| Photographing high school football can be | | | | exposure range. |
| challenging and rewarding. The combination of low | | | | 6. No Flash. Given your distance to the objects, |
| ambient light, artificial lighting and rapid movement | | | | you will see very limited or no benefit from flash, |
| can result in strange colored, blurry, unfocused | | | | and it will confuse your camera into making |
| images. Here are several tips to enable you to | | | | exposure decisions that will not be good for your |
| capture your best football images. | | | | image. |
| 1. Location. The closer you can get to the | | | | 7. Focus. I suggest using spot focus and fast |
| sidelines, the better. If you clear it with coaches | | | | shutter settings. That will force the camera to |
| and officials, you may be allowed to stand near | | | | use the center of the image to set exposure and |
| the sidelines. Make sure you stay alert to sudden | | | | focus, and you will capture more action with the |
| action in your area. Or, you may have to shoot | | | | rapid-fire shutter. |
| from "behind the fence", but you can still get | | | | 8. White Balance. Stadium lights have a different |
| some great shots from that location as well. | | | | color than daylight. You could choose auto white |
| 2. Camera Support. A sturdy monopod is | | | | balance, but you may want to check out your |
| essential. You need the mobility, so a tripod is out | | | | camera's custom white balance function. It |
| of the question, and hand-holding will cause your | | | | generally involves shooting a white object and |
| images to be blurry from camera shake. Consider | | | | having the camera evaluate the center of that |
| a swivel mount on the monopod to let you switch | | | | image to find a white or grey sample to set a |
| from landscape to portrait. | | | | custom white balance setting. Or, you can shoot |
| 3. ISO. Set your camera's ISO (sensitivity) to high | | | | Raw and tweak your white balance in post |
| to let you capture faster shutter speeds. Usually | | | | processing. One editing tip - if you can see |
| 1200-1600 is a good setting. The images will not | | | | something in the image that should be pure white |
| be as clean as low ISO, but the additional | | | | or grey, you can use the color edit function in |
| exposure room you gain will be worth it. Some | | | | your image editing program to set a white |
| newer Nikon dSLRs can do well up in the ISO3200 | | | | reference and change color after shooting. |
| range. | | | | 9. Composition. A variety of shot types are |
| 4. Shutter Speed. I recommend a shutter speed | | | | available. For static shots, of scrimmage line, |
| of 1/100 second or faster. 1/250 will stop most | | | | bench or huddles, anything goes. For action shots, |
| action. Experiment with a shutter speed that gives | | | | try to get the ball carrier near the center but not |
| you the right balance of exposure and motion | | | | exactly centered, and try to get shots of the |
| freezing. For creative shots, you can go to 1/20 | | | | eyes in clear focus if you can. |
| or slower and hold the camera very still on the | | | | 10. Zoom Range. A telephoto lens will let you get |
| monopod - you'll see lots of player motion and | | | | close up on individual players, but you may want |
| some stationary players, all on a crisp field. | | | | to carry a wide-angle lens to get larger field or |
| 5. Aperture. The widest aperture the better, to | | | | audience shots. Having a second lens available lets |
| facilitate higher shutter speeds, and to narrow the | | | | you be more flexible. |
| depth of focus. This will throw the background | | | | 11. Editing. Try some Black and White images to |
| out of focus and move emphasis in the image to | | | | emphasize the grittiness of the game. Crop in |
| your central subject. For lenses, I recommend f | | | | close to emphasize the action. Push the contrast |
| 2.8 lens and aperture, or the lowest your camera | | | | up to provide more emotional impact. |
| lens combination can handle. If you set your ISO | | | | 12. Sharing. Consider digital and printed copies to |
| high and set your camera to Shutter Priority and | | | | the team and coaches. Offer a website for |
| fix your speed, the camera will choose the | | | | sharing or selling, depending on your professional |
| aperture. If the combination is insufficient to get a | | | | status and the quality of the images. The |
| good exposure, the camera will probably blink at | | | | yearbook team will appreciate photos, as well as |
| you to warn of underexposure. In this case, I | | | | the local papers. Check with the sports boosters |
| recommend that you shoot underexposed to | | | | as well - they may want to use images in their |
| preserve the speed, and boost the image in | | | | programs or end of year banquets for slide |
| post-processing. Or, you can tweak the ISO up | | | | shows. |
| and the shutter speed down to get in the good | | | | Have fun shooting, and stay on your toes! |