag on a particular camera is interoperable, you would be wise to look at another camera!

After the camera body, the lenses are the next major pieces of equipment – in fact, lenses are actually more important than the body in my opinion. You can take very good photos with an excellent lens on a so-so body but not vice-versa. There are lots of options for lenses but I’ll tell you what works for me.

I assert that a long focal length zoom lens is a necessity for shooting on a big soccer field. You want to be able to cover action up close as well as at the far end of the field without having to switch lenses or change cameras. Get the longest focal length, fastest lens you can afford. I started with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom. It is one of the Canon “L“ lenses with image stabilization (IS). One consideration in zooms is the zoom control. The Canon 70-200 has a rotating barrel zoom control. Some lenses have a “trombone” zoom control. It is a matter of personal preference but I’ve really come to like my Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L USM lens with a trombone zoom.

The most important thing to look for in any lens is quality of the glass. The Canon “L“ lenses have a great reputation and are what I use. In particular, you want a lens that is crisp with the aperture “wide open” (more on this later). Unfortunately, this is usually where lower quality lenses usually fail.

The next piece of equipment is a monopod. You can use a tripod with a single leg extended in a pinch but there is no substitute for a good monopod. Those long, fast lenses are heavy and hard to hold up for an entire game! Also, camera vibration is one of your enemies. A monopod helps stabilize the camera but yet allows you to move quickly to follow the action. It is a great compromise. You’ll need a quick release clamp (I use the Kirk Enterprises clamp) for the monopod and a compatible mounting plate for the camera body or lens. Actually, with the longer zooms, a lens mount gives better balance and lets you rotate the camera from portrait to landscape orientation easily. These photos show the setup and lens mount:

Other than batteries (especially spares!) and memory cards (I use a 16GB CF card in my 40D and carry an 8GB spare) all you really need are a digital SLR body, a long, fast zoom lens, and a monopod with clamp and plate. Not too complicated is it!

(Complete setup – yes, that is my guitar case!)

Technique

Ok, this is it, all of my secrets written down for all to see! Drum roll please! First, let me describe what I do when I arrive at the field. Then, I’ll break it down and explain the method to my madness.

EclecticGuy Approaches the Field

EclecticGuy arrives at the field with camera, favorite 100-400mm lens, monopod, memory cards, and freshly charged batteries and spares in hand (and pocket). First, he looks at the orientation of the field with respect to the sun. Where are the player benches and where are the spectators? What about the “background” options – is there a nicely wooded background, a parking lot full of chrome bumpered cars, or a line of bright red PortaPotties? He also does a quick mental assessment of lighting conditions – is it harsh light with the sun low to the horizon and no clouds, or dark and overcast, or something in between. He also takes a quick look at the player uniform colors and hopes the teams are not Black vs White. This all takes about 10 seconds but is very important. (When you are first starting out, keep notes in a log – it will help you later when you look at the photos in detail.)

Positions Please

EclecticGuy then determines where he will position himself around the field. Usually, he shoots from the opposing goalie’s end, at the corner, so he can get “face shots” of “his” team on the offensive. Lately, he has spent some time at both ends of the field during each half so he can get better photos of all the players. The trickiest part here is waiting to determine which direction his team will be shooting, he has already picked out the best corner on each end of the field, taking in to consideration:

• light at his back as best as possible
• best background option (EclecticGuy does not like PortaPotty backgrounds)
• avoidance of obstacles like mud puddles, snow banks and swamps

… and Shoots!

During the game, EclecticGuy looks through the view finder with his right eye and keeps his left eye open and on the game. This “skill” took a little while to develop but allows him to follow the action closely. From this point on, experience and skill come to play. He watches as a play develops and tries to anticipate the shot. Timing is everything! He holds the AF point on the “player of interest’s” chest and checks the exposure meter in the view finder frequently. If the exposure changed (usually due to changing lighting conditions), he adjusts first the shutter speed and then the ISO.

Typically, EclecticGuy will take between 500-1000 RAW photos during a 60 minute game. Dealing with all of those photos might be a topic for a Part C of this guide!

