Some tips to make your high school football pictures better

One thing I have learned over the last five years of shooting high school football is that, for parents, a terrible picture of their own child playing is still a good picture.  That said, everyone would rather have good shots.


Some parents have bought decent DSLRs but still get blurry photos.

Unfortunately, high school stadiums are usually dim.  It is one place that spending a bunch of money on lenses really can help, but all is not lost.  Here are some things to thing about.

Choose lenses appropriately.  A cheap 300mm zoom will not let in enough light for crisp action shots.  For example, as a Canon guy, I would skip the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 and go for the Canon EF 100mm f/2.  It may seem counterintuitive, but the tradeoff will get you much faster shutter speed.

To make up for the shorter lens, Get as close as possible.  Any cropping you do afterwards will really reduce image quality, so it is important to fill the frame as much as possible.  Move to stay close to the action.

Do not rely on "Sports Mode."  Yes, the camera makers put it there for a reason, but not for low-light. Most sports mode settings will not bump to the highest ISO settings.  Learn how to force the camera out of its comfort zone.  Manual mode it is.

The built in flash is a waste of battery.  Unless you are on the sideline and the action is within 10 yards, it isn't going to do much except giving nice red eyes to everyone in the picture.  Adding a big flash can be useful if you are on the sidelines (many small newspaper photogs use them).  I don't like the look myself, but I am going to try a few tricks this year.

Here are a few example pics along with the settings used.  Note.. all of these have been brightened up and had noise reduction applied in Adobe Lightroom.

To set a standard, how about Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Of course the light is good.  Everything is good for the pros and HD television cameras.  It is roughly four to eight times brighter than any of the 3A and 4A high school stadiums.
ISO 1600, f2.8, 1/800


Terrell Memorial Stadium
Terrell's field has no track, so that lights are relatively close to the field.  That isn't enough to make up for the lack of bulbs.  It is one of the most difficult places to shoot in the area.
This is ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/500.


Crandall High School
The stadium had some upgrades a few years ago that helped a lot.  Very dark shadows, but the light is much better than it was.  You can see how much more detail you get with lower ISO.
ISO 2000, f2.8, 1/500


Kaufman Lions Stadium
New turf helps a bit, but Kaufman is still very dim stadium.
ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/320


Greenville High School
The press box may be absurdly high and the turf needs replacing (as of 2011), but the lights are decent for a high school stadium.
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/640


Mesquite Memorial Stadium
Mesquite Memorial is a nice place to shoot.  The lights are nice enough, but also it is in a bowl at one end, giving a nice clean background at least part of the time.  Of course there is that nifty tower at one end to play with as a background element as well.
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/800


Red Oak High School
I've only shot here once.  Not the brightest, but I still managed to get a lot of shots I liked.  There is something to be said for even distribution of light as well.
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/500.


Forney High School
Forney's lights are nice and bright.  Even better, they are positioned at the ends of the field, giving better light in the end zones and in players' faces.
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/800


Tyler Rose Stadium (Earl Campbell Field)
Lights aren't mentioned in possible field upgrades in Tyler, but it sure would help.  The stadium has potential to be a great little bowl, but right now it is ugly and dark.  On the positive end, the giant video board can work as a softbox at one end zone :)
ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/500


Lancaster High School
Very nice facilities in Lancaster, including good lights.
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/640


Ennis High School
Decent lights in Ennis...
ISO 3200, f2.8, 1/640.



For any high school stadium after the sun goes down, I generally start with ISO 3200/f2.8 and see what it gives me for a shutter speed.  From there, it is all experimentation.  Often, in older stadiums especially, there are hot spots on the field that are brighter.  It is worth paying attention and waiting for action in those spots.

Good luck!

Don J.

Exposure Basics - Fountains and Shutter Speed

This blog started as a place to point people who ask me about photography. One of the questions I hear most often (usually sports related) is about stopping action. When you leave your camera on automatic mode, you are at its mercy in this regard.

Shutter speed determines how long the exposure takes, and therefore how much of the subject's movement or camera's movement is captured in the frame. Faster shutter equals less recorded movement.

