They say that you are your hardest critic...so I guess I'll apply that now so I can capture my lessons learned this past season consisting of football and soccer. Before I get started - I do recall some of my lessons learned from last year and fell I made progress in some and opened new areas for improvement. They were:
- capture more facial expressions - to include the eyes
- capture post-scoring ceremony actions (more on that below)
- vary positions, angles, and perspectives. Spread the wealth regarding where to focus
- upgrade camera that improves: autofocus accuracy and speed; higher ISO [6400 or higher]; capable using all Nikon autofocus lenses; increased resolution; higher FPS rate
The last one was the easiest. Thanks to birthday money and fragile craigslist and eBay shopping - I did get a substantial hardware upgrade, not only in camera, but lenses as well. I was able to shift from my old Nikon D40x with Nikkor 55-200mm f4-5.6 zoom to a more capable Nikon D7000 matted to a Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED zoom. This combo would not disappoint and excelled in all requirements.
This season's Lessons learned:
- solicit parents and families prior to first upload to ensure there are no privacy concerns and to explain the process, intent, and the site will be password protected.
- consider shooting JPEG versus RAW. With the D7000...the buffer fills quickly at 9 shots and shooting at 5.5 FPS, the camera locks up around 1.5 seconds. I mention this because I got several great scoring sequences only to have my camera locked up due to writing files to the SD card while players were high-fiving and celebrating. Finally, I coached myself out of the 'spray-and-pray' and conducted strategic shooting spurts that allowed 3-5 frames remaining after the score to grab a few celebration shots. Even with that - I'm surprised my trigger button still works due to frantically mashing it trying to capture key scenes.
- the D7000 is a bit noisy at ISO 3200 and higher. May look at software options to help smooth images out prior to importing to Aperture.
- gaining proper exposure in varied lighting. Most games consisted of harsh afternoon sun and the shadows that come with late morning, afternoon, and early afternoon direct sunlight. I normally meter the shadows and shoot manual – but need to consider using aperture priority to help account for differing shadows and light intensity due to the placement of the sun.
- minimize sideline and horizon junk – playing fields are littered with extra family members trooping the sidelines, cars parked next to the field, telephone poles, and bridges make for distracting backgrounds. I tried to position myself with proper angles in minimize un-necessary background distractions - but heavily relied on the shallow depth of field provided by the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 ED to isolate players and wash out the busy backgrounds.
- slow auto-focus - missed a lot of pass and catches due to slow acquire and focus moving from the trenches to the open field looking for the ball and receivers. Possible camera settings and technique. I do shoot AF-C and utilize the 39-point autofocus. I tried the 9-point, but it usually missed the key subject…especially when tracking lateral movements.
After reviewing this - I think there are some comments I should elaborate on - which may make good projects to work on while waiting for wrestling to start in January.
Until then -
JC