[...]EclecticGuy» Blog Archive » Practical Guide for Youth Soccer Photography – Part B[...]…

B&H is good and I order from Adorama a lot. They have a great used equipment trade-in program too. All of the big NY camera stores are pretty good. I use Amazon a lot too.

If you have any specific questions, fire away! I’m looking for another topic to add to the trilogy!

My biggest advice is – shoot lots of photos!

cheers,
EG

I stumbled on your blog while looking up information on shooting kids soccer. Funny story. Anyway, when I actually got to your blog, I had to laugh. You seem to be somewhat of a mirror image of me (in terms of eclecticity….hmmmm new word). I too shoot over 1000 photos a day of soccer. I have 3 kids, all playing competitive. I enjoyed your guide and chuckled through it nodding my head. Seems you have learned what I have for the most part. You do way more processing than I do though. I never found a way to cut that time down, I get too interested. I simply post everything, then delete from the site when I have time. I use a Nikon D90 with a sigma 150-500. Great lens for soccer. I also have a 70-200 f/2.8 for the bad days, but rarely need it unless sunset games.

Why I purchased that camera is a funny story, but one you will appreciate. I think. I have scouts too. My oldest decided to go on the 50 Mile High adventure trip, and asked if I would also go as one of the adult leaders. Well, how can you turn that down. We trained for 6 months, hiking all over our area in N. California, as well as climbing Mount Lassen. Our 50 mile choices were either Hike to and Climb Mt. Whitney, or hike in to the Touolumne River Canyon and then up to the Touolumne Peak and back to start point. We chose the later. Being part of the Yosemite National Park, it was clear I wanted to bring two things, a decent camera, and a pack fly rod. Well, the trip was excellent. 9 days, and 12,000 feet of elevation changes, up and down and up and down again. It was fabulous. I caught browns at every snack break along the Touolumne River, and in one of the High Lakes (Ten Lakes). Well, I also took over 1000 pictures with the only camera I owned at the time, a sony DHC. We got home and I couldn’t wait to review the photos. I was so disappointed in the digital quality I wanted to cry. It was not that the photos were “bad”, but they just did not live up to the grandeur of the real thing, and I was sure a better camera would have made a difference. I, like you, had film years ago, and in fact all my film cameras (3 of them) had been stolen, as well as the glass. I had never purchased another SLR after that, when my kids were born, and point and shoot digital cameras were all the rage. Besides, photography had fallen off my “current hobbies” list.

Well, knowing that soccer season was starting in a couple weeks, and still sore at the camera for not being great, I decided to go and get a camera that COULD. It only took one shot of my kid at her first practice to sell me. I have never regretted it. I am now the team photographer for 4 teams, and the webmaster, and my wife is the manager of all 4. We are still in scouts too, as well. We used to hike a lot, and went to Yosemite every year to conquer yet a new trail or mountain peak.

I have many hobbies like you. I am interested in so many things it drives me nuts at times. My latest, being a rock hound at heart since 10, is meteorites. I want to go and find some with my kids some day. With 3 soccer players at competitive level, it is hard to find time to do much else. But, I am loving all the great time we spend with our kids, and I know that they love that we are so part of their lives.

I just had to say hi. You seem like a pretty fun family, and you seem to be much like me in many ways.

Take care,

David

Thank you.

First, set the camera to Spot Metering and AF Point (auto focus point) modes. Make sure Auto Focus is “on”. Now, set the camera to manual (M) mode. Set your shutter speed to 1/800 s – this is the slowest you want to go for soccer in order to stop the motion without blurring. Hopefully you will be able to use a faster shutter speed but start with 1/800. Now, set your ISO to 200 and open your lens all the way – f4 for your 70-200. Check the exposure on one of the player’s faces or a light jersey and see what your exposure is. If you are underexposed, push up the ISO to 400 or even higher if needed until you get a good exposure. Usually you will be over exposed. In this case, raise the shutter speed to 1/1000 or higher until you get a good exposure. You can also lower your ISO to 100 or so if you have really bright light. Take a test photo and check your histogram.

This is a good place to start, hope this helps!