Explanation of the Madness

Ok, the above story describes how I normally shoot soccer games. I like to shoot in manual mode so I have confidence that the shutter speed is fast enough to stop the action and the aperture is wide open to soften the background (i.e. out of focus). On really nasty days with clouds blowing at 30 mph under a bright sun, I’ll sometimes shoot in Aperture priority (again, to make sure the background is blurred). On really dark rainy days, I use every trick I can, my f/2.8 lens, ISO 800, and Shutter Priority at 1/800s. Shooting RAW really helps recover photos on these sub-optimal (aka “sucky”) days. Now, let’s look at each setting in more detail.

Aperture

I like to shoot with the aperture wide open to blur or soften the background. This helps separate the players and action from busy backgrounds and is more a stylistic than technical consideration. Even a PortaPotty looks Ok when it is really out of focus. With a wide open lens though, you have to be very tight on your focal point – it is very easy to get out of focus players. Practice (i.e. take a lot of photos) helps a lot.

Shutter Speed

A fast shutter is necessary to “freeze” players and the ball. Sometimes slightly blurred legs and/or ball can be artistic but I generally try to stop the action. 1/800s is about as slow as I like to go for older (U12 and higher) games. With really young players, you can go slower since they don’t run as fast or kick as hard.

ISO

ISO is the 3rd parameter in setting exposure (the other two being aperture and shutter speed). In a perfect world, ISO would be variable and have no effect on image quality. In reality, larger ISOs result in digital noise (in a digital camera) or graininess (in a film camera). For my camera, ISO 800 is about as high as I like to go. There are post processing tools for Photoshop that can really clean up “high ISO” images. I use Noise Ninja when I must and it works surprisingly well. After setting aperture and shutter speed, adjust ISO to get the best exposure.

Spot Metering

When shooting soccer players against a large and usually high constrast background, spot metering allows you to meter on the subject. It is also most useful for setting exposure in manual mode since it lets the camera’s metering system behave more like a handheld exposure meter. Ansel Adams’ Zone System utilizes spot meeting too. 

AF Point

When shooting players against a distant background with a wide open aperture, it is important to have control over the autofocus point. Digital SLRs usually have several AF options that attempt to determine what should be in focus. SInce your goal is to focus on the player, using “AF Point” mode gives you control over what the camera focuses on.

Single Shot

I advocate taking soccer photos the old fashioned way, one frame at a time. “Burst” modes might be Ok sometimes but in general you’ll want to develop the timing to capture the action.

Stabilization

Image stabilization is not useful to stop blurring of moving subjects, like soccer balls and players. Image stabilization is typically not useful for panning subjects, but Canon’s technology does have 2 modes – one of which is designed for panning. I sometimes use Mode 2 if the lighting conditions are really bad and I need an extra stop or 2. If I need to handhold for whatever reason though, I do switch on image stabilization. This might be more of a personal preference but I find on a monopod, I don’t seem to need it.

RAW

A RAW image is basically the digital image data taken off of the sensor with little or no in-camera processing. Although it is not a universal standard (Nikon’s RAW is different than Canon’s for instance) the general idea is the same – don’t rely on the camera to do the processing of the image. The camera has a finite amount of time to process the sensor data in to a JPG or TIFF photo. It has to be optimized for speed as well as quality. The camera also can not apply a “creative eye” to the development process. Finally, a RAW photo has a larger gamut because it maintains the 12 to 16 bit-per-pixel data where as a JPG image has been reduced to 8 bits-per-pixel. 

RAW file processing tools like Adobe Lightroom are very fast and sophisticated. The only significant drawback is that the image file size is much larger than a JPG and increases disk storage and download times. But, with these minor drawbacks, you have complete control over processing the RAW image in to that final, great, photo. RAW often lets you recover underexposed and overexposed photos and for that reason alone, is worth the extra effort. 

Wrap Up

I think that is about it! I’ll probably come back with some additions and corrections to this post but it’s a good start. There will be a Part C – photo processing coming soon. For now, it is off to the Saturday soccer games – I did remember to charge my batteries and empty my memory cards!