Many people are disappointed in their camera's ability to use faster shutter speed in dark areas, and this is one of the areas in photography where money ends up making a big difference. Newer and more expensive cameras and lenses are more sensitive, and let in more light to enable the higher shutter speeds.

The easiest way to play with the shutter speed is in "shutter priority" mode. You pick the shutter and iso, the the camera does the rest. For some reason, tV is the designation for shutter priority mode on the camera. If you know why, let me know.

Streams, waterfalls and fountains make great places to play with shutter speed, because at either end of the spectrum, motion stopped or blurred, there is a neat result.

Here is a run through of the same shot with corresponding shutter speeds of a fountain at the wonderful Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

1/400 Shutter Speed, the motion is mostly stopped. The focus point for this series is the rock in front, so the drops are out of focus on this one.


1/100 Shutter speed, the drops show a little movement, but are still separately defined elements.


1/50 Shutter speed, and you can really see some motion happening.


1/15 Shutter speed, and the drops are blurring together. To me, this looks closest to seeing the fountain in person.


1/5 Shutter speed and all definition is lost. Past this point, you get the silky-white water look that turns waterfalls into a surrealistic flowing look.

1/5 was also as slow a shutter speed possible on the 5D with this much light (Lowest ISO setting and highest aperture). To get more, you can add neutral-density filters on your lens to knock down the light a bit.

A tripod is recommended as well. I did not have mine for these shots, so I was kneeling on the ground "being" the tripod....


Using high shutter speeds is fun with water as well, to freeze droplets in mid air like the abstract looking thing at the top of the post.


Here are a few more shots from the FWBG...


1/500 shutter

1/40 Shutter

Fountains acn make interesting background objects because of the organic shapes.. In this case it looks like a ghost!


The fountain makes an exclamation point for the end of the vine-covered walkway...


Hanging vines with water droplets, low Aperture setting, and that turned out even better than I had hoped...


Some flowers I've never seen before...


And roses of all shapes, sizes, varieties and colors...


Including dead


The view down through the rose garden and fountains


And another abstract water droplet shot, just for the fun of it.


Happy Shooting

don j.

Quick Pics - More Fireworks

The wife and I had a fun 4th of July evening hanging out in Terrell, TX with Michael, Christina,  Jim and Karl.  Of course, it was another evening of fireworks fun..  here are a few shots I liked.

I played around with two cameras, the 5D and 40D.   It turned out that we were very close to the fireworks, and it seemed they were explodind directly overhead.  I like to get foregroud elements into the frame so the 5D with a Sigma 14mm lens was great for capturing everything.

This is a 7 second exposure, f13, iso200 with the 5D/14mm combo.

This was one of the first attempts with the 40D and the 14mm, also 7 seconds but at f11, iso 100.

This is the 5D/14mm, another 7 second exposure this time at f16.  This has had a lot of adjustments in lightroom to pop the color.

While playing around in Lightroom, I started playing with the "Fill Light" on the fireworks shots.  It really brought up the noise, but I think the overall effect is a fun, almost nostalgic look.  5D/14mm, 9 Seconds, f16,  iso 200.

Another crazy lightroom bonanza, maxing out the saturation, blacks level, clarity...  all kinds of adjustments.  It turned into neon fireworks...  definitely not the original colors, but a fun look.  I like the silhouetted trees as well.

don j.

Quick Pics - Carnival

The carnival has rolled into Seagoville.  While the excitement of actually riding the rides left my system several years ago, the  photographic opportunities are just as exciting for me now.

After watching Nacho Libre, I really felt like I needed to do something productive to make up for the wasted time, so I headed over to see what was going on...

With all of the movement and lights, I love to play with slow shutter speeds...  This is panning with the merry-go-round horses at 1/6 second.

The other way to show motion is to have the camera still while the objects move...  Of course, it is good to keep something still in the frame for reference.  Otherwise, it just becomes abstract art.  I was glad the ride operator turned so we can see his face.  This time the camera is on the tripod, almost 1/2 second exposure.

This lady was pretty good with darts... three throws, three hits.

My favorite shots of the evening were with this ride operator.  We talked a bit about how few people were showing up and spending money.  I hadn't really thought about the effects of the recession on carnies.  It seems that carnival ride spending would be very first out of the budget.

Of course it did not help that it was really hot out there too.

Everybody come out and bring a few bucks, watch the fireworks tomorrow night, and of course, bring your camera!

Happy Shooting,

don j.

Lady Lions vs. Lady Dawgs

Occasionally I will use the blog to post the results of a shoot of some sort. This is certainly a learning process, so I will share what I am discovering as we go along...

After a long and fairly productive HS football season, I was pretty eager to get indoors out of the cold and try my hand at basketball. The last basketball games I shot were in 1995, when I was still a student, so my timing is still pretty bad. The Kaufman holiday tournament was a good warm-up and I was back to see the Lady Lions face the Lady Dawgs of Venus last Friday.

Canon 40D, ef85mm, f2.0, 1/800, iso1600, no flash

When I arrived, the JV game was in full swing, with the Lions enjoying a comfortable lead. Kaufman dominated throughout with a final score of 50-22.

Canon 5D, 24-70mm, f2.8, 1/400, iso 1600, no flash

It was the more of the same for the varsity squad with a final of 41-18. I did not take notes, so you will have to pick up a paper for the details...

With any sport photography, one of the main concerns is having enough light to get a fast enough shutter speed to stop action. The KHS gym is pretty good in this regard, but you do have to have a camera that can take advantage of it by pushing the ISO up to at least 1600.

My Challenge then? Bring a 3 year old Point and Shoot camera to see what I could get. The answer... not much, but I do want to play with settings and try again.

Kodak v530, f4.5, 1/8, iso 160, no flash

As you can see, the shutter (which cannot be manually set) was too slow to stop any action. Panning to get a cool effect is difficult as well because of the lag time of the lcd screen on the camera.

My best results came from forcing the camera to underexpose, then bumping it up a lot in Adobe Lightroom after the fact. Color looked horrible, so I move it to black and white. It looks a lot like shooting B&W Film back in high school!

Kodak v530, f4.8, 1/100, iso160, no flash

Fun as that experiment was, it got old really quickly. Back to the DSLRs.

Shooting basketball can be fun because of the constant action. Unfortunately, it requires players to spend a great deal of time with their arms in the air, defending, shooting or passing.
Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/640, iso1600, no flash

Players are crossing between the camera and the ball often, which can really mess with the autofocus. If I manage to keep the right player in focus, it can make unique looking shots.

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/800, iso1600, no flash

In the end, it all comes down to timing, and staying ready to shoot. Taking a second to see how the last shot looked on the LCD is almost a guarantee that something dramatic is going to happen and I get no picture of it. This seems to happen most on defense, so I decided to stay on it and caught this nice steal by #10 Sammatha Offord.

Canon 40D, 70-200mm, f2.8, 1/400, iso1600, no flash

She is very quick, and the Lady Dawgs did not handle that very well. Which resulted in a lot of variations of this picture.


Canon 40D, 70-200mm, f2.8, 1/400, iso1600, no flash

Shooting from the top of the home bleachers gives an interesting perspective and often the court floor makes a clean background for the action. Bleachers are ugly.

I like to try to time the free throw and catch the ball in the basket... nothing spectacular yet, but a fun exercise nonetheless.

Canon 5D, 70-200mm, f2.8, 1/320, iso1600, no flash

Since I am trying to sell prints of these photos to parents (available here), I try to get some fairly close shots. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but you are guaranteed to capture some fun expressions and hair flying around...

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/800, iso1600, no flash

A thought on showing context in a photo....

The cheerleaders were doing their thing, and during a timeout did some sort of pyramid. Zooming in on the top cheerleader was a nice shot with a clean background... but no context of the fact that she was standing 7' in the air on the hands of her squadmates...


Canon 5D, 70-200mm, f2.8, 1/320, iso1600, no flash

Giving the whole picture meant cluttering the background, but without seeing the whole picture, the drama of the moment is lost.

Canon 5D, 70-200mm, f2.8, 1/320, iso1600, no flash

Here are a few more shots from Friday. The full set of keepers is here.

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/640, iso1600, no flash

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/800, iso1600, no flash

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/800, iso1600, no flash

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.0, 1/640, iso1600, no flash

Have a great Monday,

don j.